Johnny Cool

Johnny Cool
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	William Asher
Written by	Joseph Landon John McPartland (novel)
Starring	Henry Silva Elizabeth Montgomery Richard Anderson Jim Backus Joey Bishop Brad Dexter Telly Savalas Sammy Davis, Jr
Music by	Billy May
Production company	Chrislaw Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	October 19, 1963
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Johnny Cool
Soundtrack album by Billy May
Released	1963
Recorded	1963 Hollywood, CA
Genre	Film score
Length	31:43
Label	United Artists UAL 4111/UAS 5111

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Johnny Cool is a 1963 neo noir crime film directed by William Asher based on the novel The Kingdom of Johnny Cool by John McPartland which stars Henry Silva and Elizabeth Montgomery. Produced in part by Peter Lawford, Johnny Cool features a cast that also includes Mort Sahl, Telly Savalas, Jim Backus, Joey Bishop, and Sammy Davis, Jr., who also sings the theme song.

Johnny Colini, an exiled American living in Rome, rescues Salvatore Giordano, a young Sicilian outlaw, from the police. After Giordano is groomed, polished, and renamed "Johnny Cool," Colini sends him on a mission of vengeance to the United States to assassinate the men who plotted his downfall and enforced exile. Johnny arrives in New York and quickly kills several of the underworld figures on Colini's list.

Meanwhile, he picks up Darien "Dare" Guiness, a wealthy divorcée who becomes his accomplice, she is later severely beaten by the gangsters as a warning to Johnny against pursuing his vendetta. Soon the FBI becomes involved, and when Johnny and Dare bomb the Hollywood home of gangster Lennart Crandall, the police are able to identify Dare's car when she panics and leaves it parked on the street. The two had separated and planned to meet later, but Dare, abruptly realizing that Johnny is a vicious killer, tells his enemies where to find him. She then surrenders herself to the FBI, as Johnny is being tortured by his captors at the film's conclusion.

The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Billy May, and the soundtrack album was released on the United Artists label in 1963.Allmusic's Steven McDonald noted "This soundtrack manages to mix the early '60s caper-flick brand of jazz with the darker feel of 1950s film noir -- a genre to which Johnny Cool was a deliberate throwback."