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Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel Shaw ... see more see more... , Russ Tamblyn , Harry Lewis , Ned Young , Trevor Bardette , Mickey Little , David Bair , Stanley Prager , Virginia Farmer , Anne O'Neal , Don Beddoe , Robert Osterloh , Shimen Ruskin , Harry Hayden

The definitive Joseph H. Lewis-directed melodrama, Gun Crazy is the "Bonnie and Clyde" story retooled for the disillusioned postwar generation. John Dall plays a timorous, emotionally disturbed World ... read more read more...War II veteran who has had a lifelong fixation with guns. He meets a kindred spirit in carnival sharpshooter Peggy Cummins, who is equally disturbed -- but a lot smarter, and hence a lot more dangerous. Beyond their physical attraction to one another, both Dall and Cummins are obsessed with firearms. They embark on a crime spree, with Cummins as the brains and Dall as the trigger man. As sociopathic a duo as are likely to be found in a 1940s film, Dall and Cummins are also perversely fascinating. As they dance their last dance before dying in a hail of police bullets, the audience is half hoping that somehow they'll escape the Inevitable. Some critics have complained that Dall is far too effeminate and Cummins too butch, but Joseph H. Lewis was never known to draw anything in less than broad strokes: recall the climax of Terror in a Texas Town, wherein Sterling Hayden participates in a western showdown armed with a whaler's harpoon. The best and most talked-about scene in Gun Crazy is the bank robbery sequence, shot in "real time" from the back seat of Dall and Cummins' getaway car. Originally slated for Monogram release, Gun Crazy enjoyed a wider exposure when its producers, the enterprising King Brothers, chose United Artists as the distributor. The film was based on a magazine article by MacKinlay Kantor; one of the scenarists was uncredited blacklistee Dalton Trumbo. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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83% liked it

2,857 ratings

Critics

96% liked it

27 critics

R, 1 hr. 27 min.

Directed by: Joseph H. Lewis

Release Date: January 20, 1950

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DVD Release Date: January 19, 1999

Stats: 210 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (210)

  • axadntpron
    February 25, 2011
    axadntpron
    A solid noir that really focuses on gun ownership as a metaphor for masculinity. Focusing on Barton's upbringing, the gun is where he finds his male identity. We he eventually meets his love, he does it by winning a shooting contest. Clearly asserting his manliness. For the films... read more femme fatale Annie, wielding the gun is a source of power and in one scene in particular, she shows off her shooting skills to a sea of young men. She shoots out into the crowd, almost as if she is shooting her masculinity all over these men. There is even a scene when she pulls out a gun and sets it on her lap and it is as if she too has her source of masculinity, her very own penis. These are just a few examples of all that Lewis leaves the viewer to unpack. The influence that it would later have on Penn's Bonnie & Clyde is obvious. Although not as intriguing as other Noirs, this psychologically dense film is certainly a good watch.
  • ajv2688
    October 24, 2010
    ajv2688
    The classic Bonnie and Clyde themed forties movie. It's not a well known cast, but they are really good in this movie. The film is exciting, dramatic, and romantic as well. I just love it.
  • webalina
    July 16, 2010
    webalina
    Why is it that the more you want to see a film, the more disappointed you are when you finally see it? I've been reading about this film in essays and books for 20 years. And now that I've seen it? Sigh....not that it wasn't good, mind you. I just built it up in my mind too much.... read more My bad.

    Let's touch on the positives first, and there are several. It looks great -- all dark and noir-y. Done on a small budget, and looks it...and that's OK. Some street scenes are obviously on a soundstage, but it doesn't really take away anything. And one scene in a fog-shrouded swamp is particularly effective. There are several chase sequences that really had me going. And the bank robbery scene --- filmed from the backseat of the getaway car and done in one long take -- is the most exciting, probably due to the POV aspect. And finally, the climax of the film and the fate of the couple is a knockout.

    Now for the negatives -- only one, but it's BIG one that affects the whole film...I just didn't buy the casting. These people -- Bart Tare, the gun-loving, reform school graduate, male lead (John Dall) and Annie Laurie Starr, the sharp-shooter bad girl (Peggy Cummins) -- were supposedly blatantly sexual, ruthless and dangerous. Dall and Cummins were far too soft-spoken for their roles. They seemed more suited for ingenues in drawing rooms dramas. One exception is at the circus during their first meeting. There is obvious heat there, but I don't really see it sustained through the film. And both characters were supposed to be gun-obsessed -- hence the title -- but neither appeared to ever have even fired a gun before. There was actually very little gunplay once the film gets underway. From what I had read, I was half-expecting for them to be fondling their guns as if they were sex organs. And finally, Dall's Bart was far too whiny. I understand that Laurie was the more powerful and dangerous of the two, so maybe that was intentional. But it just wasn't effective or convincing for me.

    Ultimately, it was a good movie, but not the sex-fueled action-packed film it was touted to be.
  • smith44
    May 18, 2010
    smith44
    What an unexpected treasure trove Gun Crazy is! A classic precursor to the seminal Bonnie And Clyde. Brilliantly shot in all of film noir's technique. Suprisingly sexy, a depiction of love gone wrong in a world where small town America has been corrupted by the big city. Ultimate... read morely a contemplation of obsession. "We go together like guns and ammunition".
  • flixsterman
    December 13, 2009
    flixsterman
    Outrageous and fun film that starts like Leave It To Beaver and winds up like Bonnie And Clyde.

    Peggy Cummins is wonderful as the sharp-shooting femme fatale and John Dall is perfectly cast as the good-hearted schmuck who is drawn into a life of implied-sex and cr... read moreime.

