Johnny Guitar (1954) on Netflix
Vienna owns a saloon outside an Arizona cattle town, and the townsfolk want her gone for her ties to the Dancin' Kid's gang. Her old lover Johnny Logan rides in.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.6/1021,840 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes94%
Trailer
Plot summary
Johnny Logan rides into an Arizona cattle town and visits the saloon kept by Vienna, the woman he once loved. She has built the place on ground she expects the coming railroad to use, and local ranchers John McIvers and Emma Small want her out. They also resent her friendship with the Dancin' Kid and his gang. When the stagecoach is robbed and Emma's brother is killed, Emma blames the gang and holds Vienna responsible. Emma wants the Dancin' Kid for herself, and her grudge against Vienna goes beyond the robbery. Johnny stands by Vienna, and McIvers gives her, Johnny and the gang twenty-four hours to leave town.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Johnny Guitar (1954)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge feuded during the shoot, which delighted director Nicholas Ray, who found it 'heaven sent' and thought it fed the drama; the trouble dated back to Crawford once dating McCambridge's husband, Fletcher Markle, who McCambridge needled her about.
- Crawford wanted Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck for the role of Emma Small, but both were too expensive, and Claire Trevor was tied up with another film, so Nicholas Ray brought in Mercedes McCambridge.
- The film's main theme, composed by Victor Young, and its title song, co-written and performed by Peggy Lee, were loosely based on Enrique Granados's Spanish Dance No. 5: Andaluza.
- Pedro Almodóvar paid homage to Johnny Guitar in his 1988 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, in which Carmen Maura's voice artist Pepa passes out while dubbing Vienna's voice opposite her ex-lover Iván as Johnny.
