JOHNNY GUITAR - TWO INTERPRETATIONS - PSYCHOSEXUAL VS BLACKLISTING

JOHNNY GUITAR is a film that was made to be analyzed.  Saying it is a Western is like saying CITIZEN KANE is a film about a sled.

It’s one of my favorite films not only because it is complex and rich in meaning.  Good films should be more than just special effects and handsome people.

However, I’ve come across two different weightages of what the actual meaning of JOHNNY GUITAR is.  Roger Ebert and others tend to view the psychosexual elements of the film as more important, as what the film is really about citing director Nichols Ray’s bisexuality, the hint of lesbian attraction between adversaries protagonist Vienna (Joan Crawford) and antagonist Emma (Mercedes McCambridge), and even the clothing which for the women is black and dyke-y and for the men is colorful and flamboyant.

The other meaning given to this film is a loosely disguised allegory on blacklisting and McCarthyism..  Two accompanying themes in the film, guilt by association and public condemnation without fair presentation of evidence, are a direct commentary on McCarthyism.  I tend to downplay the psychosexual elements (other than gay fashions as kitsch) and think the blacklisting critique was the more urgent prerogative of the filmmakers.

I do agree that sexual repression figures into the relationship between Vienna and Emma but not because of homosexuality.  We are told that Emma’s brother who we never met as he is killed right at the beginning of the film had a crush on Vienna.  Throughout the film we are also led to believe that Emma has a crush on the Dancin’ Kid (Scott Brady) who also likes Vienna.  Emma’s repression is a result of a.) Having a fixation bordering on incest with her own brother – If you don’t believe me on this observation, watch the first scene where she comes face to face with Vienna b.) Liking another man (The Dancin’ Kid) who is out of her reach.  Vienna represents the sexual freedom Emma herself wishes she could have and this leads to anger and frustration on her part and Vienna becomes her target.

Sterling Hayden (who is great here laid back and iconic at the same time) as the title character represents the fellow traveler.  The person who might not be a communist himself but because his friends or coworker are, he is tarred with the same brush.  Vienna also is seen this way. The Dancin’ Kid and his gang (Ernest Borgnine, Royal Dano) are accused communists although we never find out if they are actually guilty of the robbery at the beginning of the movie.  They do eventually commit another robbery although they were perhaps pushed to due to this by what the earlier accusation of the other robbery had cost them.

Emma is Roy Cohn and other villainous HUAC types and the landowner Mr. McIvers is the authority figure who allows all this to happen because he has other reasons (coveting Vienna’s land).  The Sheriff is the weak opposition who doesn’t put up much of a fight (like the Democrats at the time) and the posse represent the mob that mindlessly follow.   

Regardless of the meaning, JOHNNY GUITAR is a standalone film shot almost completely on sets with the brightest colors and strangest costumes.  It’s like an internal moral play played as a dream, a dream of conflict, a dream of colors, of symbols.