Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny cartoon, the 1958 Pre-Hysterical Hare (featuring Elmer Fudd), directed by Robert McKimson.
Arthur Q. Bryan, who ordinarily provided the voice of Elmer Fudd, was ill during production of this cartoon, Dave Barry provided the character voice.
We've picked another entry from the excellent reference book, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider. Today's choice - Nicholas Ray's 1954 (no other way to describe it but) bizarre cult western, Johnny Guitar, starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Ernest Borgnine and Scott Brady. Nicholas Ray once again subverts the genre, this time the very conservative form - the Western, into a study in mob hysteria, condemning the Communist witch-hunt then tearing Hollywood apart. All that, and to see Joan Crawford in a white gown in a saloon. When to film premiered, American critics found the film almost laughably campy but European critics almost immediately saw the film as a brilliant subversive feminist fever dream. Filmmakers ranging from Jean-Luc Godard to Jim Jarmusch and Martin Scorsese are it's biggest fans. The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like you to join us in watching Johnny Guitar. So push away from the table, get comfortable and enjoy the film.
Actresses Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge fought both on and off camera. Nicholas Ray used the women's mutual antagonism to spark their performances. One night, in a druken rage, Crawford scattered the costumes worn by McCambridge along an Arizona highway. Cast and crew had to collect the outfits.
Demand Euphoria!
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