Johnny Guitar (1954)

I've almost never purchased films, but I did when the last local video store was closing, only to watch them once and sell them to the Record Exchange or, if they were supposedly too scratched, leave them at the office for others to claim. JG had been the only tape in my home for a while. I decided to give it a whirl partly to take a break from my Halloweeny viewings and partly to reduce the space of my possessions in preparation for a move. Might I say, I never knew how much better movies looked on DVD until I went back to VHS.

For much of the movie, Sterling Hayden's title character seems almost incidental to the plot, a quiet bystander mildly entertained by the tension between others. Tough tomboy saloon keeper Vienna (Joan Crawford) summons him to town just before a mob comes and demands the whereabouts of her semi-boyfriend, the Dancin' Kid, and his buddies, who may have a criminal record but probably had no part in the latest felonies of which they're accused. The mob's primary motivator, Emma (an extraordinarily acid Mercedes McCambridge), insists that Vienna should hang with the rest, but Vienna notes two likely ulterior motives: (1) warped feelings of "love" for the Kid, such that Emma wants to kill him yet also is jealous of Vienna; and (2) land greed, intolerant of anyone else having a saloon at the outskirts of town where a railroad station is planned. Of course, this being a western, it won't do for Johnny to remain aloof to the end....

Emma's not the only one with complicated feelings for another. Johnny and Vienna were lovers until Johnny left town under his less notorious alias five years ago, and now they don't know how to act around each other; Vienna called on him primarily for protection. The scenario still produces enough jealousy to make Johnny and the Kid seem like they wouldn't take much of a push to kill each other, yet they largely retain a mock-friendly air and would sooner save each other. Johnny finds more animosity in the Kid's comrade Bart (Ernest Borgnine), who's not much of a friend to the Kid either.

In addition to emotional complexity, JG enjoys the moral complexity found in many of the most popular westerns, seemingly intent on subverting the black-hat-white-hat simplicity of yore. This being a '50s flick, it doesn't reach the disturbing level of The Wild Bunch or even Unforgiven, but it does have a marked scarcity of real heroes. You may well root for the less lawful side, however uncomfortably.

Some fault the movie for overacting, but what I saw was not out of place for the era. My one complaint pertains to the last minute or so, which points to yet more complicated people whose reaction I find hard to believe. At least that minute is preceded by something I've never seen in another western: two women shooting at each other. (And yes, it technically passes the Bechdel test.)