Crawford is absolutely radiant in this. Sexual tension of every description is flying about for the first half hour of Johnny Guitar and it is so thick, you almost need to wipe it off the furniture.

Unfortunately it all calms down after a while and I wasn't so taken with the final act. Crawford's defiant individualism gave way to a somewhat sappy love story, which didn't sit well.

Although the general narrative kind of tapered off, the McCarthy inspired mob scenes that brew early in the film and break out in the final act (led by the magnificent Mercedes McCambridge) are inspired.

Beautifully shot, too.

"You've got 5 years of mad in you, you can give them 5 more minutes."

I've never seen a movie comprised almost entirely of 3rd acts. This movie starts off with tension set at 80% and just keeps ratcheting it up. The uncertainty of what could happen at any moment reminds me of the best moments of a Tarantino film.

Everyone's does a great job of either being harshly sarcastic or full of fiery hate at the drop of a hat that it's memorizing to watch. These characters are far too busy with their own vendettas to be bothered with menial chitchat making every scene a powder-keg.

Not a conventional western, or or conventional film from that era or really any era. Great film making.

A film of extremes; extreme terrain, extreme color, extreme emotions (both high and low). The perfect embodiment of these extremes is Joan Crawford, who can turn from hardened and bitter to tender and vulnerable then back again. Not a film of it's time, or any, as far as I can tell.

Can't imagine there are many films like this. The sequence with Joan Crawford in the white dress playing piano is exceptional.

A revisionist western made about a decade before revisionist westerns were viable and flourishing. The plot isn't particularly gripping or inspired, but the film's brilliantly modern and unconventional execution (the whole show essentially being run by two women/the subversion of lawmen wearing white and outlaws wearing black), its vividly stylised look along with some great turns of nuanced dialogue make it a very enjoyable film far ahead of its time.

Mr Ray's modern vision on signature genre.

Crawford is absolutely radiant in this. Sexual tension of every description is flying about for the first half hour of Johnny Guitar and it is so thick, you almost need to wipe it off the furniture.

Unfortunately it all calms down after a while and I wasn't so taken with the final act. Crawford's defiant individualism gave way to a somewhat sappy love story, which didn't sit well.

Although the general narrative kind of tapered off, the McCarthy inspired mob scenes that brew early in the film and break out in the final act (led by the magnificent Mercedes McCambridge) are inspired.

Beautifully shot, too.

I first saw this back in film school, on a sub-sub-subpar VHS-rip that left the colors in such poor condition that I, then totally unfamiliar with it, assumed it to be a black-and-white film that had been badly colorized. Seeing it now, on Olive's Blu-ray, left me in a much better state to consider it not just aesthetically, but narratively and emotionally. That I've since gained an appreciation for wild expression of inner turmoil is no small help, either. Still think it could use more guitar, though, but what couldn't.

Johnny Guitar stars Ernest Borgnine as a member of a gang, with Joan Crawford in a supporting role as the owner of the bar that he likes to drink at. The title character is played by character actor Sterling Hayden who plays the guitar for him when he requests it. The climax of the film occurs about 30 minutes in when Ernest Borgnine fights Johnny Guitar and wins. Then there's a lot of shooting and I think someone rolls down a hill or something after that.

Eyes of revenge
For reasons beyond understanding
Paint over realism
Shocks over continuity
"In one word: emotion."

I won't give this a rating because I was writing a paper about sick babies while this played, but what I saw was excellent. Come for Joan Crawford's technicolor wardrobe, stay for the taut drama!

"You've got 5 years of mad in you, you can give them 5 more minutes."

I've never seen a movie comprised almost entirely of 3rd acts. This movie starts off with tension set at 80% and just keeps ratcheting it up. The uncertainty of what could happen at any moment reminds me of the best moments of a Tarantino film.

Everyone's does a great job of either being harshly sarcastic or full of fiery hate at the drop of a hat that it's memorizing to watch. These characters are far too busy with their own vendettas to be bothered with menial chitchat making every scene a powder-keg.

Not a conventional western, or or conventional film from that era or really any era. Great film making.

A film of extremes; extreme terrain, extreme color, extreme emotions (both high and low). The perfect embodiment of these extremes is Joan Crawford, who can turn from hardened and bitter to tender and vulnerable then back again. Not a film of it's time, or any, as far as I can tell.