This screenplay tosses in as many Western tropes as can fit in the running time: a man (that Hollywood invention, a gunfighter) ranging for revenge; a woman of ambiguous fidelity; a war between ranchers for control of a town; a flashy punk to challenge the gunfighter; gold; Apaches (much mentioned, not seen).
Everyone except Widmark looks as if they are soaking up the local color at a dude ranch — most of the cast sport bandanas in a range of designer hues and tones around their necks and are attired in notably neat, clean clothes. Reed, who looks as if she is ready for a glamour photo session, wears several carefully tailored and colorful outfits, including a getup, complete with a hat tilted at a saucy angle, right out of "Johnny Guitar" (that calculatedly stylized Western, which this film might have taken some of its cues from). (Where does she keep all those clothes?) Widmark also has a tasteful bandana, but the rest of his outfit at least looks as if it could be worn in the Old West without being looked askance at.
Widmark and Reed start out at cross purposes, but soon enough get a yen for each other. That is perhaps because both are supposed to be from the South (he from Texas, she from Georgia), although they sound just like they came from Iowa. (Reed did come from Iowa; Widmark from Minnesota.) When things threaten to slow down or seem too absurd, there is another Hollywood invention — the fast-draw showdown. There are four, or maybe five, including the not-quite-a-showdown at the end.
A sign of how misguided this film is can be seen in its having the congenitally likable Harry Morgan as a badass dude (he gets plugged by the black leather-wearing flashy punk, who is named...Johnny Cool).
Widmark does solid work, and has some snappy lines as the roving avenger. Reed does the best she can, but at times seems to be thinking ahead to settling down in the suburbs as the wife of a pediatrician, which she would do a few years later on her own television show.
The filmmakers may have been trying to have it both ways here: serving up slickly done clichés to satisfy the fan of Westerns while casting sideways winks to those who might be attuned to the camp aspects of the affair. Even in this generous assessment, it doesn't quite work. When Nicholas Ray & co. decided to do something different with the Western film in "Johnny Guitar", they made the result strikingly theatrical and as expressionistic as the inherently realistic genre could be. In this film, things oscillate between rugged earnestness and ludicrousness. Everyone involved in this farrago was apparently picking up some work between more interesting projects.
Everyone except Widmark looks as if they are soaking up the local color at a dude ranch — most of the cast sport bandanas in a range of designer hues and tones around their necks and are attired in notably neat, clean clothes. Reed, who looks as if she is ready for a glamour photo session, wears several carefully tailored and colorful outfits, including a getup, complete with a hat tilted at a saucy angle, right out of "Johnny Guitar" (that calculatedly stylized Western, which this film might have taken some of its cues from). (Where does she keep all those clothes?) Widmark also has a tasteful bandana, but the rest of his outfit at least looks as if it could be worn in the Old West without being looked askance at.
Widmark and Reed start out at cross purposes, but soon enough get a yen for each other. That is perhaps because both are supposed to be from the South (he from Texas, she from Georgia), although they sound just like they came from Iowa. (Reed did come from Iowa; Widmark from Minnesota.) When things threaten to slow down or seem too absurd, there is another Hollywood invention — the fast-draw showdown. There are four, or maybe five, including the not-quite-a-showdown at the end.
A sign of how misguided this film is can be seen in its having the congenitally likable Harry Morgan as a badass dude (he gets plugged by the black leather-wearing flashy punk, who is named...Johnny Cool).
Widmark does solid work, and has some snappy lines as the roving avenger. Reed does the best she can, but at times seems to be thinking ahead to settling down in the suburbs as the wife of a pediatrician, which she would do a few years later on her own television show.
The filmmakers may have been trying to have it both ways here: serving up slickly done clichés to satisfy the fan of Westerns while casting sideways winks to those who might be attuned to the camp aspects of the affair. Even in this generous assessment, it doesn't quite work. When Nicholas Ray & co. decided to do something different with the Western film in "Johnny Guitar", they made the result strikingly theatrical and as expressionistic as the inherently realistic genre could be. In this film, things oscillate between rugged earnestness and ludicrousness. Everyone involved in this farrago was apparently picking up some work between more interesting projects.