JOHNNY GUITAR (1953) ***1/2 I bet there are still people in this world who know what this allegorical cowboy film is about. Senator Joseph McCarthy, obviously, but what else? Nicholas Ray was a Communist (protected from McCarthy by Howard Hughes, an architect, and an alumnus of Elia Kazan). There's the map, now why don't the landmarks match? Mercedes McCambridge (with her lynch-mob dressed like puritans and breaking every promise they make along the way) is obviously McCarthy, but the more intriguing question is who, or what, is Joan Crawford? The repartee' between Guitar and The Dancin' Kid is droll and extraordinary. The metaphors are multi-layered, esoteric and arcane; impossible to decipher from here like Kennedy assassination documents or 16th Century Rosicrucian texts. Joan takes off her white dress, puts on a red shirt, and takes up her gun in earnest. The blue collar guys are blowing up the pass through the mountains, but look up in questioning admiration as the bandits ride by. Joan gives her three workers enough money for six months and says, "If I'm still here in six months I'll expect you back. If I'm not, keep wheeling and dealing." Demands multiple viewings, and stacks of memoirs that haven't yet been published for reference.