Johnny Guitar
Short description
Johnny Guitar is a Western set on the edge of a small town, where Vienna runs a saloon that draws a rough crowd, among them the outlaw Dancin' Kid and his gang. Into her life returns Johnny Logan, a former gunfighter who once loved her and now wants to leave violence behind. When a stagecoach robbery leaves a man dead, Emma Small, Vienna's resentful rival, turns the townspeople against the saloon and its owner despite having no proof of her involvement. The pressure on Vienna to give up her land and leave builds into an open confrontation, with Johnny and a few others standing at her side.
Nicholas Ray directed and produced the film and wrote the screenplay with Ben Maddow and Philip Yordan. It followed his In a Lonely Place and On Dangerous Ground and preceded Rebel Without a Cause and Run for Cover in the six features listed among his credits here, placing it in the middle of a run of films he made in the early 1950s. Joan Crawford plays Vienna, with Sterling Hayden as Johnny, Mercedes McCambridge as Emma Small, Scott Brady as Dancin' Kid and Ward Bond as John McIvers among a credited cast of thirty. Republic Pictures released the 110-minute film, which took about 3 million dollars worldwide.
Audiences have rated it well: 7.6/10 on IMDb from 21,000 votes and 7.4/10 on TMDB from 490 votes. A critics' rating of 8.7/10 from 52 reviews is noticeably higher than those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the scenes where the film's heroes ride horses through the waterfall, the horses are wearing bits. The animals were so afraid of the waterfall that they “refused” to film those scenes without bits.
- Joan Crawford, after buying the rights to Roy Chanslor's story “Johnny Guitar,” on which the film is based, sold them to “Republic Pictures” with the mandatory condition that she would play the role of Vienna. Initially, she insisted that Claire Trevor, only 3 years younger than Joan, play the role of Emma, fearing the “competitiveness” of the younger Mercedes McCambridge (who was 10 years younger than Joan).
- Joan Crawford allowed herself to be filmed in close-up exclusively in a studio where it was possible to properly and advantageously set up the lighting. There is not a single close-up of Joan in this film that was shot outdoors.
- Although Philip Jordan is officially credited as the screenwriter, Ben Maddow actually wrote it. The reason was that at that time, during the so-called “McCarthy era,” there was a “blacklist” of prohibited writers, and Ben Maddow was on it. Philip Jordan received a small fee for his “authorship”.
- Joan Crawford, having purchased the rights to the novella “Johnny Guitar” on which the film is based, sold them to “Republic Pictures” with the mandatory condition that she would play the lead role of Vienna. Initially, she insisted that Claire Trevor play the role of Emma, fearing the “competitiveness” of the young Mercedes McCambridge.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
