Gun Crazy

Year: 1949

Grade: A

Country: USA

Director: Lewis

Review

even thought asphalt jungle was vintage film-noir and had everything running on all cylinders, it didn’t have some of the touches that gun crazy has. i’ve seen gun crazy a couple times, but i don’t think i ever appreciated it as much as i did this time. i’ve never heard of joseph lewis, much less seen any of his other films, but this guy knew how to direct. the camera moves, the staging of the characters and their relationship to each other, the storytelling – everything works in this film. there are a couple montage sequences that fill the viewer in on events quickly and efficiently. in one sequence the couple get married, go to to a jewelry store, go to a casino and then goto a pawn shop. within those thirty seconds of well-scored film we know everything we need to know about the (bad) luck of these two characters. there’s another sequence that follows the couple on a couple heists across the country in one of the shots they are holding up a gas station and in the window there is a sign that reads “easy pay plan.” touches like that make a good film great. john dall (who also stars in hitchcock’s “rope”) and peggie cummins play their parts well. i think john dall is another good actor who went sort of unnoticed…he was in only eight films, but i’ve liked his performance in the three films in which i’ve seen him. the script in this film isn’t as sharp or slick as some of the other noir scripts (double indemnity is the yardstick in this regard) i’ve seen, but it produces some good lines…she asks why they’re getting tired so quickly while running away from the law and he says it’s because of the altitude (they’re in the mountains, similar to the ending in high sierra). i like that line because it’s true on the literal level, but it’s also indicative of their situation – running out of air, nowhere to run, etc. another scene i really liked was when she was trying to get him to go out for another score. he was at the door and she walks over to him and asks him not to go, and to do another score so they could afford the kind of lifestyle she requires. she moves to the background and lies down on the bed. generally laying down would mean a submissive position to the person standing, but at this point, in this situation, she has even more power in the conversation than before. this demonstrates the sexual power that she exerts over him in their relationship. of course the film is rife with sexual undertones since he has a fetish for guns, but hates to kill anything with them. in other words he loves an object despite despising the very thing it is made for. as you can see the film operates on several different levels scene by scene and over the entire film. it’s also a wonderful film to watch. it’s short, exciting, tense and the epitome of great film noir. i can’t honestly think of anything wrong with the film. next to the killing and double indemnity this may be my favorite film noir of all-time. tomorrow i’ll finish off my recently purchased film noir boxset by watching “out of the past.”