Gun Crazy (1950)

Film: Gun Crazy (1950)
Stars: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Barry Kroeger, Anabel Shaw, Russ Tamblyn
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Throughout the Month of June, as a birthday present to myself, we'll be profiling 15 famous film noir movies I've never seen (my favorite film genre).  Look at the bottom of this review for some of the other movies we've profiled.

When you're watching older films, frequently something you encounter is that you have to watch the movie through an historical lens.  The film's racial or sexual or gender politics are a bit antiquated (or REALLY antiquated), and you have to attempt to judge the film based on the time period it was from, otherwise you'd only be able to appreciate films from the last five years (and those would quickly become dated as well).  There is a rarer situation, though, that occurs with movies like Gun Crazy, a picture that somehow foretold future trends, particularly the obsession with guns, sex & violence (and link them together) that would permeate movies for decades (this film is clearly an inspiration for Bonnie & Clyde) and eventually cause a nationwide discussion about the NRA and gun violence.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is short, coming in just under ninety minutes, but the plot is relatively brief so that's probably okay.  The movie centers around Bart (Dall as an adult, Tamblyn as a child-he's billed as "Rusty Tamblyn" here) a young man who doesn't like killing, but is still obsessed with the power he feels when holding a gun.  At a carnival event, he meets a beautiful woman named Annie Laurie Starr (Cummins) who does a sharpshooter act, and quickly they fall in love and run away from the carnival together.  However, living off love doesn't pay the bills, and as both are excellent marksmen Laurie convinces Bart to start a life of crime on the road, sticking up banks, and eventually a payroll office where Laurie kills two people (she is considerably more prone to violence than Bart, who refuses to kill anyone).  The law catches up with them in what appears to Yosemite National Park (they used a fake name for the spot in the movie).  Laurie wants to kill Bart's two childhood friends who are trying to arrest them peacefully, but before she can Bart shoots her, breaking his pledge to never shoot another living being, and then is shot down in a thickly-covered fog, their two bodies the ending of the picture.

The movie was written by Oscar winner Dalton Trumbo (during his blacklisted years) and was chosen in 1998 as part of the National Film Registry, so you know there's something there to celebrate.  Part of what makes this film so daring is some of the camerawork.  There's a really fascinating scene shot inside of the couple's car where you can see the two bickering about parking spaces on their way to the bank.  It's a strange juxtaposition of a conversation a typical married couple would have (arguing about one of their driving), but they're about to commit a potentially lethal crime.  The cameraman basically has to be in the actual backseat as the car is clearly moving (this is an era before green screen technology would allow them to be driving to nowhere), but it gives us an intimate look at their lives.

The movie's other memorable aspect has to be the complete lust that Laurie & Bart have for each other.  Their weaponry, and the power & danger they feel it brings comes across as they look at each other with the same sort of desire they feel when they peer at their revolvers.  The film is sexy (though in our current climate, a bit problematic in the way it romanticizes violence), and Dall & Cummins have never been hotter than they are here.  Cummins, in particular, is giving a hard-edged femme fatale worth remembering.  The film is slight when we aren't focusing on their carnal lust for each other and their, uhh, weaponry skills.  The side characters, like Anabel Shaw as Bart's sister Ruby, are played two-dimensionally, and while the technical aspect of the car chases and bank robberies is impressive, it's no substitution for proper character growth and plot development.  But I get why this is still celebrated, and would imagine it'd be a controversial film if it were more famous, as it's a technical achievement with some dated politics.

Previous Films in the Series: Night and the City, In a Lonely Place, They Live By Night, Nightmare Alley, Ride the Pink Horse, The Killers, The Woman in the Window, The Big Sleep