Rent Gun Crazy (1949)
3.8 of 5 from 89 ratings
1h 27min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
When gun fancier Bart Tare sees Annie Laurie Starr's sideshow sharpshooting act, he's a dead-bang goner. He and she go together, as Bart ultimately says, 'like guns and ammunition'. The two become bank robbers on the run, eluding roadblocks and roaring into movie history as one of the benchmark film-noir works. Joseph H. Lewis directs this ferocious thriller, selected for the National Film Registry and often cited as a forerunner to 'Bonnie and Clyde'. Peggy Cummins and John Dall star, meeting in a sexually charged carny shooting contest and soon driven by impulses of violence and arousal they don't fully understand. They're young, foolish, doomed - and point blank in Gun Crazy's unforgiving sights. - Actors:
- John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Trevor Bardette, Mickey Little, Russ Tamblyn, Paul Frison, David Bair, Stanley Prager, Virginia Farmer, Anne O'Neal, Frances Irvin, Robert Osterloh, Shimen Ruskin, Harry Hayden, Alex Ball
- Directors:
- Joseph H. Lewis
- Producers:
- Frank King, Maurice King
- Writers:
- MacKinlay Kantor, Dalton Trumbo, Millard Kaufman
- Aka:
- Deadly Is the Female
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Romance, Thrillers
- Collections:
- Award Winners, Holidays Film Collection, The Biggest Oscar Snubs: Part 1, Top 10 Screen Kisses (1896-1979)
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 25/11/2019
- Run Time:
- 87 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Commentary by Author/Film-Noir Specialist Glenn Erickson
- Documentary 'Film-Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light'
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Reviews (2) of Gun Crazy
Driving Tests - Gun Crazy review by CH
Many books and several films have chronicled the cars, chaos and killings which was the spree upon which Bonnie and Clyde met their own end. It ound a particulary fine rendering in this film.
The other review here covers the essentials - direction, script - and one might add that even those who have seen Bonnie and Clyde should not miss this one.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Cult Noir. - Gun Crazy review by Steve
Poverty row cult film based on the Bonnie and Clyde legend directed by Joseph H. Lewis who shot many classy low budget noirs. John Dall and Peggy Cummins are dynamite together as two outlaws compelled in different ways by their fatal obsession with guns.
She is a poor, sexy circus shooter who acts by reflex, triggered either by violent crime or lust. He is a working class kid who finds status through his talent with a gun. Driven by his desire for her, he is drawn into crime, holding up stores, and then banks, leading to murder.
Dall and Cummins are sensational. They are made for each other, except, he can't kill, and she has to kill! Cummins is a revelation. She is hot trash, so happy when she is stealing, so fulfilled when she is killing. It's a miracle that she got this part. It's unlike anything else she did.
There's a sassy script from the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo and the direction is ostentatiously stylish. It is set in a timeless rural west it has the feel of a depression era gangster film, all getaway cars and shoot outs. The wild, desolate locations in poor rural towns conveys a powerful ambience of encroaching despair.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.