Starring: John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel Shaw Directed By: Joseph H. Lewis Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC Number of Discs: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: July 06, 2004 Running Time: 86 minutes Studio: Warner Home Video Theatrical Release Date: January 20, 1950
Product Description: A collection of classic film noir. Genre: Feature Film-Drama Rating: NR Release Date: 6-JUL-2004 Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com: One of the most vital of all film noir pictures, Gun Crazy has more cinematic gusto and sexual heat than almost any movie of its time. It's a variation on the Bonnie and Clyde story, but with a bizarre set-up: firearms enthusiasts John Dall and Peggy Cummins (neither of whom were ever this wild again) meet as sharpshooters in a carnival, then turn to crime. The direction, by Joseph H. Lewis, is like a spray of hot lead from a gun barrel, capped by an amazing sequence--shot in one long take--of a bank robbery seen from the backseat of the getaway car. (Billy Wilder himself called up Lewis to find out how he did it.) If most film noirs trace the anxieties of postwar America, Gun Crazy goes directly to sheer madness. Trivia note: the film had a title change, to Deadly Is the Female, for its original release, whereupon it was changed back. --Robert Horton
A Demonic Beauty & Her Dog-like Lover ^ I remember reading somewhere that the director of GUN CRAZY suggested an image to the two lead actors (John Dall, Peggy Cummins) in their first scene together: two dogs sniffing each other out. Not polite, perhaps, but apt. You can sense what director Lewis was aiming for, particularly in Cummins' characterization of crack shot & gun moll Annie Lauri. There is definitely a demonic element in her character; it's like her beautiful face hides a devil you can only see in her eyes. Both leads are text book sociopaths, but Annie Laurie pushes it up one notch. Yes, she is without a doubt, a certifiable homicidal psychopath--and this is one reason why she & the film are so much fun to watch.
NOTE 8/15/10: I watched the movie again & need to make a correction. The male character is not exactly a sociopath. He's an orphan raised by a sister who has to work all the time. He IS obsessed with guns, but he is not really violent or cruel (to animals, we discover). However, fire arms are more important to him than human relationships--for the exception of the girl, whose Annie Oakley routine seems to fulfill ALL his desires.
This is a earlier version of the Bonnie & Clyde story--and much more authentic (believable) than Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty in those roles. Like Dunaway & Beatty, Dall & Cummins are extremly good-looaking, but they are not under pressure to flawlessly attractive. In other words, the director encouraged them to let it all hang out. He was a master of the low-budget, film noir--and this is one of his true masterpieces. Dall's character is easier to feel empathy toward--and even Annie Laurie (a real anti-herione of film noir) causes some identification...the secret anti-social within?
At the time of the movie's initial release, the brilliant screenwriter Talton Trumbo wasn't able to take credit for the picture because he had been blacklisted as one of 'The Holywood 10.'
GUN CRAZY wasn't exactly a big hit at the box office, but it continues to draw admirers. It is a MUST for film noir fans.
I give 5 STARS to those pair of Krazy Kids.
Curse of the Demon / Night of the Demon Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 1 (The Asphalt Jungle / Gun Crazy / Murder My Sweet / Out of the Past / The Set-Up) The Complete Thin Man Collection (The Thin Man / After the Thin Man / Another Thin Man / Shadow of the Thin Man / The Thin Man Goes Home / Song of the Thin Man / Alias Nick and Nora) Lady in the Lake Kiss Me Deadly My Boys Are Good Boys (1978)Body and Soul Force of Evil The Fallen Sparrow They Made Me a Criminal Castle on the Hudson
Right Down the Line ^ "Laurie, no matter what happens, I wouldn't have it any other way." -- Bart
Joseph H. Lewis cemented his place in film history with this intoxicating and electrically charged film noir about two people who never should have met, simply because they go together like guns and ammo; neither any good at all without the other. Known for "B" films like The Invisible Ghost and The Falcon in San Francisco, director Lewis showed he could do much more with the right material. Deadly is the Female was originally slated for Monogram release, a Poverty Row studio. The decision by producers Maurice and Frank King to let United Artists distribute Gun Crazy instead, afforded it the wider audience it deserved. Today, it is heralded as a noir classic, a mesmerizing crime thriller both romantic and tragic, with plenty of raw tensions. Blacklisted Dalton Trumbo worked on the screenplay with MacKinlay Kantor under the pseudonym Millard Kaufman. Kantor's Saturday Evening Post story became a charged and fast moving crime drama thanks to some tinkering with the story, and the wonderful performances by John Dall and Peggy Cummins as the doomed couple.
Victor Young was pegged to score this film, and while his romantic leanings and trademark use of violins would on the surface not lend itself to such a raw story, it proved another wise decision. Young imbues the romance between Bart (Dall) and Laurie (Cummins) with unexpected tenderness, creating depth to their love. It acts as stark contrast to the couple's twisted desire, especially that of Laurie, which leads them on a roller-coaster ride of crime with no way off. It also serves to soften viewer's hearts about the crime spree, eliciting sympathy from the viewer even as Laurie gets off more and more the closer they get to raw violence. Bart's obsessions with guns is feeding off Laurie's growing excitement. For Bart, she is the ultimate weapon; sexy, sleek, inviting, and full of trouble when you open the chamber for a closer look. Viewers will find themselves rooting for them to make it to Mexico and elude the manhunt even though they know they shouldn't.
