Gun Crazy (1950)

Another Crime Story

The film begins with a teenager who breaks a glass window to steal a pistol, and is caught. As a boy he killed a young chick with a BB gun. The judge is told about this boy's fascination with guns. Is it caused by the lack of a father? Bart likes to shoot guns. He needs a new environment to help him grow up. Years later he returns to town. They visit an old-time carnival, entertainment for the small towns of America. [Would OSHA allow those working conditions today?] Bart is a good shot. The clown explains how this carnival fleeces their customer. Bart learns about personal relationships. But this couple seems to be doomed because of their poor choices. After a series of robberies the police start gaining on them, and learn their names.

They want to flee the country so they plan the perfect job. Will they be always together? Their next job is at a meat packing plant. [Symbolism?] The robbers are armed and dangerous, the police will shoot to kill! But they escape to California. Their loot is traced by serial numbers, the FBI know where they are. The visit a carnival for entertainment. The police detectives are closing in. They flee to a park where they are trapped. [You can guess how this ends for them.]

Are the star actors believable as the characters they portray? Does this film seem like an unconscious parody? One advantage is the sights of by-gone carnivals. [This story was adopted from the 'Saturday Evening Post', a former literary weekly.]
January 21, 2008

Best for it's cinematography and the bank robbery scene....

I found the the cinematography and direction to be extraordinary and well above average for noir, however, when compared to the the best film noir, the acting/casting and the weak script keep this one from being a true lost classic. Check out Born Killer, Detour, or Pickup on South Street first.

Also, the bank robbery scene shot entirely from the backseat of the getaway car is everything it's cracked up to be, and then some!! Mr. Tarantino has certainly been here robbing some bones.... December 25, 2006

A sordid cheesy thriller in noir style!

Gun Crazy starts with a young boy smashing a window in order to steal a gun. In the courtroom scene that follows we learn that the young miscreant is fascinated with guns but never uses them to kill. He just loves to shoot and is very good at it. The judge sends young Bart to juvie until he is 18.

Bart spends much of his young adult life in the army, teaching shooting. When he gets out he falls for sharp-shooter carnie Annie. She is bad through and through, and maybe a little insane. Certainly her strangely crayoned eyebrows give her a daft look. Under Annie's influence, Bart's here-to-fore cardigan-wearing nice-guy persona is in thrall to Annie's dark feminine enchantment. Bart joins Annie on a crime spree. The isolation and thrill of danger make the relationship more and more passionate and thrilling.

Gun Crazy is an interesting period piece but definitely a B-movie with flawed writing, cheesy film-making, and only adequate acting from not-so charismatic stars. The script problems create slow sequences in the film. The film-making had some creative moments that were obviously designed to thrill drive-in movie viewers--such as filming car chase scenes from the back seat. This is a kitsch piece that will appeal due to its overwrought sensibility and style. September 29, 2006

"Bart, I've been kicked around all my life, and from now on, I'm gonna start kicking back!"

Directed by Joseph `Wagon Wheel Joe' Lewis (The Big Combo, Terror in a Texas Town), his nickname apparently derived from the early days in his career when he shot mostly westerners, Gun Crazy (1949) aka Deadly Is the Female stars John Dall (Rope, The Man Who Cheated Himself) and Peggy Cummins (Night of the Demon, Carry on Admiral) as a couple of young, impulsive individuals whose common passions (for each other and guns) take them on an exciting, and ultimately dangerous journey from which there is no return. Also appearing is Berry Kroeger (Blood Alley), Morris Carnovsky (Joe Palooka in the Knockout), Anabel Shaw (Shock), Harry Lewis (Key Largo), Nedrick Young (Seconds), and a young Russ Tamblyn (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, High School Confidential!), probably best known for his role as `Riff', hot tempered leader of the Jets, from the musical West Side Story (1961)...remember, `When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way! From you first cigarette your last dyin' days'.

