Strangers in the Far Side of Paradise

Ragtag 101 returns on Thursday, August 20 at 5:30pm with Johnny Guitar, one of the most vibrant and dynamic Westerns of all time. Directed by Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without a Cause, In A Lonely Place), it's a heady concoction of a film -- an anti-McCarthyist allegory, a generic commentary on gender, and, like all of Ray's films, a heartbroken portrait of American alienation and passionate celebration of outsiders and their relationships. Aesthetically, it's dazzling. Jonathan Rosenbaum has noted that its "stylized mise en scène often seems on the verge of breaking into choreography." It's an accurate characterization, considering Ray's skill with space and color, not to mention his ability to draw intense, touching performances from his entire cast (including Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Sterling Hayden and Ernest Borgnine).

Come see why some French critics considered Nicholas Ray, along with D.W. Griffith and Orson Welles, one of only three film directors worthy of consideration as a true artist. And be sure to stick around for a talk afterward about the film and the lives of Ray and lead actress Joan Crawford.