Sedona, McCarthyism, and Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar

Arizona State University Associate Professor Kevin Sandler will discuss moments in Western films that bring about the lighter side of the genre: one of the most innovative filmmakers of the post-WWII Hollywood era, and one with a relatively short career, Nicolas Ray managed to infuse his films (Lonely Place (1950), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) with a distinctive visual and thematic style. His unconventional “B”-movie sagebrush saga, Johnny Guitar (1954), is no different. Shot throughout Sedona with two feuding female leads (Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge), Johnny Guitar reflects the paranoia, suspicion, betrayal and recrimination in the McCarthy era like few films of its time.

Bio:

Kevin Sandler is an associate professor in the Film and Media Studies Program. He specializes in the contemporary U. S. media business, with a particular focus on censorship and animation. He is the coeditor of Hanna and Barbera: Conversations (University Press of Mississippi, 2024), author of The Naked Truth: Why Hollywood Doesn’t Make X-Rated Movies (Rutgers University Press, 2007), the co-editor of Titanic: Anatomy of a Blockbuster (Rutgers, 1999), and editor of Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation (Rutgers 1998). He also has published in several anthologies, journals, and public facing outlets including Cinema Journal, Animation Journal, and Slate. His upcoming books are Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (Duke University Press) and The Hanna-Barbera Anthology (University of Texas Press).

Program Date:

2:00 – 3:30 p.m.

FREE for Museum Members
FREE with Museum Admission
$8 for program attendance only (does not include further admittance to the museum/galleries)