
Vienna has built a saloon outside of town, and she hopes to build her own town once the railroad is put through, but the townsfolk want her gone. When four men hold up a stagecoach and kill a man the town officials, led by Emma Small, come to the saloon to grab four of Vienna's friends, the Dancin' Kid and his men. Vienna stands strong against them, and is aided by the presence of an old acquaintance of hers, Johnny Guitar, who is not what he seems.... (Full plot summary below)
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Vienna has built a saloon outside of town, and she hopes to build her own town once the railroad is put through, but the townsfolk want her gone. When four men hold up a stagecoach and kill a man the town officials, led by Emma Small, come to the saloon to grab four of Vienna's friends, the Dancin' Kid and his men. Vienna stands strong against them, and is aided by the presence of an old acquaintance of hers, Johnny Guitar, who is not what he seems.
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| Village VoiceAaron HillisA slyly radical psychosexual oddity busting through genre conventions, beyond its Old West Arizona setting ... |
| GuardianDerek MalcolmFor all its slightly tatty sets and off-the-mark decor, the film abounds in wonderful lines and acting that doesn't betray them. |
| Video-Reviewmaster.comSteve CrumBizarre, unforgettable Nicholas Ray western that ends in two women shootout! |
| Antagony & EcstasyTim BraytonQuite possibly the weirdest Western ever made by a mainstream studio in the 1950s... I flat-out loved this movie. |
| Time OutTom HuddlestonA movie for anyone who's ever been judged on their appearance, their outlook or the way they choose to live. |
| RogerEbert.comRoger EbertA cheap Western from Republic Pictures, yes. And also one of the boldest and most stylized films of its time, quirky, political, twisted. |
| PatheosEve TushnetDouble-crosses, beautiful losers, gunplay and waterfalls and fire and whiskey, it's all here. |
| East Bay ExpressKelly VanceThis 1954 Freudian Western is one of the all-time left-field wonders of the studio system, a film so subversive it's a wonder it ever got made. |
| Creative LoafingMatt BrunsonFeminism, Freud and firearms all figure in this exemplary yarn that also takes aim at the blacklisting that was tearing apart the film industry. |
| Q Network Film DeskJames KendrickWhen Crawford pulls a gun, her authority is so complete that she doesn't even come across as a woman in male drag; she owns it on her own terms. |