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| mo_flixx |
 Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 3:55 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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And speaking of McCarthy...
Seen this go around, Nicholas Ray’s magnificent color western “Johnny Guitar” (1954) became an allegory of the McCarthy era for me. Interestingly while researching the film on the imdb.com , I read that the film’s credited screenwriter, Philip Yordan, was actually fronting for the blacklisted Ben Maddow.
Joan Crawford pulls out the stops as Vienna, one tough sexy broad who owns a saloon where the new railroad will be built. Mercedes McCambridge, way over the top as the sexually frustrated Emma Small, hates Crawford with a vengeance and wants to drive her out of town or worse. Sterling Hayden as the strong silent Johnny scores high on the hunk meter as he rekindles an old romance with Vienna. The film has a cast of outlaws and ranchers, all familiar faces to any fan of westerns of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. Included in the cast are Ernest Borgnine, Ward Bond, and John Carradine.
Emma’s band of ranchers evoke today’s religious right or the '50’s followers of Joe McCarthy. They are an easily manipulated group ready to lynch first, and ask questions later. Vienna plays the hardened broad (read: whore) with the heart of gold. Johnny is the reformed gunslinger who wants to stay out of the middle of things. Everyone except Vienna underestimates him because he is slow to act, but he’s not one to cross. The film has some of the same themes as “High Noon,” but played with a different variation. Vienna and Johnny want to be free to lead law-abiding lives, but Emma and her mob are determined to demonize them.
“Johnny Guitar” with its unusual casting of Crawford and McCambridge as the two leads is noteworthy for being a truly unique western. |
Last edited by mo_flixx on Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:00 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| inexplicably Johnny Guitar is not available in this country on dvd. I own a copy released on dvd in France. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:06 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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| "Johnny Guitar" also contains the famous line "I'm a stranger here myself" and features an uncredited Dennis Hopper, tho' I didn't see him. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:38 pm |
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Wow, kids aren't interested in their parents stories from their past? I loved to hear about things like that. I learned about Nixon at a very young age and how he tarred Helen Gahagan (sp?) Douglas as a communist when he was running against her in California. The McCarthy hearings were big news up here and though I was only around ten, I knew a lot about it and my friends and I actually used to debate about it. It was helped by a production which spoofed the hearings, that aired on the CBC (radio, no TV then) and was recorded. The depression which was well before my time was also something that we, (my circle of friends) knew a lot about. Thinking about table talk, it might have helped that we were a family of three brothers and I was mthe youngest with a brother five years older and ten years older so up the ladder in age to my parents so I guess it was a pretty good connection of history before my time.
Lissa, your schooling was more recent than mine so I don;t think it was the difference in our provinces, but we had one full year of Canadian history (boy did they ever make it dull) and a year of American and a year of European plus Egyptian, and Roman ancient history. The friends I had in Brooklyn in the 50's had been taught American history backwards and forwards and they all knew it thoroughly. I used to think that it was a gross example of American chauvinism, but now that they don't seem to teach it at all, I think it is far worse. Though, in the first American history class that my ex attended at university, the prof started the course by telling them, "Whatever you have learned about American history up till now...forget it!" 
I'm pretty sure I've seen Johnny Guitar, but I'll be damned if I can remember anything about it. Maybe I didn't see it. Sounds good. Sterling Hayden is one of my favourites. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:07 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: Sterling Hayden is one of my favourites.
speaking of McCarthyism, Hayden ratted out some of his commie friends to HUAC. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:20 pm |
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lissa wrote: Quote: Are they not taught about these things in schools (is history not a subject on the curriculum anymore?)
Not in the same way it used to be. Now, besides the current history they learn, it's "personal" history, to make it more relevant to the child and the curriculum of self-awareness. ...
I don't believe any filmmaker should take for granted that kids are taught history these days, or that adults are armed with prior knowledge. It just isn't the case.
Whatever happened to good old-fashioned intellectual curiosity? What about the parents who _used_ to have the time to help with homework and spark children's interests. I'm saddened and appalled to think that some have become too busy having to go through the motions of daily life.
American schools no longer include art or music in the curriculum. No history either? Just what do they teach? And what's with the "personal" history? Aren't we, who seem so self-important with our cellphones that aid in narrating the movie of our own lives, already narcissistic enough?
Color me 'old fogey.'
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Last edited by mo_flixx on Sun Apr 26, 2009 2:37 am; edited 2 times in total |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 6:23 pm |
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| Gary, your parents were taking about things that happened during your lifetime. My parents and I did talk about Nixon. (We talked a lot about Clinton and Bush.) Nixon is to kids today what Warren G. Harding is to me. McCarthy is like the Red Scare of the late Wilson administration. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 6:30 pm |
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| As far as American History goes, the classes never made it to the Civil War, but I did have World Problems, which took us back to the beginning of the Cold War. The period in between I learned from reading on my own, except for World War II, which was covered on television, and Walter Cronkite's historical show You Are There, |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 6:37 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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| The whole HUAC thing has no influence on my response to movies. Some peole detest Elia Kazan because he ratted on people (Brando stopped talking to him midway through On the Watherfront). I don't think Kazan was a particularly great movie director, but my judgement has nothing to do with his politics. Nor do I think of the Hollywood 10 as being a particularly impressive group of martyrs. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:43 pm |
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Gotta say that I lean towards Joe's opinion. I think, so Hayden answered questions about so and sos who were Commy members. So what? It was perfectly legal, being a communist. Unfortunately this was a time when being a communist in the US was perceived, and perhaps with cause, as a threat. McCarthy using it as a tool for power, made it into an ugly sideshow and any intellectual who wasn't a rabid partisan of the far right would be appalled at the slime of the McCarthy hearings and he got what he deserved but not all of what he deserved.
