Gun Crazy (1950)

[phil noir]

Hello to you all

Are there any fans of Gun Crazy here? I saw this film the other week, and thought it was absolutely fantastic. Great performances from Peggy Cummins and John Dall - whom I'd only previously seen in Night of the Demon and Rope respectively and hadn't been that impressed by - but here they were terrific. I liked the way that the director Joseph H. Lewis turned the low budget to his advantage - tense, looming close-ups and the robberies shot on real locations from the back of the car with Cummins and Dall semi-improvising in the front seat. I also liked the way that Peggy Cummins didn't have to bother doing an American accent, but that they gave her a quick back story of coming from Brighton, which as anyone from Britain or admirers of Graham Greene will know is absolutely right for its suggestions of seediness and criminality.

[Ollie]

Good film that was released on DVD several years ago - 5? 4? It was "one of the first" when I started collecting this genre, and was always happy for that as much as anything else.

I like this movie, definitely, and you brought one of my favorite points: "No need for the faux accent - add in a line of dialog or two, and that takes care of that!" I never understand WHY poorly-done accents are preferred instead of an extra line of dialog. ON THE BEACH (1959) with Anthony Perkins in this absolutely dreadful, almost too-painful-to-watch/listen excuse of an Aussie. My gosh - why bother? He could have been an American who met his Aussie wife and moved back with her. Simple. One line of dialog.

Or in many films (Cary Grant, Ronald Colman) no one EVER asks about accents. No one cares. But putting on a bad accent thru-out the film degrades the foundation, from the beginning.

GUN CRAZY - as cheaply done as these films are - at least had the creativity of the writers to get past that and provide us with another good bit from Peggy Cummins. "Any day, any time" is how I could look at her films.

This is another actress I'd love to hear from about this film, in particular. "Why?" "How?" Why was she selected? Why did she agree to do it? What attracted her to this film - if anything other than money? What did she tell her friends and family about doing a film 'like this'? It's a seedy little film - were there considerations about avoiding this "kind" of film? Was this "kind" of film attractive to her, perhaps?

I'm a fan of the film and her, in particular, and I'm glad she graces the screen.

[movieman1957]

Just recently saw this one. (We had a short discussion on it in another thread.)

While I thought the title was a bit cheap the film was really good. Ms.Cummins was quite brazen in many ways. Good camera work. Interesting story. It's never dull. They don't give you time to get dull.

It's a pretty exciting film and am surprised it isn't more known than it seems to be. (I rented it based on someone talking about it here.)

[Dewey1960]

GUN CRAZY is all of the above and so much more. Initially, or at least alternately titled DEADLY IS THE FEMALE (I've always preferred the more aptly descriptive (and suggestive) and less clumsy GUN CRAZY monniker) and produced by the notorious King Brothers (they of DILLINGER fame over at Monogram Pictures several years earlier), it's one of those films that only seems to imbed itself deeper into the subconscious with each successive viewing; a primer of sorts for the darkly glorious treasures that the noir style provides on occasion.
A beautiful, framed original one-sheet poster of GUN CRAZY graces our living room wall and provides uninitiated guests to our home an opportunity to scratch their heads a bit.
Now...if only ChiO will weigh in with his candidly eloquent comments; it's his very favorite, you know!

[movieman1957]

Chio said in our earlier discussion: (I hope you don't mind. I didn't know how to link to just your post.)

"Lewis wanted Cummins and Dall, upon their meeting and engaging in the shooting challenge, to act (as I believe he put it) like "animals in heat." However, he wanted Dall's character throughout the film to have a vulnerability that Lewis thought could best be achieved by using a "quietly" gay actor, and that for Lewis meant Dall (Hitchcock teamed him with Farley Granger for a similar reason in ROPE the previous year). He is the softer, sympathetic figure throughout, whereas Cummins is the animalistic passion, the unleashed Id. The gun imagery is better left to Freud, but Tamblyn's cradling of the gun is the finest image this side of the model oil derrick in WRITTEN ON THE WIND. Dall's clinching of his fist -- repression of violent urges that repulse him -- are echoed throughout. His underlying sexual impotence is made more overt by Warren Beatty in BONNIE AND CLYDE, but here many acts can be taken only hesitantly.

"The bank robbery is a classic scene. A typical director would take us inside the bank and witness the robbery. Lewis brings tension to an otherwise common scenario by never letting us in. What's going on in the bank? And then the policeman engaging in conversation with Cummins heightens the tension further. And it's all surrounded by a bravura single take to get us to the bank and out of town. According to Lewis, Billy Wilder called him to find out how the shot was done because he couldn't figure out how three to four background rear projection machines could be used at the same time. Lewis told him that it was shot "real", without rear projection; Wilder said "it's impossible" and refused to believe him.

