Joan Crawford packs heat in a Western for women

Never available on DVD, Nicholas Ray’s infamously bizarre Western Johnny Guitar (1954, Not Rated, 1 hr., 50 mins.) is now out on Blu-ray. Lovers of high art and high camp should eat it up. Joan Crawford stars as a pistol-packing saloon owner who’s persecuted by a small-minded lynch mob led by Mercedes McCambridge’s hard-ass harpy. Sterling Hayden may be the six-string title character, but it’s the women who wear the pants in this Freudian frontier town. While the colors on screen pop, it’s the over-the-top performances that crackle. The only EXTRA is an introduction from Martin Scorsese. A-