luni, 12 februarie 2018

Johnny Guitar, based on the novel by Roy Chanslor


Johnny Guitar, based on the novel by Roy Chanslor


                Johnny Guitar is actually Johnny Logan

Nevertheless, this is not a film about false pretenses and the entertainment is authentic and appreciable.
Two great actors are at the center of the plot:

Joan Crawford is playing Vienna and Sterling Hayden is Johnny Guitar aka Logan, the hero of the movie.
This viewer had doubts about the latter.

After much thinking, one of the previous roles of this versatile, excellent actor who can play the tough man, comedy roles and anything else appeared on the inside, small screen of the mind:

He was the lunatic Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper who is on the point of launching a nuclear war.
When he gets insane and orders an atomic attack on the Soviet Union, the world may end in the formidable:

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

However, it was clear that the Sterling Hayden is familiar from other motion pictures, seen recently…

The Godfather- that was it! He was the corrupt Captain McCluskey, the one who kicks Michael Corleone and only lives for a few days after that.

Johnny Guitar arrives at this saloon, where the owner, a fierce woman called Vienna, called him.

We are right in the middle of the action, only a few minutes after the film has started, for a bunch of men enter the saloon, with a thirst for blood and revenge written on their dust covered faces.
They are led by yet another…woman.

This is Emma Small and it is evident that she is a rival of the owner of the bar since she accuses Vienna of trying to bring in unwanted people and being an accomplice for a band of killers.
One could muse and ponder the infamous “Big, beautiful, high, southern wall” that will be paid by Mexico (in the nest three thousand years maybe).

The “Dancin’Kid” arrives with his three companions, they are accused by Emma and the men she brought around of having killed a man to rob the stagecoach, and this explains the money they have.
The confrontation is tense, but remains somewhat calm and there are no victims at this stage in the narrative.

For 1954, it must have been a very progressive script, considering that not only one, but two very strong women dominate the motion picture.
Dancin’Kid hates the fact that he was wrongfully accused and he and his colleagues have to leave town in twenty-four hours.

Therefore, he convinces his team to rob the bank in the town and give some justification to the humiliation they had suffered.
While they attack the bank, Vienna was withdrawing her savings and tries to convince the leader of the gang to desist.

This is a vain effort, the criminals take the money and they try to run, only the road is blocked and they have to use their hiding place.
One of them is hurt and arrives at Vienna’s place, where she hides him and then confronts the posy.

In the meantime, we have found the real identity of Johnny Guitar- he is not a harmless musician.
Johnny Logan is his real name and the reputation he has appears to be equal to other shooters: Jesse James, Sundance Kid and others.

Both Logan and the Kid love Vienna, but it is not clear if she has feelings for any or both of them.
Obviously, near and at the end, much of the puzzle is solved, but we are not going to give the game away…

Are we?

Johnny Guitar is on the New York Times ‘list of Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made:



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