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Classic films in focus: Gun Crazy (1950)
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DVD cover art - Warner Home Video
Also released as Deadly is the Female, Gun Crazy (1950) is a strikingly modern example of classic film noir style, full of wrenchingly gutsy camera work and smoldering sexual passion expressed through gunplay and criminal violence. Directed by Joseph H. Lewis, Gun Crazy offers an exhilarating ride for noir fans and demonstrates the enduring appeal of the Bonnie and Clyde myth of love, larceny, and bloodlust.
Bart Tare (John Dall) serves as our chief vehicle for the usual noir themes. He isn't a bad guy, but he doesn't fit into society, primarily because he harbors an inexplicable passion for guns. As a kid (played by Russ Tamblyn), his obsession lands him in reform school, and later he spends a term in the Army, but neither of these provide a lasting home or a cure for his mania. Uncertain what to do with himself next, he drifts back to his home town, where he meets Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins), a trick shooter working in a traveling carnival. Sparks and bullets fly as the two try to outshoot one another, and the contest ends with Bart joining the show. When the jealous carnival owner kicks the lovers out, Laurie convinces Bart that armed robbery is the occupation for them, and they begin a string of heists, each one riskier and more deadly than the last.
Dall and Cummins make a perfect pair. His Bart, long and lanky in the carnival cowboy outfit, seems like a decent enough man, though given to existential crises. There's something wrong with him, though, an emptiness that only a hellcat like Laurie can fill. Her Laurie is like a china doll possessed, with round, glittering eyes, full lips, and very tight clothes. In another picture Bart might be a sucker, but in Gun Crazy Laurie tells him right away that's she no good, and once they get together she really does love him. Most femme fatale characters keep a few extra fall guys waiting in the wings, but Laurie is so crazy for Bart that she eagerly ditches their (smarter) plan to split up in order to be with him. Bart never becomes Laurie's victim because their passion is mutual; he never tries to walk away, and neither of them ever blames the other when things go south. There's plenty of rotten romance in film noir, but the idea of real love existing between between the criminal lovers is unusual, and it gives Gun Crazy some extra appeal.
Being capable of love doesn't make Laurie less a monster, though, since it's clear that she enjoys killing people and relishes the thrill of violence. In case we missed that look in her eye earlier in the picture, we get a marked instance of Laurie's depravity when she tries to take Bart's infant nephew as a hostage, arguing that nobody would shoot at a baby. Bart, horrified, puts the baby back into his playpen but says nothing. Of the pair, Bart alone values the lives of other people; Laurie cares only about Bart and herself. It's a good thing they don't get around to having kids of their own.
The bank robbery scene is often praised for its raw style and daring camera work. Shot in a single take, the scene lets the viewer along for the ride in the back of the criminals' car. The improvised dialogue and use of a real city street add to the energy of the moment, and the getaway is especially exciting, as Laurie looks back into the camera to see if the cops are after them. The final scenes of the movie also deserve praise; Lewis obscures the lurking law officers with thick fog, and the scene plays almost like a horror film. Bart and Laurie can hear fate wading in, but they can't see it, and all they can do is cling to one another with fear as they await their unseen doom.
If you like Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Natural Born Killers (1994), you should enjoy Gun Crazy. For more of Peggy Cummins, try Night of the Demon (1957), and for more noir from 1950, take a tour of Sunset Boulevard.
More film noir reviews:
Road House (1948)
The Big Heat (1953)
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