Gun Crazy

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acsdoug D I didn't find John Dall particularly believable as a tough guy armed robber on the lam. Peggy Cummins is good though, and it's a good story, has a real Bonnie and Clyde feel to it. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/26/24 Full Review Abe A Utterly boring and predictable pulp, and not even particularly well-acted. The more I watched, the less sense it made and more over-the-top it traveled. At least it was shortish at 87 minutes, but was still about 30 minutes too long. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/21/24 Full Review Bill B Overrated by the critics, the direction and pacing is a bit uneven in this Bonnie-and-Clyde type drama. Dall and Cummins are good and the finale is atmospheric. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/20/24 Full Review harwee h Somewhat a forgotten classic, but its about the cast in a pre-Bonnie and Clyde sense Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/06/24 Full Review Simon T An obvious template for Bonnie and Clyde and Badlands, this low budget fugitives-on-the-run thriller uses soundstages and back projection to speed through its penny dreadful plot and is greatly assisted by crisp cinematography and - despite their lack of chemistry - decent performances by its two gun-toting leads. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/15/23 Full Review Matthew B The obsession with firearms in the U.S. has been a matter of concern for many. It may even be said to form part of the basis of Gun Crazy, Joseph H Lewis's 1950 film noir. I am not saying that the story was written for the express purpose of making a point about the fetishisation of guns, but that is certainly the message that many might take away from the movie. Joseph H Lewis is not one of America's most famous directors. He remained stuck in the background world of B-Movies, making films on a low budget with less well-known actors. Nonetheless for those who are familiar with Lewis's work, there is much to treasure in this quirky offbeat moviemaker. We might also note the curious choice of lead actors. John Dall's most famous role is playing a homosexual murderer in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller, Rope. I cannot recall seeing Peggy Cummins in any film other than Jacques Tourneur's horror movie, Curse of the Demon. Yet here both stars are cast in a completely different part. Even the screenplay has an unusual feature in that it was actually written by the blacklisted scriptwriter Dalton Trumbo under another name. Gun Crazy was made in a time when explicit violence and sex were censored on screen. Lewis seems to have made up for this in his instructions to his two actors. In one scene he suggested to Dall, "Your cock's never been so hard". As for Cummins, his instruction to her was, "You are a female dog in heat". Despite Lewis's efforts, neither actor exudes raw sexuality, but the director had to do the best he could with the actors available. The bank heist was carried out in one take, and members of the public were unaware what was happening. As in most scenes, Dall and Cummins did their own driving (it is said that Lewis only used one rear projection in the film). The typical camera shot is taken from the back of their getaway car, allowing the audience to see what they see. For the bank robbery, Lewis had a camera attached to a Sedan, which had the back ripped out. The director and crew were in the car, and the crew member with the boom mic was on the roof. The dialogue between Dall and Cummins has an improvisatory feel to it. It is a fine example of what can be done by an imaginative director with limited resources. Lewis made a number of interesting films, but none better than Gun Crazy. He captured the dangers of a society in which guns are glamorised, and where they offer the option of a better life than people can achieve by trying to make an honest living. I wrote a longer appreciation of Gun Crazy on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2019/12/13/gun-crazy-1950/ Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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