Johnny Guitar

Director: Nicolas Ray

1954 / 110min / DCP

Ray’s cracking-good, psychologically complex western stars Joan Crawford at her best as a saloon owner trying to protect her friend from the noose wielded by an out-of-control lynch mob, headed up by a diabolical Mercedes McCambridge. Sterling Hayden ably fills out the boots of the title character, who comes to help his former lover ward off the bad guys. This McCarthy-era allegory features stunning color photography and double entendres galore; it’s slowly come to be commonly identified as one of the great American films of the 1950s.