Post by klep on Apr 23, 2018 6:39:21 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 4/23: Johnny Guitar
WESTERN WEEK!
Johnny Guitar is not about Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden). While he is the first character we see and serves as our initial window to the film, he is ultimately little more than window dressing. A supporting character at most, and a convenient plot device when needed.
So why is the film called Johnny Guitar? Well, for one it's the title the author Roy Chanslor chose for the book from which it is adapted. But why did the name stick? My guess is because someone or someones in production figured that selling the film as a feminist picture about a woman trying to establish herself in a man's role wouldn't fly. Joan Crawford's Vienna is a force of nature, powerful and domineering. She runs her establishment with confidence and authority, but with a little too much emphasis - like she knows how fragile that authority can be and is scared to lose it.
Because Vienna's place is not secure. She lucked into an opportunity to purchase land and build a saloon on a plot that the railway would soon be coming by, but it's not there yet. Her impending fortune and her recent dalliance with local ne'er-do-well the Dancin' Kid (Scott Brady) have put her in hot water with the people of the nearby town. Johnny is just a hired gun, chiefly there to protect her and her interests.
The film is about Vienna's struggle to secure her place in a world where men don't seem to think she deserves it and at least one woman (the only other one in the film) who covets what she has and won't admit it to herself. Mercedes McCambridge's Emma Small is a villain for the ages - single-minded in her hatred of Vienna, Emma will let nothing stand in her way to bring her down. She is vicious to the point of cruelty, and it is easy for the audience to side with Vienna in the face of such persecution. The men are mostly concerned with taking back what they see as rightfully theirs - reestablishing the "natural order", but Emma's enmity is personal and sharper than any knife.
Even Vienna's former lover Johnny isn't immune to such sexist resentment. She left him because he was gun crazy, but he left her because she used to be a sex worker and he judged her for it. Which is another reason she left him - his hypocrisy in pretending to keep his honor despite all the men he killed while she's to be tossed aside because of the men she's only slept with.
Vienna puts it best. "A man can lie, steal... and even kill. But as long as he hangs on to his pride, he's still a man. All a woman has to do is slip - once. And she's a "tramp!" Must be a great comfort to you to be a man. " If the film has a flaw, it's that it never really resolves this; Johnny and Vienna just go off together in the end. Maybe they'll make it, maybe these arguments and judgements will flare up again and drive them apart. But at least this idea is instilled in the audience, and for 1954 that was a pretty subversive thing to do.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 4/30: Metropolis
SIGHT & SOUND POLL WEEK!
Coming it at 37 on the 2012 edition of the Sight & Sound poll is Fritz Lang's masterpiece of science fiction Metropolis. In some ways still ahead of its time, Metropolis is an epic tale with dazzling special effects and a decidedly anti-capitalist viewpoint. Metropolis was granted a new restoration with a recording of its original score in 2010 by Kino Lorber as The Complete Metropolis, and it is available to rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 4/19: Isle of Dogs
Last week's podcast concluded with Wes Anderson's new Isle of Dogs, another stop-motion film from a man who has only twice worked in the medium, but seems to understand it well nonetheless. Isle of Dogs is still in theaters, and we'll have a thread for it up on Wednesday.
WESTERN WEEK!
Johnny Guitar is not about Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden). While he is the first character we see and serves as our initial window to the film, he is ultimately little more than window dressing. A supporting character at most, and a convenient plot device when needed.
So why is the film called Johnny Guitar? Well, for one it's the title the author Roy Chanslor chose for the book from which it is adapted. But why did the name stick? My guess is because someone or someones in production figured that selling the film as a feminist picture about a woman trying to establish herself in a man's role wouldn't fly. Joan Crawford's Vienna is a force of nature, powerful and domineering. She runs her establishment with confidence and authority, but with a little too much emphasis - like she knows how fragile that authority can be and is scared to lose it.
Because Vienna's place is not secure. She lucked into an opportunity to purchase land and build a saloon on a plot that the railway would soon be coming by, but it's not there yet. Her impending fortune and her recent dalliance with local ne'er-do-well the Dancin' Kid (Scott Brady) have put her in hot water with the people of the nearby town. Johnny is just a hired gun, chiefly there to protect her and her interests.
The film is about Vienna's struggle to secure her place in a world where men don't seem to think she deserves it and at least one woman (the only other one in the film) who covets what she has and won't admit it to herself. Mercedes McCambridge's Emma Small is a villain for the ages - single-minded in her hatred of Vienna, Emma will let nothing stand in her way to bring her down. She is vicious to the point of cruelty, and it is easy for the audience to side with Vienna in the face of such persecution. The men are mostly concerned with taking back what they see as rightfully theirs - reestablishing the "natural order", but Emma's enmity is personal and sharper than any knife.
Even Vienna's former lover Johnny isn't immune to such sexist resentment. She left him because he was gun crazy, but he left her because she used to be a sex worker and he judged her for it. Which is another reason she left him - his hypocrisy in pretending to keep his honor despite all the men he killed while she's to be tossed aside because of the men she's only slept with.
Vienna puts it best. "A man can lie, steal... and even kill. But as long as he hangs on to his pride, he's still a man. All a woman has to do is slip - once. And she's a "tramp!" Must be a great comfort to you to be a man. " If the film has a flaw, it's that it never really resolves this; Johnny and Vienna just go off together in the end. Maybe they'll make it, maybe these arguments and judgements will flare up again and drive them apart. But at least this idea is instilled in the audience, and for 1954 that was a pretty subversive thing to do.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 4/30: Metropolis
SIGHT & SOUND POLL WEEK!
Coming it at 37 on the 2012 edition of the Sight & Sound poll is Fritz Lang's masterpiece of science fiction Metropolis. In some ways still ahead of its time, Metropolis is an epic tale with dazzling special effects and a decidedly anti-capitalist viewpoint. Metropolis was granted a new restoration with a recording of its original score in 2010 by Kino Lorber as The Complete Metropolis, and it is available to rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 4/19: Isle of Dogs
Last week's podcast concluded with Wes Anderson's new Isle of Dogs, another stop-motion film from a man who has only twice worked in the medium, but seems to understand it well nonetheless. Isle of Dogs is still in theaters, and we'll have a thread for it up on Wednesday.