"We fit together like a gun and ammunition"
I've been hearing about Gun Crazy for a good long time and it didn't disappoint. It reminded me of Borzage's
Moonrise (one of my absolute favourites): very few films capture the sheer terror of presiding over a less powerful being's fate this well... In Moonrise, it's a raccoon in a tree, shaken loose for the dogs; in GC it's a fuzzy baby chicken killed with a bb gun... and there are echoes of this nightmarish power all through the film. These aren't your typical "frightened killers" on the run. They're frightened alright, but mostly they're frightened of their own superior firepower...
But this isn't Natural Born Killers either... Nor is it some bland argument in favour of gun control! More than anything, this is a brilliant dramatization of how badly things can deteriorate for two people, once they decide that they can "live for love alone" and opt out of the social contract. These monsters are not "products of their environment": they choose their fate...
"Didn't you realize that once we started this, we'd never be able to turn to anyone for help again?" Dall asks Cummins. She knows.
Cummins is amazing in this role. I don't even think she qualifies as a femme fatale really... That term usually applies to a money-grubbing jerk who tantalizes the male protagonist into compromising his integrity. In some ways, she does have this effect on Dall, but it's a lot more complicated than that... This isn't Phyllis Dietrichson & Walter Neff. Barbara Stanwyck is my favourite actress, bar none, but Double Indemnity? That's gotta be one of the worst things she ever did. It's not her fault. It's Billy Wilder's. He liked his women venal or pixiesh... Either way--they're just there to affect the men. I hate Billy Wilder. I really do. If you're looking for a Stanwyck character to compare Cummins to, try her eponymous turn in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers on for size. There are a lot of similarities. Both women are extraordinarily competent, and that's what makes them appealing. They aren't moral black holes sucking the men to their doom--they're Nietzschean supernovae of desire. Cummins isn't trying to fool Dall into getting stuff for her. She wants a partner in crime. Someone to keep her company while she does what she does (& loves) best. Shoot people. Dall is a lot more squeamish than that, but he can't keep away from her. "I let you do my killing for me," he says.
It's true.
They aren't two people anymore. They're one. And it turns out that romantic fusion isn't all it's cracked up to be. In fact it's crazy.
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Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
Great post on a fantastic film! Though I disagree with your stance on Double Indemnity, one of the 20 greatest films of all time in my opinion. But your argument on Wilder is an interesting one. Stanwyck was a brilliant actress, though am ashamed to say I have never seen Strange Love of Martha Ivers. I've been looking for a new film to watch. Thanks.
2 - David Fiore
I appreciate the comment Chris!
I hope you like SLOMI!
On Double Indemnity--I get carried away when I write these pieces... I've seen Wilder's film a bunch of time's and I do think there's a lot there to like (for one thing, the dialogue is amazing; Chanlder's one of my favourite writers...)--I'm just not in sync with the director's worldview is all...
Thanks for reading!
Dave
3 - Chris Kent
I actually have two Wilder films on my top-20 all time list - Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity. But outside of those two brilliantly dark masterpieces, I have a hard time liking the rest of his work. I have always felt he was slightly overrated and am glad to see I am not alone in that regard.
But I will not lie, Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity are two films I watch over and over again, respecting them more with each viewing. I marvel at their brilliance.
Gun Crazy stunned me with its innovation and insinuations. It's a thematically brave film for its time. Amazing to believe it was made in 1949!
4 - David Fiore
(Fiore, typing slowly, so as to avoid embarrassing typos...)
I like Sunset Boulevard too Chris (also The Lost Weekend). There's no denying Wilder's skill as a filmmaker... he certainly excelled in creating a bleak atmosphere. When he gets dissociation right (as in the scene in SB in which Holden floats through the party with his old cronies, unable to connect with them) it's really impressive.
But, like you, I feel that Wilder is a pretty limited artist--his smarmy comedies are awful and, even in the best of his movies, the cynicism often feels more like an immature self-defense mechanism than incisive commentary.
Gun Crazy on the other hand--well, there's an awful lot there and I can't wait to watch it again!
Dave
5 - Chris Kent
David,
Agreed about the Wilder comedies, some are even low brow at times. A lot of the older comedies I find extremely dated, with the exception of Chaplin (Gold Rush) and the Howard Hawks screwball comedies (His Girl Friday). I also loved The Lady Eve with Stanwyck and Fonda and Woman of the Year with Hepburn and Tracy (who directed that?).
The Lost Weekend certainly had a bold theme for its time, but it's extremely dated in my opinion. I've only seen it once and was not overly impressed.
6 - Chris Kent
Sorry David, had to look it up, though I'm sure you already knew.
George Stevens directed Woman of the Year.....
7 - David Fiore
Here we differ Chris! I'm a huge fan of 30's screwball: Capra, LaCava, McCarey, Stevens, Sturges, these guys are among my favourites!
