Released: January 1950

Dir.: Joseph H. Lewis

Cast: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Anabel Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Russ Tamblyn.

Right from childhood Bart Tare (John Dall) was crazy about guns. So much so he tried to break into a hardware store to steal a revolver. His attempt failed and earned him 5 years up the river to reform school. Bart learned his lessons the hard way, at the ripe old age of 7 he shot a baby chick with a BB gun and, thankfully, instantly regrets it. Vowing never to kill again, Bart aims to become an expert target shooter, and becomes the best shot in the county. Although he respects firearms, Bart remains Gun Crazy.

A stint in the army only makes him bored of teaching other guys how to shoot. Bart returns home, hoping to get a job with Remmington or one of those other outfits. Reuniting with his school pals Clyde, now a deputy (Harry Lewis), and Dave, the local newspaper editor (Nedrick Young), the three old friends go to the carnival to have some fun. Once there, in one of cinema’s greatest femme fatal entrances, carnival sharp-shooter Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins) blasts her way straight into Bart’s heart.

A far cry from Remmington, Bart joins the carnival, where he and Laurie fall madly in love. Bluey-Bluey the Clown (Stanely Prager) warns Bart. Bart may be a smart guy, but really, he’s dumb when it comes to women, and needs to wise up. Advice coming from a clown. Bart likes to learn his lessons the hard way. An even then…

Carnival manager Packett (Berry Kroeger), thinking Laurie is his girl, fires both Bart and Laurie, and the pair hit the road, and straight to the Justice of the Peace. Quickly they run out of money and Bart reluctantly agrees to pursue a life of crime.

Bart and Laurie stick up hotels, liquor stores, filling stations, bubble gum machines, only earning enough for eating money. Laurie, who has grand dreams of living the high life, talks Bart into a bank hold up. The heist succeeds, and the cops sit up and take notice.

Bart is dumb. Unknown to him, Laurie has a dark past. A past that left a guy dead of lead poisoning, in St. Louis, the smoke coming from the barrel of her revolver. He cannot see her seething viciousness. He possibly mistakes it for sexual hunger, but it’s manifested through a six-bullet chamber. Laurie will kill again. Bart likes to learn his lessons the hard way.

In life, we’ve all made a bad decision or two, but we learn, grow, and improve. Bart’s life is built on bad decisions, one after another. Really bad decisions. However, Bart really doesn’t have a guide or role model. He has Laurie and himself. Reform school and the army kept him away from family and friends for far too long, and those bonds weakened, so all he had to rely on was himself. Although underneath it all, Bart is a good guy. The crimes of his youth were misdemeanors and he paid for them, but ultimately, he learned nothing. He is destined to steal again. And in a fitting bit of irony, he will kill again.

Gun Crazy is more than a nice guy meeting a bad girl film noir. Yes, for its time it is extremely sexually charged and symbolic. But it’s about a nice guy who by choice or circumstance is emotionally isolated to the point that all he knows is firearms and lust. The nice guy that was Bart is so blurred, his moral compass so off kilter it sends him in one direction. The wrong one. It’s his destiny.

After Bart and Laurie make national headlines for their daring robbery of a meat packing plant, Bart returns home to hide out. He meets his two pals face to face one last time. Clyde and Dave try to talk Bart into giving himself up. You can’t help but think about the last time these guys were together. Two of them successfully in careers that make them happy, and the third pulling his life together after a few knocks, but ready to start over. Bart was looking towards a bright future. You could imagine these guys getting together a few years later, with their families for a 4^th of July barbeque or something. Instead, Bart is holding a gun to his friends, a fugitive from justice, soiled and pathetic. Bart never had a chance.

It’s striking how low and pathetic Bart has become, and it is no more apparent when he meets Clyde and Dave. Bart has a chance to save himself. His pals are willing to help him; perhaps the law will be a little easier on him. Bart decides to climb even lower and continue running.

Gun Crazy is essential film noir viewing, coming at the peak of that undeclared cinematic movement. It, along with Detour (1945) and Double Indemnity (1944), make the ultimate femme fatale destroys Mr. Everyman trilogy. It’s not pretty, but it’s innovative and one heck of a journey.

Gun Crazy is available to own on Blu Ray from the Warner Archive, and airs periodically on TCM.