Johnny Guitar (1954) Queer Film B

DIRECTOR: Nicholas Ray

On the outskirts of a wind‑swept Arizona cattle town, Vienna (Joan Crawford)—an aggressive, strong‑willed saloonkeeper—maintains a precarious hold on power. She supports the coming railroad, which the local cattlemen fiercely oppose, and she allows The Dancin’ Kid (Scott Brady), her former lover, and his gang to frequent her establishment. The townsfolk, led by the rigid John McIvers(Ward Bond) and inflamed by Emma Small (Mercedes McCambridge), Vienna’s rival for the Dancin’ Kid’s affections, are determined to drive her out. Vienna stands her ground, aided by the mysterious Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden), a drifter with a past and a guitar who arrives for a scheduled meeting with her. McIvers gives Vienna, Johnny, the Dancin’ Kid, and his men twenty‑four hours to leave town. A showdown is inevitable—but this time, the real duel is between Vienna and Emma, the first all‑female gunfight in the history of the Western.

A LESBIAN DUEL IN THE SUN!

The result is high camp on the range, powered by two of Hollywood’s most volcanic performers. A Western with two female leads is a rarity; a Western in which the emotional and moral stakes hinge on their rivalry is practically unheard of. Crawford and McCambridge play to the gallery under Nicholas Ray’s stylized, almost operatic direction, making the film essential viewing within queer cinema, the Western genre, and the Ray canon.

Johnny Guitar was adapted from Roy Chanslor’s novel by Philip Yordan, who served as a front for the blacklisted poet and screenwriter Ben Maddow. Maddow had adapted Intruder in the Dust and The Asphalt Jungle (earning an Oscar nomination) before being declared persona non grata in Hollywood for his left‑wing affiliations.

A critical and commercial disappointment in America, the film was embraced in Europe, most notably by the young French critics Jean‑Luc Godard and François Truffaut in Cahiers du Cinéma. Its reputation has only grown since. In his 1988 film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, gay Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar paid explicit homage to Johnny Guitar in the scene where Pepa (Carmen Maura), a voice artist, dubs Crawford’s Vienna into Spanish—a perfect tribute to one of cinema’s great camp operas.

Cinematography: Harry Stradling

Republic Pictures

STREAMING: Amazon Prime, YouTube and Apple TV

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