Woman of the Year is by Stevens. It's certainly good, but I think his finest hour is Alice Adams.
Dave
8 - Chris Kent
hmmmmm.....I don't know if I would consider Capra a screwball filmmaker, but there's no denying the greatness of his work. I am a huge fan of Sturges, though his output was rather small (4-5 films?) - but hey! I mentioned The Lady Eve.......His film Sullivan's Travels is on my already-mentioned top-20 list.....Just a brilliant, deeply moving work.....
I don't know what it is about Woman of the Year that appeals to me. Hepburn is gorgeous and I believe it was the first time she worked with Tracy. I laugh out loud every time I watch it. It's just a riot.
I just find much in the comedies from this era to be so dated as to be embarrassing - say, for example, the Thin Man series. The wreckless drinking and drunken behavior may have been funny for that time, but today it is tasteless and rather sad.
The other directors you mention I am not as familiar with, though will definitely look them up.....
9 - Rodney Welch
I agree on Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity, but it may well be that the Wilder film I most revere is The Apartment. These were by no means his only good films: there's still Some Like It Hot, which tremains fantastic, Witness for the Prosecution, Stalag 17, and The Fortune Cookie. There are others, but these are the signal ones.
Preston Sturges wrote and directed ten films; outside of those, he wrote six others; and outside of those he wrote a play on which one film was based. To me his best films of all are The Miracle of Morgan's Creek and The Palm Beach Story -- not only two of the funniest comedies ever made, but two of the most blissful.
10 - Chris Kent
Rodney,
You're correct about Sturges. His most productive period was 1940-44 in which he made seven terrific films (including Miracle at Morgan's Creek and Palm Beach Story, both of which I admire), and then left filmmaking until 1950, making 4-5 films after that with lesser success. I just remembered reading about his peak period being only a few short years. I think Sullivan's Travels is far and away his great masterpiece.....
I have always thought Wilder's Some Like it Hot was overrated. I have never found it to be particularly funny....The Apartment has some touching moments, but is a bit too conventional/syrupy for my taste.
11 - David Fiore
I like Sullivan's Travels best too Chris--although all of the Sturges movies are good, until you get to Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend... My pick for runner-up would be Christmas in July, which is awesome, and never gets as much attention as the Bracken films...
Dave
12 - Rodney Welch
I love Christmas in July -- just nmot as much as the others. I can see how someone would find The Apartment sentimental, but that to me is never its key ingredient -- I just think it's beautiful from start to finish, and after many viewings, Shirley MacLaine running back to Jack Lemmon at the end STILL makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up -- it's the same feeling I get watching that nurse do that funny little leap in the air in Morgan's Creek after the umpteenth baby is born.
I like Sullivan's Travels -- I like all of Sturges that I've seen. The main thing I like about Sturges is what I like about Renoir and Bunuel -- they are masters who pull off great feats so nimbly that you barely notice them. Sturges, for example, always used these very long, uninterrupted takes, which meant that all the dialogue, all the funny business, all the jokes, the pacing, the timing -- had to be worked out well in advance, and it works out so perfectly that you never notice unless you're a film geek. There's a four or five minute scene in Sullivan that is all one take -- that one near the beginning where Joel McCrea and those two movie honchos are swapping titles. Very funny stuff; Sturges knew how to get three comic actors going and then he knew how to get out their way.
13 - Chris Kent
I don't think people really appreciate how difficult it is to film comedy. I see so many bad comedies today, as if Hollywood has lost the skill. It's about timing, dialogue and acting. There is nothing worse than watching an actor poorly making a stab at comedy. It's tough, as any actor will tell you. It's even tougher to write and direct it. Sturges was a master......Howard Hawks perfected this craft with his films His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby......the rapid fire pace and dialogue, the terrific actors in their prime.....
Just like Gun Crazy, an obvious thematic inspiration for Bonnie and Clyde. There's a lot one can learn from the old classics, and I think most young viewers would be surprised to find the themes of these films are very modern, if not universal, and just as risque.
Rodney, that's a great scene at the beginning of Sullivan's Travels and have rewound the tape several times to see it repeatedly......kind of like when one rewatches certain scenes from a Hitchcock film......
14 - Rodney Welch
Chris -- Exactly -- I'm the same way. There's another scene like that in Morgan's Creek that basically follows Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken as they walk around the block; I think there's an insert in it, and maybe a barely-perceptible cut or two within (like maybe there were two takes he spliced together) but it's all very seamless. Another thing -- William Demarest, old Uncle Charlie from "My Three Sons" was vital to several Sturges comedies, and you can't help but watch his rages and his pratfalls without thinking how it all had to be perfectly mapped out in order to look so effortless.
15 - HW Saxton Jr.
"Gun Crazy" was also done again in 1992 with Drew Barrymore as part of a series of B movie remakes for Showtime.
A few minor liberties were taken with the original story,but it's still pretty
watchable.It was released on video and it also saw a limited theatrical run.