Johnny Guitar- Oct. 11 on TCM at 10 PM

Set your DVR for an amazing post-war Western on Turner Classic Movies. Johnny Guitar (Nicolas Ray, 1954) is the focus of my 2010 Master's thesis. I've included an excerpt of my paper below.
  
Women Take the Reins: Star, Social Discourse, and the Duality of Readership in the 1950s Western

from page 20... a passage on the actions and dress of the female characters in Johnny Guitar and The Furies (Anthony Mann, 1950)

The masculine positioning of Crawford in Johnny Guitar also suggests her sexual confidence over men. Her ability to function within the masculine geography of the western creates a unique character that can function as both male and female. When Vienna first appears onscreen, one of her employees makes a comment about Johnny Guitar: “That’s a lot of man your carrying in those boots stranger.” Interestingly, this comment is off-screen while the camera lingers over Vienna. Jennifer Peterson argues that, “Despite her gender – or more accurately because her gender is not static but floating, both ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ – Vienna is allowed to stand as a self-sufficient individualistic western hero.”[1] However, by allowing Vienna to function as a man, problems arise that question Vienna’s moral ambiguity. She is unfulfilled in her role of female and is obsessed with positing herself as a man. Ray adeptly acknowledges this with Vienna’s stance – legs always spread apart counter to a feminine stance, with a gun strapped to her leg. This illustrates Vienna’s phallic lust for power that is thwarted by the end of the film.

 

Figures 3 - Vienna in position of power

The traditionally masculine garb is more noticeable when juxtaposed to the heroines’ feminine costumes. For example, Vienna dons a luminous white dress with a layered skirt and puffy sleeves when she closes her saloon. Similarly, we first see Vance in her deceased mother’s ball gown trying on jewelry. These images of excessive femininity serve to call attention to the alternative masculine costumes, calling the viewers attention to the power that has been given to the female. The costumes serve both types of readership. Importantly, even while these women are in feminine dress, they still possess authority and strength. The dimorphic costumes of both Vienna and Vance suggest mobility between male and female spheres. On the one hand, Vance is a daughter and Vienna was a prostitute, but they now assume roles as businesswomen as their formal pants would suggest. With these costumes they move into the male position in the western. 

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[1] Jennifer Peterson. “The Competing Tunes of Johnny Guitar: Liberalism, Sexuality, and Masquerade.” The Western Reader. Ed. Jim Kitses, Gregg Rickman. Limelight Editions. New York. 1998. p. 331.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Leone, 1966) follows three different men on a quest for gold in the form of a long archetypal narrative structure. These 3 men, named in the title as such, each have their own way of getting to this treasure, their paths inevitably crossing. Leone’s last installment of the “Man with No Name” trilogy illustrates the humanistic nature of men and how certain traits are rewarded. Most interesting is the relationship between Blondie and Tuco (Eastwood and Wallach). The position of power in their relationship is constantly shifting - Blondie using Tuco, Tuco getting back at Blondie – they use each other. When the two chance upon the infamous Bill Carson who reveals the whereabouts of the money, ironically he reveals the general location to one, and the specific grave where it is buried to the other. Tuco and Blondie have no choice but to help each other if they want to see the treasure. The third party in this story, “the bad” Angel Eyes, lives up to the name, also hunting for the money through the guise of serving in the Yankee army. Lee van Cleef is positively sinister, all in black, on his prancing black Andalusian stallion, always following through with his jobs to the death, so he says.

Rather than a story of idealism, heroism, and something “greater than man,” the film deals explicitly with the human nature of greed and fairness. Unlike some present day westerns like Cowboys & Aliens (Jon Favreau, 2011) which throws at us clichéd themes of coming together against a common enemy – yes, the whites and Indians ban together to fight the aliens – Leone takes a look at human nature, leaving idealism aside. Even “the good” has his own interests at heart, but he’s fair. Leone’s story is a depiction of what makes humans tick – in this case, money. Unlike classic westerns (specifically early American westerns by the likes of John Ford), the protagonist is not necessarily the hero. The antagonist is clearly bad - personified by Angel Eyes, he defies the code of Western honor from the beginning, shooting a child. But the hero is not quite as clear, perhaps not there at all. The question of what makes man good is not so clearly defined either. In the classic old west the rules of the game are black/white, good/evil, hero/villain; however Leone is able to muddle right and wrong in favor of showing the humanism of Blondie and Tuco, who are concerned with their own well being rather than something bigger than themselves.

Most beautiful is the rhythmic montage taken straight from the pages of Vertov, particularly at the final duel in the circular middle of the graveyard where the treasure waits at a grave marked “Unkown.” Not only does the editing cut in perfect time with Ennio Morricone's score – who frequently collaborated with Leone – but the movement from eye to gun to hand to eye over and back again creates a thrilling lead up to the demise of Angel Eyes. Regardless of the length of this film, the final scene, an editing masterpiece, is worth the wait.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly certainly takes a classic western plot line of men seeking treasure and allows us to look at the characters under a humanistic lens. It is a refreshing derivative of the classics we see with Ford and Hawks. Leone makes his autuerist mark on this film as well – a nice final installment to his trilogy.