--- title: "Johnny Guitar: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/johnny-guitar/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/johnny-guitar" critics_score: 81 critics_reviews: 11 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Johnny Guitar (1954): what the critics said Critics' score 81 from 11 reviews: 9 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Johnny Guitar, with praise centring on Joan Crawford’s commanding performance and the film’s departure from conventional western roles for women. Mercedes McCambridge also draws praise for the menace she brings to Emma. The reviews repeatedly find substance in the film’s strangeness: its artificial style, heightened performances and dreamlike atmosphere support readings about sexual rivalry, persecution and McCarthyism. For its admirers, the excess gives the drama much of its force. The spread is wide, though strongly weighted towards approval. The Los Angeles Times enjoys the camp humour and visual oddities while resisting claims of greatness. Variety offers the clearest dissent, finding that the emphasis on character slows the western down, with an overlong running time and too little sympathy for the people on screen. The main division concerns whether the heightened style and character focus make the film compelling or leave it short of momentum. ## Slant Magazine — Calum Marsh Rating 4/4. 8 November 2015. Marsh finds the film richly open to interpretation and a potent American myth. He especially praises Mercedes McCambridge’s terrifying portrayal of Emma and the film’s humanizing depiction of McCarthyism. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/johnny-guitar/) ## Time Out — Tom Huddleston Rating 5/5. 27 April 2016. The critic calls the film a masterpiece. Joan Crawford’s screen presence is singled out for praise. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/johnny-guitar) ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Rating A. 1 August 2012. Tobias celebrates the film as a singular, forceful anti-Western that was ahead of its time. He especially praises Joan Crawford’s commanding performance and the film’s radical gender reversal. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/johnny-guitar-blu-ray-1798173668) ## The New Yorker — Richard Brody Fi1m's normalised score 95/100 (inferred from the text). 30 August 2022. Brody calls the film one of the greatest Westerns and an extraordinary achievement of Hollywood style. He especially praises Crawford and Hayden’s performances, singling out their nighttime confrontation as an unsurpassed moment of movie acting. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/johnny-guitar-one-of-the-greatest-westerns-and-the-furthest-extreme-of-the-hollywood-system) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 5 May 2016. Bradshaw calls the film an unforgettably strange and brilliant psychological western. He praises Joan Crawford’s commanding performance and the dreamlike atmosphere created by the dialogue and visuals. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/05/johnny-guitar-review-nicholas-ray-joan-crawford-sterling-hayden-1954-western) ## Empire — Kim Newman Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. Newman finds the film a demented, subversive Western whose artificial style gives it unusual intensity. He especially praises its overwrought performances and bizarre musical stretches. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/johnny-guitar-review/) ## Sight and Sound Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). The critic presents the western as a splendid, allegorical drama with rich interpretive possibilities. They praise Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge’s performances and single out its treatment of sexual rivalry and xenophobic persecution. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/4f80b666-69bb-5690-8066-b578647d4134/johnny-guitar) ## Los Angeles Times — MARK CHALON SMITH Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 28 February 1991. The critic finds the film entertainingly quirky, while resisting claims that it ranks among the greatest Westerns. He praises its gender-bending campiness, deadpan humor, and odd visual details. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-28-ol-2923-story.html) ## The New York Times Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 28 May 1954. The headline identifies this as a review of Johnny Guitar, but its evaluative verdict is unavailable. The accessible page provides no details about what the critic praised or criticized. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1954/05/28/archives/the-screen-in-review-johnny-guitar-opens-at-the-mayfair.html) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1953. The review is unfavorable, arguing that the film’s character focus leaves it without enough momentum as a western. It also faults the film as overlong and lacking sympathy for its characters. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1953/film/reviews/johnny-guitar-1200417672/) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 4 May 2016. Kermode gives the film an enthusiastic recommendation, calling it a standout among frontier stories. She especially praises Joan Crawford’s commanding performance as Vienna, a woman defending her independence in a brutal world. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/johnny-guitar-1954-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/johnny-guitar.md