Johnny Guitar

Nicholas Ray, 1954 (7.6*)
This is an absolutely bizarre western, featuring gun-toting women and music loving gunmen. The title character is a guitar-toting, peaceful outsider, played by Sterling Hayden, in his "glamour boy" days, with curly blond hair. He drifts into a dusty town where saloon-keeper Joan Crawford has a feud going with local rancher Mercedes McCambridge and the locals, including sheriff Ward Bond, all seem to do her bidding, which can be pretty vindictive. There are also hints of romantic jealousy between the two over Dancing Boy (Scott Brady), who has a gang of illiterates led by perfectly cast tough guy Ernest Borgnine.

There are few western cliches here, as if Ray intentionally set about to break traditions. Little in the plot is "black and white", it's all intense hues of color - literally. By way of introduction to the town, Sterling Hayden's fingers fly over the guitar, while Dancing Boy illustrates his nickname as well, wheeling McCambridge around he room. Even the settings are bizarre: Crawford's saloon, which stands by itself outside of the town proper, has a desert rock wall and resembles a cave, the outlaw hideout is on a hilltop approached by going through a waterfall. Written by blacklisted author Ben Maddow (credited to Philip Yourdon) from a Roy Chanslor novel. Oddly listed by IMDB as "film noir" - a western?

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In a Lonely Place

Nicholas Ray, 1950, bw (8.8*)
This excellent and surprising drama shows a side of Humphrey Bogart's acting skills never seen before. He plays a three-dimensional character with internal angst, loneliness, and a touching vulnerability. Bogart stars as a once-in-demand screenwriter, Dixon Steele, now trying to make a comeback. He has a girl come to his apartment to summarize a novel he has to adapt for the screen, and he ends up being the last to see her alive before she is murdered, so he's the obvious suspect.

That is, until neighbor Gloria Grahame clears him, in my favorite performances of this underrated actress (It's a Wonderful Life, Oscar® for supporting in The Bad and the Beautiful). She really gets to show her range here as she and Bogart begin both a professional and personal relationship, and establish a wonderful chemistry together onscreen. Grahame has both the beauty of an actress, yet somehow also seems accessible like the girl next door, which she literally is in this film. The film is really not about the crime as much as its effect on all the people who become involved, including a detective friend of Steele's, well played by Frank Lovejoy, but who naturally suspects his friend here. All the relationships become strained by the crime investigation, and the actors make you believe they are falling apart emotionally.

One of the best films ever made about Hollywood, for me this is the most rewarding film of director Nicholas Ray, better known for Rebel Without a Cause; this one is thankfully missing the over-acted melodrama of that film, and offers a much more honest portrayal of real characters. An oft-overlooked classic, it's #361 on our Top Ranked 1000 Films.

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