As the film begins we see a young boy, played by Tamblyn, named Bart Tare, who's in a whole heap of trouble. Seems Bart really isn't a bad seed, but his undeniable desire towards firearms in general has gotten him into some hot water enough times he's eventually sent to reform school despite pleas from his sister Ruby (Shaw), who also happens to be his guardian. As the years pass, an adult Bart, now played by Dall, is eventually released and enlists in the army (as good a place as any to satiate one's desire to be around guns), to which he returns home once his stint is up. Bart and his childhood friends celebrate his homecoming by going to a traveling carnival where they witness the sharp-shooting skills of one Annie Laurie Starr (Cummins), whom Bart immediately finds himself drawn to, her six-shooters singing a siren call he can't resist. Demonstrating his own formidable skills as a marksman, Bart ends up joining the carnival, although he and Annie soon leave after a falling out with their boss (What?! And give up the life of a carny? That's just plain nuts). Young, unencumbered with responsibilities, and armed with pistols, the pair ties the knot, quickly blowing through whatever dough they have in an orgiastic spending jag, and soon find themselves light in the pockets, so to speak. Bart's content to eek out a living on a menial wage with a real job, as long as he's got Annie, but she desires a life full of thrills, action, and lots of moola, enough of each for her to suggest to Bart that they use their talents to take what they need (Annie is most definitely a bad seed). Bart reluctantly goes along (the sap), and the pair begins a life of crime, one that starts out small time but eventually expands as whatever dough they manage to steal is quickly used up to maintain the extravagant lifestyle Annie desires. Eventually the stress of being a nogoodnik wears on Bart, enough so he pleads with Annie that they should go straight, but she convinces him to pull one, last score, one that will give them the funds they need to start a new life down old Mexico way...the heist is a success, but things sour during the getaway, and now they're pursued by both local, state, and federal authorities, all with orders to `shoot to kill'...

This is a great film, worth watching if only for the scene involving the first time Bart and Annie hold up a bank, clad in the western gear worn during their stint in the carnival. The long, continuous shot involves one camera, positioned in the back seat of their car, and shows the jacked up couple on their way to the bank, trying to find a place to park, Bart entering the bank, while Annie stays behind. The camera never leaves the back seat, giving the viewer the feeling that they're sort of in on the holdup (from the standpoint of being in the backseat of the getaway car), sharing all the excitement and the danger. There's a number of similarly interesting shots throughout the film, which goes a long way towards really keeping things lively and the overall pacing in high gear. An interesting thing, when I first saw John Dall on the screen, he looked so familiar to me, but for the life of me I couldn't recall what I'd seen him in before until I reviewed his credits and saw he was one of the principal players in Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 feature Rope. Both he and Ms. Cummins create quite a lot of heat here, portraying a young, passionate, impetuous pair on the razor's edge, he a lovelorn sap willing to follow his heart despite better judgment, eventually realizing his folly but also realizing he can't turn back, and she a manipulative, materialistic, type who not only knows exactly what she wants but also what she is, and makes no apologies for either...which is worse, she who has little pretense (anyone who spends five minutes with this dame will know she's trouble), or he, who struggles continually with his conscience, generally always siding with his heart over his brain? Seeing as how they both had some obviously bad wiring, it's a matter of six of one, half dozen of the other, if you ask me. What's funny is there was at least one who tried to warn Bart off on Annie, a fellow performer by the name of Bluey-Bluey, whom Bart shared quarters with during his stint with the carnival. In Bart's defense I suppose it's kind of difficult to take advice from a guy in greasy clown makeup who goes by the name Bluey-Bluey. Another aspect that really stood out for me was the ending...it becomes fairly obvious how things will go in a general sense, but the story actually manages to squeeze in a delicious, unexpected twist in terms of the specifics. To say any more would spoil it (I'll give you a hint, it does involve guns...I know, I know, not much of a hint considering the film is titled Gun Crazy), but know that's it's a real hoot and a half, one worth hanging on for...all in all this is a tight, engaging film, well directed film with some really interesting characters, strong performances, and decent production values, one worth checking out if you enjoy sexually charged noir crime dramas from back in the day.

The picture, presented in fullscreen (1.33:1), looks very good, limited to a few, very minor flaws, and the Dolby Digital audio is sharp and clean. There is a commentary track featuring author/film noir specialist Glenn Erickson, along with subtitles in English, Spanish, and French. If you're interested in picking up this DVD, you might want to look into purchasing the Film Noir Classics Collection, Volume 1, a most excellent DVD set, as it includes this film, along with The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Murder My Sweet (1944), Out of the Past (1947), and The Set-Up (1949) at a cost which is significantly less than buying the features individually, at least at the time this review was written.

Cookieman108
August 10, 2006

"It's just that some guys are born smart about women and some guys are born dumb."

Ehh this film had its moments - the bank robbery, the meat packing plant robbery - but between those moments I got bored. Then again I get bored pretty easily so it might not have been entirely the movie's fault...naw, I thought about it and it is the movie's fault.

Bart has had an addiction to guns all his life, not in an evil I gotta kill everybody I see kind of way he just likes them and he's a good shot. After a stint in the military Bart comes home and his buddies take him out on the town. They go to a carnival and he meets a female sharpshooter. You can tell she's bad news from the start but he falls for her and after they burn through all the money he's saved up she wants to keep living the highlife. Reluctantly Bart's talked into some small time robberies, but they just don't pay enough and she wants to do more dangerous jobs with bigger payoffs. It all comes to a bad end.

Satisfactory noir but nothing makes it stand out. May 30, 2006

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