Gun Crazy (1991)

A man obsessed with guns falls in love with a reckless carnival sharp-shooter, but her ambitions draw him to the dark side.Moralizing tale of a crime spree, with good performances but an uninspired story. The male character's background is shown in a prologue and we can pretty much piece his motivations together, but the female character is a mystery who only once lets slip a tidbit from her past so we can form an idea of how she got this way. The depravity is contained, not just because we're encouraged to take the view of the law enforcers, but also because the relationship is shown in cute close-ups without a hint of savagery. The tension does mount as the net tightens, but I got a bit tired toward the end of what is a short run time.Most interesting element is the POV camera during a long take that tells the story of a heist - all from a fixed point behind the driver of the getaway car, with the only flaw an unconvincing run-in with a cop.Music is emotional but not too intrusive for a 1950s production. Direction and photography had their moments.Overall: well told story, but too tame.

The postwar era was ripe with cinematic outcasts, characters who either struggled to conform to all-American ideals of normalcy or outright rebelled. One thinks of James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause, Marlon Brando in The Wild One, or the young lovers in They Live By Night. Gun Crazy (1950) is a great example of this tradition as well, a violent and erotically-charged B-noir about married couple Bart Tate and Annie Laurie Starr who commit serial bank robberies and obsess over firearms.Being a B-noir, Gun Crazy is allowed to be a little more rough and experimental. There is a stunning scene shot from the back of a car, for instance, one that felt like something out of a Tarantino movie. The action scenes are great too. The main couple's obsession with violence and one another has a sense of amour fou; their love is destructive and yet also tragic, despite their unsavory natures.Annie Laurie Starr is about the best example of a femme fatale out there, perhaps because she is the most complex of them during the classic period. She is alarmingly amoral in her regard for human life, yet she is not a simple seductress out to conquer saps. You get the feeling she does love Bart, but neither she nor he can bear the traditional postwar dream of a stable job, three kids, and a picket fence. They are restless rebels, driven compulsively to seek greater and greater thrills. There is a fatalistic bent to their lives, as is common with most noir.The film never suggests that it would have been better for the lovers to live a domestic life. Annie is compared with Bart's hapless sister, who starts the movie as a content young bride and ends up in a dumpy house, burdened by several children and a respectable husband who rarely bothers to come home it seems. She is all but a prisoner in the domestic space, making Annie's revulsion to such a life all the more understandable, even if her attraction to violence isn't.

Dear Joseph.H.Lewis, you are a pretty good director. Gun Crazy begins with a boy getting caught after stealing a gun. The subsequent scene at the court house is riveting with multiple flashbacks as various characters vouch for the boy's basic good nature. This is narrated through flashbacks. A lot happens in the first 30 minutes itself including the boy coming out of jail as a grown up man (John Dall). But the shooting competition where he runs into the femme fatale (Peggy Cummins, who gets a terrific entry scene where she shoots into the screen) could have been shot and edited better. It was such a great idea where their mating dance happens during a shooting competition in which they are the competitors. The lack of interesting camera angles and discreet use of close ups makes the scene quite dull. What happened, Joseph? The hero's law abiding sister is used to show the contrast between the thrilling life of the protagonists and the mundane life of the housewife. Peggy Cummins is awesome as the materialistic femme fatale. The character's craziness really comes through in the final scenes of the film shot in a smoky swamp (probably a studio). The rather square looking John Dall might have been chosen as the male lead to emphasize Cummins' manipulative nature. The film had some great ideas. The story and the two main characters are fantastic. But I don't think you realized its true potential, Joseph. It certainly deserves a re-imagination with a better writer. I cannot believe it has not been remade. Best Regards, Pimpin. (7/10)

Yep. He's crazy. She's crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy... And, when it comes to the likes of firearms, they're both a couple of thrill crazy, kill crazy, gun crazies.Yep. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.Released in 1949 - Gun Crazy (a.k.a. Deadly Is The Female) is the 'Bonnie and Clyde' story retooled for the disillusioned postwar generation. This flick is considered by many movie-connoisseurs to be the ultimate B-Movie Extraordinaire - Where shades of Film Noir abound like fireflies.Gun Crazy's fast-paced story is jet-propelled along by numerous stick-ups, a dominant femme fatale, an erotic love and obsession for guns, and a deadly sexual attraction between 2 trigger-happy sharp-shooters who quite willingly substitute violent gunplay for sex.This low-budget, stylistic film stars 2 unknown leads (Peggy Cummings and John Dall) as a pair of crazy, itchy-fingered criminals on a frantic cross-country run from the law.As socio-pathic as a duo could possibly get back in a 1940's film, characters Annie Starr and Bart Tare accidentally meet up one day and 'before-you-know-it' go on the ultimate date of a life-time. Their un-Cinderella like romance includes a crazy, high-energy robbery/shooting spree that, once the law catches up with them, inevitably leads to their sensationalistic deaths.Tsk. Tsk. Those crazy, crazy kids. And, it's all because - Happiness Is a Warm Gun. Yes, it is. Bang-Bang. Shoot-Shoot.