Johnny Guitar - Commentary

Commentary

Many critics have pointed out that the film is a hidden commentary on the McCarthy witch-hunts. The film is certainly more than just a Western — Truffaut called it "a phony Western".

In an interview in the Criterion Collection version of The Killing, Sterling Hayden stated that he did not care for Johnny Guitar. "They put string, like you get at the grocery store, over my guitar in case I accidentally hit them," he said, acknowledging that "I can't play guitar, and can't sing a good-goddamn, either." "I was at war on that film, during the daytime, with Joan Crawford," he recalled, "and at night with my second wife." Despite his reservations about the film, Hayden acknowledged its popularity.