JOHNNY GUITAR & CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA (1954) — Forget damsels in distress because ladies on horseback rule in these big budget westerns. Middle aged ”golden era” actresses Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck play powerful cowgirls who literally call the shots. Execs at Republic and RKO studios were staring into the abyss in the burgeoning TV era when they released these two dusty dramas. Crawford as the saloon owner does a strip and is aggressive in her feud with Emma (Mercedes McCambridge) while Sterling Hayden as Johnny takes a back seat to Crawford’s theatrics. Stanwyck is quite feminine in a romantic scene with incidental fading cowboy star Ronald Reagan in “Queen” while giving bad boy land grabbers a taste of their own medicine. Both were filmed in color in the Mountain West’s scenic locations and the soundtrack music in “Queen” is exceptional for a horse opera. “Johnny Guitar” is cited in the NYT book as one of 1,000 essential movies to see.
RAIN (1932) — In a pre-code United Artists film, a married missionary Alfred Davidson (Walter Huston) is presumably making a tyrannical soul-saving attempt driven by lust in a sleazy hotel on behalf of prostitute Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford). Davidson’s obsession soon becomes apparent in this south seas tropical drama. In short, “men are men” Sadie quips for what transpires between her and the soul-saving traveler. The pounding rain combined with an incessant disorienting jungle drumbeat heighten the sexual tension as Davidson shivers and shakes in the shadows. I didn’t fully understand this steamy cinema as a teen when I first saw it on an afternoon matinee in 1954 on KXLY-TV. It’s from a W. Somerset Maugham short story that was originally filmed with Jean Eagles and remade in the 1950s with Rita Hayworth.
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These are all classic movie stars.
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