Johnny Guitar + Introduction

Johnny Guitar is many things: a thrilling Western, a showcase of two phenomenal actresses, and a film that challenges conventions at every possible turn.

Its tone is feverish and delirious. It subverts conventions of Westerns at every turn and has plenty of ambiguity that makes it more aligned with contemporary cinema than the 1950s. 

Nicholas Ray's campy western is one of the great historical examples of queer coding, focussing on the relationship between Vienna and Emma, two women that despise each other.

While the film suggests this hatred stems from power struggles and Emma’s desire to prevent the change that Vienna represents, the subtext suggests something very different.

While this isn't the kind of movie where every line of dialogue is innuendo-packed or loaded with blatant sexual subtext, Ray's staging, managing of cheap production, and direction blast the story into the realm of bizarre psychosexual drama without losing the sincerity pop Westerns require.

Paul Burston, author, curator and host of award-winning LGBTQ+ literary salon Polari will introduce this screening - one of the greatest historical examples of queer-coding in classical Hollywood. For 20 years Paul Burston was the LGBT Editor at Time Out. He interviewed and became friends with Derek Jarman, contributing a chapter to his book At Your Own Risk. A founding editor of Attitude magazine, Paul’s writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Sunday Times and many other publications. His memoir We Can Be Heroes : A Survivor’s Story is a tale of living through two pandemics, surviving two near death experiences and battling his own demons.

“Probably the gay book of the year.” - ES Magazine

“A compelling and hugely enjoyable memoir about a fearless life lived to the full.” - Bernardine Evaristo

Take a deep dive into Johnny Guitar with a podcast made by Bexhill college students Max, Dexter and Beau. The podcast was created specifically for our Too Much season. 

Supported by BFI FAN and National Lottery funding and co-curated by Young Electrics.

Too Much: Melodrama on Film is a UK-wide celebration of exaggerated staging, score and performance to create the ultimate spectacle.

Melodrama tells intimate and familial stories, a rare cinematic form that concerns itself with women's inner lives repeatedly dismissed by critics that found the outpouring of emotion "too much" and yet these films and the legacy of 'womens' pictures' carry searing social commentary beneath a glossy veneer.

Imperfectly feminist yet endlessly relatable, come to the cinema to reconsider what, if anything, is "too much".

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