Bang Bang! Gun Crazy!

Another Film Noir I must talk about is Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy!

This film is SO fantastic that I can't recommend it enough. Boy is hot for guns, Girl is hot for guns, Boy meets girl who is hot for guns, both go fucking crazy shooting their guns. This film is one of the several films that are considered to be fore-runners to Bonnie and Clyde, the other films are Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once and Nicholas Ray's They Live By Night both of which are truly amazing. Yet, the characters in Gun Crazy seem more perverse. Where the characters in the other films are victims of a cruel world, Bart and Annie Laurie Star become victims of their ruthless and unrelentless desire. A desire that ultimately leads to their demise.

This film is so fast and exciting you cannot turn it off. Just yesterday Lauren and I felt like watching a scene of it because we love that movie, but we couldn't turn it off! It is like a magnificent vortex that you want to jump into, much like the Characters in the film who are so driven by their passions that there is no escape, yet you would have it no other way. This film might have been a considered a B-film at the time, but it holds up way better than other more respectable films made in it's time or anytime. Joseph H. Lewis would go on to direct other notable films, in particular his wonderful Film Noir The Big Combo, yet Gun Crazy would be his greatest contribution to the world of film. And, that is saying quite a bit!