The film breaks alot of the "rules" of film noir: the setting is rural and small town, not urban; with few exceptions (the opening scene and our duo in a cabin being the major ones), it's pretty much a daytime movie, not nighttime; shadows and Expressionistic camera angles are at a minimum. But a dynamite femme fatale and the overpowering sense of doom doom doom for reasons that seem out of their control leave no doubt that it is noir.

There is one camera shot that is a Lewis staple: Lewis' nickname was "Wagon Wheel" Joe because in his early Westerns, he would add visual interest by shooting through a wagon wheel so often that it became his trademark. When they're on the lam and Dall is driving, there is a shot of him through the steering wheel (the camera would have been about where the accelerator should be).

Some of Lewis' early Westerns and East Side Gang movies are available at Nina's Discount Oldies (on Alpha Video, so its 5 for $25), as are CRIMINALS WITHIN (military-spy mystery thriller), INVISIBLE GHOST (a surprisingly good Lugosi vehicle), BOMBS OVER BURMA (haven't seen it), SECRETS OF A CO-ED (Otto Kruger in an OK movie that's not as good as its title) and the remarkable THE BIG COMBO. The two post-THE BIG COMBO Westerns I've seen are definitely worth watching: A LAWLESS STREET (Randolph Scott and Angela Lansbury) and, even better, TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN (an anti-HUAC/blacklist film with harpoonist (!) Sterling Hayden, written by Dalton Trumbo).

If it weren't for Edgar G. Ulmer, Joseph H. Lewis would be the King of the B's.
_________________
Gentlemen of the court, there are times that I'm ashamed to be a member of the human race and this is one such occasion. -- Colonel Dax

Eh, what's the difference? -- Johnny Clay"

[ChiO]

GUN CRAZY has slowly inched its way up to where it is now my favorite film noir (watching it about 10 times in two years can do that, I suppose). One of the fascinating aspects is that six years later, Joseph H. Lewis directed THE BIG COMBO, a movie that arguably was the summation of all of the popular conventions of film noir. In GUN CRAZY, however, right in the middle of the Golden Age of noir, he for all practical purposes ignores (or, certainly downplays) some of the major conventions -- nighttime, chiaroscuro, baroque camera angles, and the urban setting. They can be found, but whereas THE BIG COMBO is awash with them, GUN CRAZY is more subtle and, therefore, more psychologically engaging.

Few films better play off of the male fantasy and fear of female sexual aggression and then connect it with violence -- female use of violence in support of her carnality and lust, and male impotence in the face of violence and satisfying the female's needs. (Digression: triple feature of CAT PEOPLE, GUN CRAZY, and FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL!)

According to Lewis, he really wanted Peggy Cummins for the Annie Laurie role. She had been a hot property and had the lead in FOREVER AMBER, but Preminger didn't like her and she was replaced by Linda Darnell after three weeks of shooting. The combination of Lewis wanting her and the major downturn in her career made it mutually satisfying for her to take the role. Lewis also wanted John Dall because he could portray weakness without acting; in Lewis' words, "he played himself." Dall fought for the role and got it because the producers' choices, Dana Andrews (different, but interesting) and Gregory Peck (arrgghh!) could not be obtained.

Dalton Trumbo was the ghostwriter of the screenplay, his first post-HUAC.

Despite reasonably positive reviews upon release as DEADLY IS THE FEMALE (a title disliked by Lewis), it quickly died due to poor distribution. Eight or so months later, it was re-released as GUN CRAZY -- and died because theatres didn't want a "failed" movie. Thank goodness we have it now.

[ChiO]

Dewey and Movieman1957 posted while I was writing my post, so I apologize for the redundancies.

Dewey said:

A beautiful, framed original one-sheet poster of GUN CRAZY graces our living room wall and provides uninitiated guests to our home an opportunity to scratch their heads a bit.

That's not fair! Mrs. ChiO won't let me put my WILD GUITAR one-sheet anywhere near normal foot traffic, so it's hanging by my home computer workstation with the NIGHTFALL one-sheet and the John Alton shrine of THE BLACK BOOK, SLIGHTLY SCARLET and SILVER LODE inserts.

I just got a one-sheet of CRY OF THE HUNTED this week, so maybe Joseph H. Lewis can be represented somewhere....

[Mr. Arkadin]

Also a fan of Gun Crazy, but knew ChiO was primed for discussion on this one--like a pitbull straining at the leash. Don't have time to read or post comments now, but will re-examine the thread later.

[myrnaloyisdope]

This is definitely my favorite noir film. I am a sucker for femme-fatales, and I love the complexity of Bart Tare.

There is just so much going on in this film, from the treatment of manhood in post war America, to the role of guns in society.

Plus it's just plain fun.

[ChiO]

Myrnaloyisdope said:

This is definitely my favorite noir film.

What fine taste you have, my friend. Have you voted in the Noir poll yet? No? Get thee over there. Yes? Then vote again. That's how we do it here in Chicago.

[myrnaloyisdope]

Yes, I voted already. In Canada we do things strictly by the book.

Also, I like your avatar, Timothy Carey makes everything better.