Johnny Guitar (1954)

Hi J, Here is this week's column and pic. Thanks again.Mark GIMMEE SOME SUGAR October begins and it's the month of Halloween, so what better time than now to highlight a horror series that recently made its way to disc. Fans of EVIL DEAD 1 & 2 and ARMY OF DARKNESS have thrilled to the horrific and yet humorous adventures of Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) since the first film arrived way back in 1981. Praised by Stephen King, loved by fans and a nominee on nearly every list of favorite horror films, the original played for scares while the two sequels more for laughs. They launched the career of Sam Raimi to the point he directed 3 Spider-man films. And now Ash has made his way to series and a disc set.A basis overview of the original: Ash and friends discover an ancient book bound in flesh that when read aloud unleashed a demonic evil that kills his friends. Ash ends up having to cut off his own hand and take on the demon alone, even going back in time to do so. A quick summation but all you need.In the Starz series ASH VS EVIL DEAD the story picks up years later. Ash remains one handed, still works a low level job in retail and retains possession of the Necronomicon or Book of the Dead. He's still the same goofy character we came to love years ago, smart mouthed, subtle as a shovel to the head and more inclined to look for a party than trouble. Unfortunately one drunken hookup has Ash bragging and showing off the book to his conquest of the night and then reading from it. Of course this show off stunt unleashes the Deadites (Evil dead bad guys/demons) again.Various Deadite occurrences follow. One involves police detective Amanda Fisher (Jill Marie Jones) and her partner investigating a dark house. Her partner is killed and then possessed by a Deadite forcing her to shoot him to defend herself. Put on leave she begins to look into any and all clues on her own time to find out just what's going on, eventually leading her to Ash.But Ash has his own problems when Deadites attack the store where he works. With the help of co-worker Pablo (Ray Santiago) who worships Ash and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) they escape to his trailer where he hopes to find a way of destroying the book. At that trailer they are attacked and the two youngsters get to see Ash in action as he grabs his "boomstick" aka shotgun to take out one Deadite and straps on his chainsaw to the stump where his hand once was to take down another. Yes, that may sound crazy but it works.And like that the threesome is destined to take the path of trying to save the world. With a few stops along the way like checking on Kelly's family and a visit to Pablo's shaman uncle. Each 30 minute episode takes us down the road they're traveling and offers us more clues as to what is going on and how to stop it. The end result is that Ash must face the responsibility he's been trying to avoid all these years and become the hero he was meant to be, albite a tarnished one at best.The show takes the best parts of the original trilogy and multiplies them to a point where they work marvelously well. The character of Ash is a hoot, with a ton of humor on the surface and a hero buried underneath it all that just needs brought out. Pablo is a fantastic sidekick, wanting to join the good fight for the wrong reason (to get closer to Kelly) but willing to follow Ash anywhere. And Kelly offers that tough girl exterior who has a soft spot as well, who thinks of Pablo as a brother but who may change eventually. While Ash doesn't want their help initially he eventually knows he'll need it.Every actor in this series is well suited for their parts. Let me say up front as a fan of Campbell he once again brings Ash to life, and I mean that in a good way. He offers the broad strokes when needed and the subtle ones when called for. Ash is the reluctant hero, a man whose crass ways lead him to make mistakes but someone you'd want in your corner once he gets there. Santiago and DeLorenzo are fresh faces to me and handle their roles well enough to keep up with Campbell, growing into them with each episode.The first season now on disc only lasts 10 episodes which is a shame. When it was over I found myself wanting more. Season 2 has just started on Starz but I can wait for the season to make its way to disc. That means I can take the time to savor each episode. I can also enjoy the fact that they've announced Lee Majors to portray Ash' father! In the meantime I think I'll find myself watching this one more than once, just like I did the original movies. Maybe a weekend of EVIL DEAD with all three films and this series is in order. That might make a fun filled Halloween weekend. This is one not to rent but to add to your shelf. The combination of horror, extreme gore and laughs make it just that good.Past Digital Views reviews, other current reviews and more can be found online at http://dvddigitalviews.blogspot.com, including reviews BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, MONEY MONSTER and JOHNNY GUITAR.

A strong willed female saloon owner (Joan Crawford) is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob, when she helps a wounded gang member.I can see why this western has something of a cult status. Certainly an outlaw who has a guitar strapped to his back rather than a gun makes for an interesting character. And it asks that age old question: can a leopard change his spots? Can Johnny Logan become Johnny Guitar? Joan Crawford leads the film, apparently because she helped produce it. For the life of me, I never figured out her appeal. Her acting is good but no great. She is no joy to look at. And from what I understand, she was more or less a terror to everyone around her. How did she ever get to be as big as she was?

This is one of the more interesting old westerns featuring screen legend Joan Crawford. Two strong willed women fight a power battle against the backdrop of a murder. Most westerns featured women mainly as the love interest but this is different in that the women featured are both tough and both willing to use a gun. This to me is a more realistic version of the old west. Joan Crawford is excellent as the feisty hotel owner waiting for a railroad to come through town and make her rich. Her nemesis played brilliantly by Mercedes McCambridge wants her out of town and seeks to do this by blaming her for the murder of her brother. The acting is excellent and it features an early appearance by the excellent Ernest Borgnine. There are good performances too by John Carradine and Scott Brady. The only downside coming from a predictably wooden performance by Sterling Hayden as Johnny Guitar. The action and story rattle along at a good pace and the smart script mainly steers clear of many of the old western clichés. It all culminates in a great final few scenes. This is a very good entry in the western genre and all the better for making the women the lead protagonists. Highly recommended to western fans.

Hard to know what to say about this florid concoction except that it's truly one of a kind. Taken as a western, it's plain god-awful. Taken as parody of a western, it's sharp as a doorknob. Taken as an experiment in Technicolor, I can think of cheaper ways. To me, the movie is best taken as a collection of insider indulgence. How else to explain Crawford's Park Avenue get-up, or her desert island casino, or McCambridge's manly fierceness, or a bookish bank-robber, or a showdown for toughest woman of Lesbos. Now, scholars can play around with symbolism all they want. But first, the subject has to be interesting enough to play with. Seems to me there are worthier movie subjects than this one for analysis. Sure, I've read how the story's really a color-coded allegory of McCarthyism, with the black-clad posse as HUAC and the bank robbers as commies. After all, the Dancin' Kid is left-handed and the gang does stick together and they do rob banks. Probably this is as good a subtext reading as any, that is, if you're looking for some such. Me, I just take it as a slice of Hollywood weirdness with Crawford playing dress-up and in charge, with the estimable Nick Ray trailing somewhere behind.