Film:
Johnny Guitar
Format: Internet video on laptop.
Genre films offer particular expectations. As members of the audience, we expect specific things, but we also like a surprise now and then. It seems like back in the day that when a film did attempt to offer up a surprise, the idea was to come up with one thing that the audience might not expect and otherwise present a pretty standard film. Honestly, it seems like that’s still what happens. In the case of
Johnny Guitar, the big switch is that our protagonist and antagonist are both women, quite unusual for a Western. It also didn’t prevent the filmmakers from naming this after one of the male characters.
As the film opens, we see a drifter with a guitar strapped to his back riding across a prairie. This is our title character, Johnny “Guitar” Logan (Sterling Hayden), and he will prove to be suitably deep voiced and manly. He observes a stage being robbed, then rides up to a saloon out in the middle of nowhere. It turns out that this is is final destination—he’s looking for a woman named Vienna.