    Of note are the robbery and chase scenes that are shot in continuous takes from a back-seat point of view. I'm not sure if this technique was a result of artistic forethought or a product of a limited budget but it works well. Director Joseph H. Lewis defies convention in both his medium and his method and delivers a classic in the genre of film noir
  • pier007
    April 19, 2009
    pier007
    Exciting story of lovers with a twisted passion for the trigger ala Bonnie and Clyde, with frenetic but solid direction by Joseph H. Lewis.
  • groaningbitch
    September 10, 2008
    groaningbitch
    if you'd like to categorize "gun crazy" as the earlier version of "bonnie and clyde", it might have some parallel to resonate but somehow the core spirit might differ to a degree. "gun crazy" is mainly about a couple with the shared obsession for invincible power gained from shoo... read moreting as well as their fetish craze for guns. they form their bond thru the mutual recognition of gun-fetishes. then peggy cummins' character laury shifts her craze for guns into the crave of power....she's the harpy vixen who could pull the trigger ruthlessly as her well-being get endangered, anytime someone hinders her way, the sympton for homicidal violence. as for john dall's bud, he's more of a romantic steer whose appetite for destruction hasn't been explored throughly as laury's if he has any. as a child, he would commit theivery to get a gun as he's the puppet for guns. bud identifies himself thru the thrill of firecrack but suffers from a backset guilty conscience for death. so basically laury takes the wheel with her manipulative allure and tigress-alike shrewdness, guiding bud into the empheral life once the gun is fired off, the spark is briefly annihilated as well as its immediate ruin.

    laury is a more interesting character with sociopath tedency, bud is the slave of her wild spunk just as bud is the puppet of his own gun-craze. she conducts herself with the ambition as mighty as any incorrigible male con, but limited to her gender as a female, love shall be her gang so bud is her sidekick. she seeks a man who is tough enough to depredate everything from the world for her, or at least obedient enough to grant her wishes and comply her will as bud. the idea of aggressive female dominating over the submissive male is something differentiated from bonnie and clyde since bonnie is more of a moll who approves and accomplices clyde. bud is more of a gentleman with his bourgeois upbring, reluctant to smear off any life on earth; laury is more of a ghette street-wise woman who has been kicked around all her life that stimulates an avid vengence for her to hit it top against society.

    the end of their demise together is more like a final confrontation between the two's living values: bud shoots laury to stop her from shooting his childhood friend while he gets killed by the police surrounded just becuz he fires a shot....bud chooses a last preserved virtue of mercy as laury chooses to abide her primitive survival instinct thru killing. bud is the domestic kitten which cannot adapt into the dangerous edge; laury is the savage feline existing among the perilous jungle. maybe bud could be the hapless romantic anti-hero with strong love for his woman......and our femme fatale in this time is raging amok with all her ammunitions that you could not ignore....gone(gun) crazy.
  • rubystevens
    January 7, 2008
    rubystevens
    a gun-crazy kid meets the girl of his dreams/nightmares in this outrageous noir. i love the shooting contest/pseudo-sex scene, the long single take of a robbery shot entirely from the back seat of a car and of course the eerie final sequence. a cool bonnie and clyde tale, very ... read moreentertaining
  • superclerk25
    May 21, 2007
    superclerk25
    A lot like Bonnie and Clyde if Clyde really didn't want to be a bad guy and let the girl tell him what to do the whole time. It was good though.
  • mjgildea
    November 12, 2006
    mjgildea
    A wannabe Bonnie and Clyde. The final sequence is well done.

View All Gun Crazy (Deadly Is the Female) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
April 27, 2009
Variety Staff, Variety

Fault is in the writing and direction, both staying on the surface and never getting underneath the characters. Full Review

Dave Kehr
April 27, 2009
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

One of the most distinguished works of art to emerge from the B movie swamp. Full Review

Richard T. Jameson
May 1, 2011
Richard T. Jameson, Parallax View

If you had to select a single film to justify the present enthusiasm for film noir and define its allure, few movies could compete with Gun Crazy. Full Review

Edward Porter
March 6, 2009
Edward Porter, Sunday Times (UK)

Some old pulpy noir thrillers aren't as pleasurable as the garish posters that advertised them, but this re-release gives us an example of the genre that's every bit as brash, lusty and stylish as you... Full Review

Philip French
March 6, 2009
Philip French, Observer [UK]

It's a superbly crafted film by a cult film-maker. Full Review

Kim Newman
February 27, 2009
Kim Newman, Empire Magazine

Darker and more subtly complex than you'd expect from a 1950s crime caper. Full Review

Tom Huddlestone
February 27, 2009
Tom Huddlestone, Time Out

Gun Crazy' is a magnificently enjoyable film, distinguished by Joseph H Lewis's restless, catch-all directorial style. Full Review

Richard Luck
February 27, 2009
Richard Luck, Film4

Gun Crazy is less an exposé than a hugely exciting crime thriller. And since he's as polite as he is intelligent, Lewis doesn't beat us about the head with his philosophies. Full Review

James Christopher
February 27, 2009
James Christopher, Times [UK]

Admittedly, the script is vintage corn. But visually Gun Crazy is a rude, startling and suggestive pleasure. Full Review

Peter Bradshaw
February 27, 2009
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

this is a small but perfectly formed black-and-white masterpiece of flash and trash, unwholesome obsession and criminal daring. Full Review

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    • Bart Tare: We go together, Laurie. I don't know why. Maybe like guns and ammunition go together.
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