Ray and Republic Play Johnny's Guitar --- Part One

There'd never been such a cracked western as Johnny Guitar when Republic got it out for Spring and summer 1954 dates. Was this another of that company's singing cowboys? One look at Nicholas Ray's finished merchandise disabused notions of Johnny's guitar being like ones Rex Allen lately plucked. Hadn't Republic closed B west accounts earlier that year with Allen's last ride, Phantom Stallion? From here forward theirs would be westerns with money, plus whatever genres could lift them to major studio category ... only it was late, as in too late, for reinventing Republic as a dealer off A-level decks, theirs a brand then and forevermore associated with what filled Saturday schedules.



Republic Moving On Up to "A's" For a 1954 Releasing Season

Johnny Guitar was a cult favorite almost from being new, first with Euro's embrace, then coming ashore later to dazzle Nicholas Ray's congregation (plain folks had liked it right off in first-runs ... this was Republic's big score for '54). Ray dropped around for latter-day screenings, brought to the pulpit slowly by admirers who finally satisfied him that JG was a great and highly personal work. Had boxoffice been sole criteria, Ray might have put Johnny among favorites from the start, but his directing experience by all accounts (including NR's own) was pretty miserable, so despite fan assurance, it was hard for him to look back upon anything other than disaster where Johnny Guitar was concerned.



Is it me, or does Joan Crawford look ready to spit in director Nick Ray's eye?

First and foremost this was a Joan Crawford western, a specimen not seen before (modern dress Montana Moon in 1930 didn't really qualify, and was forgotten besides). She was still a meaningful name and more so for recent Sudden Fear, a thriller hit Crawford produced and sold 'cross country like a demon. This star had plentiful juice left by 1953, when Johnny Guitar began shooting (October) and didn't shrink from exercising it. The feuds precipitated by, and inflicted upon, Crawford would be stuff of memoir/interview legend for decades to come. Even now, conflicts off Arizona location are aired by survivor Ernest Borginine, whose entertaining book of last year tattled on diva Joan and opponents long gone. 1953-54 press told of wells poisoned, for Crawford had gone to mats with co-stars Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, and director Ray, with whom JC had been intimate (but no more!). Such heated gossip fanned interest and anticipation for what shaped to be a sexy western we'd not confuse with tame ones Republic had made prior.



This 1954 Ad Promises a "Panoramic Screen" Experience For JG Patrons

Studio is currently mulling whether or not it (Johnny Guitar) will be shot in wide-screen and color, said Variety's Inside Column in July 1953. Many films were tabbed for 1.85 projection by mid-'53, if not anamorphic lensing 20th Fox was soon to unveil, then license to rivals. Trade reviews indicated Johnny Guitar was a 1.66 ratio release, clearly a wider-than-high presentation, though videos, and even a Region 2 DVD introduced by Martin Scorsese (sourced from UCLA's restoration), are full-frame. I assume most audiences in 1954 received Johnny Guitar wide, evidently the way it was meant to be seen. Can anyone report on how JG is rendered for current archival screenings?

Trucolor was Republic's patented rainbow affect. Bosley Crowther's Johnny Guitar review said its hues were slightly awful. You could call Republic's the rope cigar of color processes, but the studio wasn't for enriching Technicolor's coffer when their own lab could get out something at least a tenth as good. Trucolor does suit overall weirdness of Johnny Guitar. Nicholas Ray would tell The Independent Film Journal, "I like Trucolor. It has tremendous clarity." That was in February 1954, months ahead of JG's May release, and perhaps an instance of Ray good-sporting for a next job. NR fell out soon enough with Republic over a full producer's credit he'd counted on. They drew a line at "Associate Producer," which Ray called a short-pants credit. Associate is an office boy equivalent, said the director, so rather than submit to it, he'd accept no producer credit at all.

Joan Crawford had a percentage of Sudden Fear and made a pot-full. For Johnny Guitar, she got straight salary at $200,000, reflection of juiced-up value in her name thanks to Fear's success. Despite not being in for a % this time, Crawford tub-thumped, gratis as Variety put it, on Johnny Guitar's behalf. Her swing was through Texas theatres, four city stops and mob scenes in all. JC's fan base was thicker than Lone Star cattle ... they'd amount to droves everywhere she went. Crawford's attention to club chapters made her following by far the most organized and loyal any star had. Receptions they'd arrange made personally-appearing Joan Crawford look like Cleopatra stepping off her barge.

Part Two of Johnny Guitar is HERE.