Share
Film
J. Hoberman
Tuesday, August 12th 2003
The French new wave fetishized Nick Ray (the "greatest" of post-war directors—Eric Rohmer) and Johnny Guitar("a dream western, magical—unreal and delirious"—François Truffaut). Godard referenced Johnny Guitarin four of his '60s features; Truffaut (who managed to review it twice) paid homage with Shoot the Piano Playerand cited it in another '60s feature. Can you ID the films?
1. The hero invites the heroine, as Sterling Hayden did Joan Crawford, to tell him lies, and like Crawford, she does.
2. A husband informs his wife he sent their maid to the movies because Johnny Guitarwas playing: "Good for her education."
3. A couple attends a screening of Johnny Guitar; on the way out, he tells her, "It's not about horses and guns. It's about people and emotion."
4. A hippie cadre code-named Johnny Guitar attempts to make radio contact with another group: "Johnny Guitar calling Gosta Berling."
5. A young political activist criticizes a Communist journal for attacking Johnny Guitar just because it is an American movie.
Research assistance: Ben Kenigsberg
Answers: 1. Le Petit Soldat (Godard, 1960) 2. Pierrot le Fou(Godard, 1965) 3. Mississippi Mermaid (Truffaut, 1969), 4. Weekend(Godard, 1967) 5. La Chinoise(Godard, 1967).
Recent Articles
More by J. Hoberman
Nicolas Cage Makes Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant Almost Fun
Aleksandr Sokurov's The Sun Meditates on Hirohito
Jerry Lewis Retro at Anthology
Working for the respect he never got, the funnyman as director
The Men Who Stare at Goats Too Dippy to Be Serious
We don't mean to sound paranoid, but: Did aliens abduct George Clooney's sense of humor?
First Lady of Film Alice Guy Blaché at the Whitney
OFD (original female director) gets some recognition
Site Search «
Most Popular
-
The Strangest Landlord-Tenant Relationship In Town? Stacked up in cubicles for decades, immigrants living in a Bowery tenement may have a very unusual situation.
-
The Pet-Death Business All dogs go to heaven. Yours will probably get there in an urn.
- We've Bailed out the Banks. When Do We Go After the Crooks Behind our Financial Collapse?
- On Michael Jackson's Mercifully Goofy, Cheerful This Is It
-
The Secret Life of Girls On the latest blog-rock sensation's improbable, somewhat verifiable backstory
| buy, sell, trade 10,107 | musician 3,538 |
| rentals 12,927 | jobs 2,193 |
| adult entertainment 34,727 | |
| classifieds | backpage.com | Post ads for free! | |
|---|---|