I think Hayden was one of the finest film actors from that period and beyond. To me he seems like a guy who did what he wanted and, kind of a loner with few people close to him. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:48 pm |
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| Hayden was a writer and lived on a sail boat. I remember him appearing on the Johnny Carson show from time to time. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:46 pm |
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Yeah I remeber seeing him on Carson, now that you mention it, but I don't remember the substance of what he said.
I believe he moved onto his boat when the tax people were after him or his ex was after him. I can't remember which. I remember clearly when it was in the news. I thought it was cool.  |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 9:09 pm |
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| Hayden gives a mesmerizing performance in Altman's The Long Goodbye, which also happens to be one of the greatest movies ever. Hayden was blacklisted for a long time, so I assumed he'd refused to give testimony rather than that he gave negative testimony. But, along the lines of what I said before, whatever the case may be, it doesn't alter my opinion of his work. |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:09 pm |
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mo - if this is too personal, please tell me or ignore the question - do you have kids? Things are very different today for kids and for parents, than they were when I was a kid.
Parents are busy today - not too busy. Yes we supervise homework but very little of it pertains to historical knowledge. Many families have two working parents, giving very little leisure time left over for long, pedagogical discussions.
As for "personal" history, here's an example: my son's first project in history was a personal timeline of his life from birth till now. They had to create this timeline using a historical event and what they achieved personally each year. What did this teach? There was a historical aspect as well as a personal development aspect.
I'm lucky in that my own kids watch the news and are deeply curious about life and its nuances. There are others who struggle under the burden of personal difficulties - either at home or within themselves. There are those whose parents work 2 shifts, night and day, and can't be there to have leisurely conversations about history with their kids. Sometimes "the motions of daily life" is all parents can keep up with. We have so many things that can go wrong in today's life...statistics are astounding, for dropout rate, suicide and crime in young people.
I suppose I'm lucky here as well, in that my kids are receiving a wealth of artistic education. One is in music, the other in art. But as for history? How is knowing intricate details about everything going to help my kid find a job? Or pass his exams in order to get to the next level? What relevance on their futures does Ancient Rome and its history hold?
I remember how boring Canadian history was too, Gary - we had to learn political dates and people and it didn't help me one bit in my path through life. It won't help today's kids either.
We are in a technological society now. If we don't teach our kids how to live in this society, we are handicapping them. There has to be current knowledge taught alongside history or we are taking away their ability to go out into the world. Or at least to succeed academically and professionally. We have to make room in the curriculum for that. It also provides a lot more to do, for kids, that has replaced the discussions you mentioned, Gary; back then, life was simple but today our kids are inundated with 24-hour television and internet and computer "things to do". A lot more attractive than debating current events. (Though my kids and I followed the election from start to finish and ended up in great conversations about it)
I have combed through, several times over, the documents dictating the competencies that must be covered in our schools (the Minister of Education here in Quebec, anyway) and it's all about personal development and growth, and some about morals, ethics, respect for others. But how that is taught is up to every teacher or teaching team, and approved of by their supervisors. This means that one teacher may teach about ancient Greece and another may teach about modern Montreal. As long as the competencies are covered and the basic skills (math, English, French) are drilled.
I think, mo, that you misinterpreted (or I hadn't explained) the "personal" history concept. But it isn't about self-importance; it's about self-awareness. And if we are not self-aware, we cannot be other-aware. In today's society, where we are dealing with terrorism - both domestic and abroad, virtual and face-to-face, and the myriad new ways being dreamed up every day of attacking our world and our principles - we have to teach our kids survival. Sadly, the leisurely lessons of dates, times, and events have to take a back seat.
(I still think a filmgoer should be able to understand a movie regardless of his/her historical acumen) |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:51 pm |
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Location: New York City
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Sterling Hayden was an iconoclastic sort of actor, with several indelible characterizations to his credit. Most impressive of them all was his Oscar-worthy (but not even nominated) portrayal of a right-winger in Dr. Strangelove. It was hilarious and terrifying at one and the same time. Another great one was The Killing, still my very favorite Stanley Kubrick film.
And then there's Johnny Guitar, whose reputation as a "great film" is absolutely laughable to me. I really enjoy the movie for its over-the-top campiness (the very idea of Joan Crawford in a Western gets me giggling), but the way people go on about it is just plain silly IMO. |
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