Starring
Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel
Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Rusty (Russ) Tamblyn. Directed by
Joseph H. Lewis (1950/87 min).
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Essay
by D.M. ANDERSON
How
many of you even know who the hell John Dall was?
In
1948's Rope, Dall seemed like the kind of guy who threw
snowballs at strangers, taunted the handicapped and took fraternity
hazings too far. That supremely punchable face, coupled with his
character's cold-blooded arrogance and chilling disregard for
humanity, made Brandon Shaw one of
Hitchcock's greatest unheralded movie villains. Rope may have had Jimmy
Stewart's name above the title, but Dall completely owned the film.
It's a remarkably chilling performance.
In
a perfect world, John Dall would have, at the very least, had a long,
prolific career playing a variety of despicable douches...sort-of a
Miguel Ferrer of his time. Instead, he died at age 50, having only
appeared in eight movies, mostly in supporting roles (though he did
do a lot of theater and television during his short career).
Fortunately, Gun Crazy
gave Dall the rare opportunity to show he was more than capable of carrying a movie without
making the audience hate him.
His character is
no hero, though. In true film-noir fashion, he's
more-or-less a troubled sort whose life spirals out of control due to
piss-poor choices for the sake of a woman.
 |
| John gets carsick pretty easily. |
Bart
Tare (Dall) has been a gun lover his entire life. As much as he loves
shooting them - he's a hell of a good shot - Bart detests the thought
of actually taking a life, stemming from a childhood
incident when he shot a small animal. As a teen, his obsession leads
him to actually steal a gun, resulting in four years at a reform school.
Following
a stint in the military, Bart returns home and reunites with
childhood friends, Dave and Clyde. He also meets his soulmate, Annie
Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins), a sharpshooter performing with a
traveling carnival run by her sleazy & jealous boss, Packett
(Barry Kroeger). Bart briefly joins the carnival as well, but after
thwarting Packett's attempt to rape Annie, the two venture off and get married. Soon they are broke, and at
Annie's urging, they embark on a cross-country crimewave, robbing
stores, banks and eventually a company's payroll, which gets the FBI
involved. Though Bart doesn't want to hurt anyone, Annie has no
qualms about killing anyone who gets in their way.
 |
| "Annie, those stockings are for our faces." |
It's
a timeless story told with a lot of flare and Gun Crazy is a superior example of modestly-budgeted film-noir. By
far, the best scene features the couple driving into a small town,
robbing the bank and escaping capture, all in one lengthy,
unbroken take, shot from the backseat of their getaway car. It's as
technically impressive as Hitchcock's similar method method for
shooting all of Rope.
But
even the most stylish film-noir is nothing without its morally
questionable characters, and Dall is especially effective. Bart's no
saint - nor the brightest crayon in the box - but Dall instills the character with
an increasing sense of remorse over the couple's escalating actions, making it difficult not to feel sorry for this poor rube, doomed
from the moment he lays eyes on Annie. Sure, he ultimately brings
all this misery on himself, but Dall's performance assures us Bart
was never a truly bad man...just a conflicted one.
 |
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|
Alas,
Gun Crazy was John Dall's last film in a leading role. As good
as he was, either no one else would give him another shot or he
simply preferred the stage. Or hell, maybe he was as face-punchingly
insufferable to work with as Brandon Shaw at a dinner party. Whatever the case, Gun
Crazy is a fast-moving, exciting and suspenseful classic that
plays just as well today as it did 70 years ago, and a fine showcase one of Hollywood's most criminally underused actors.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FILM-NOIR:
BRINGING DARKNESS TO LIGHT - An
outstanding 70 minute documentary from 2006, featuring commentary by
historians authors, screenwriters and filmmakers.
AUDIO
COMMENTARY - By Author Glenn
Erickson
KITTY CONSENSUS:
MEE-OW! LIKE TAUNTING A MOUSE TO DEATH
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