Bart Tare has been obsessed with guns since he was a young boy, which leads to him being taken from his sister and sent to reform school. A good kid at heart, unwilling to kill any living thing, his obsession with guns leads to Army life, then back home. It is there he meets and finds something as sleek and intoxicating as the barrel of a gun, in slinky Annie Laurie Starr. She's a carnival sharpshooter and when he goes her one better, you can almost see the tingles flowing through her body and feel the fires being flamed by guns. He doesn't know yet that as they fall in love, their fate is sealed. Cummins is terrific as the girl trying to fight her urges and be good like Bart for as long as she can. A romantic atmosphere is set by Victor Young's score, and scenes of the couple's honeymoon upon leaving the carnival hang over the film in 'what could have been' fashion. Bart doesn't know she killed a man in St. Louis, so has a taste for guns which goes far beyond his.
Romantic and twisted, you can't help liking Laurie, as there is something tragic about her character. Bart, who can't shake her because she arouses feelings not even a gun in his hand can give him, is soon one half of a robbery team. Slick and successful, planning things so no one gets hurt, they make there way across several state lines. But when one holdup almost goes sour, we see in Laurie's eyes, as she looks back, the thrill she's discovered which will be their end. Stuck in a snowdrift in Montana, they both confess to being tired of the life, and plan one last job before heading to Mexico. Laurie has the fever for violence now, however, and Bart has the fever for her. The FBI has the fever to catch them, and once there is nowhere else to go, he heads back home. What follows is noir poetry, written with lead and lust, and thanks to Victor Young, love as well. A brilliant staging of cameras during a robbery, all gotten in one long take, always gets mentioned, yet, just as important are those scenes of romance during the couple's honeymoon. Those who say noir isn't romantic haven't watched much noir. It is these scenes which make the story important, and tragic.
Beautifully shot, scored, and acted, this is one of the finest examples of noir done right. Dall is very good, and Cummins is even better, making us understand why Dall doesn't break free. A "B" masterpiece, and a must see for noir fans.
Great Commentary by Glen Erikson ^ I agree with all the positive reviews of Gun Crazy (a wonderful film noir) and wish to add that I found Glen Erikson's to be the most informative and interesting commentary of all the WB issued film noir's to date. He adds lots of background information re the film and both lead and supporting actors, who they are, what happened to them, etc., and the actual locations shown in the film Gun Crazy (& others that he reviews) and doesn't just ramble on and on describing repetively the film director's style and nothing else as Richard schickle (sp?), commentator, usually does, ad nauseum.
"Gun Crazy" is not just a great B movie. It's a classic, period. ^ Note: This review contains SPOILERS. "Gun Crazy" begins with an extended prologue that sets up young Bart (Russ Tamblyn) as a budding sociopath obsessed with guns, though not with killing. It shows Bart's small town community attempting to struggle with what to do about the troubled young boy. While Bart's sister and best friends testify on his behalf, the judge, unconvinced of his harmlessness, sentences him to reform school. A few years later, adult Bart (played by John Dall) having matriculated through reform school and the military, returns to his home town. His best friends take him to a carnival to celebrate. There, Bart is immediately smitten by the female sharpshooter, Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins).
From the first moment Cummins, a beautiful girl with strangely off-center, dead eyes, appears on camera, I thought, "She's a psychopath." Her first action is to fire her guns directly at Bart. (The guns are loaded with blanks.) This certainly foreshadows the deadly effect she is destined to have on Bart. Bart joins the carnival, and the two of them soon run off to get married (though Annie Laurie's boss, hinting at her responsbility for a murder, attempts to use blackmail to prevent her going).
There follows a sequence showing the young lovers honeymooning and then gambling away their small savings. During this "middle sequence" Annie Laurie, who has vowed to "attempt to be good" even looks softer and more feminine, less crazed. But, as soon as the money runs out she begins to pressure Bart to commit armed robbery. Bart's scruples can not ultimately compete with his lust for Annie Laurie, and he agrees, though he never shoots any of their victims. In the final portion of the film, Annie Laurie's full-blown psychosis emerges. She begins to shoot their victims, claiming to Bart that she is afraid, while the more natural conclusion is that she kills for the thrill of it. In the film's startling climax, Bart finally uses his gun to kill.
This film is a classic noir which shows, not doomed love, but the inevitable result of really bad choices. To me, it is an exploration of the psychology of the sociopath, running the gamut from the sympathetic Bart to the monstrous, yet somehow pathetically touching, Annie Laurie Starr.
Bull's Eye ^ This movie scrapes the skin away and rakes across the nerves. Easygoing nice guy John Dall has a mania for guns, then a madness for bad gal Peggy Cummins. Dall can't help himself, and let's Cummins' appetite for thrills, money & violence run roughshod over his better nature. By the end of the story he's a sweaty, nervous wreck being hunted down like a rabid animal. It's ruthlessly beautiful--like watching a leopard take down a gazelle. The dialogue is fairly sparse, but has a wiry force. And the cinematography makes some scenes stick in the mind like a lesion. A fantastic film!
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