Intrigued to find out where the fascination behind girls and guns stems from, I went to see cult B movie, Gun Crazy, as part of the Birds Eye View festival, and although afterwards I didn’t want to run out and get myself a pistol, perhaps I am now a tad more enlightened.
Guns = powerful, and power = sexy. So you’d wonder, what could be more appealing than a lady toting a firearm? Well, the problem is that these women are too often over-the-top, selfish, unlikable, promiscuous stereotypes and sadly that is what happens in Joseph H Lewis’ 1950 film noir.
Nice guy Bart Tare (John Dall) has a life long obsession with guns. After overly dramatically killing a chick in his youth, he would never hurt a fly, but inexplicably guns just make him feel good inside. This fixation gets him into trouble and he ends up in reform school and the army (surely the best place for a firearm lover). On his return to civilisation, him and his old buddies go for a night at the local carnival where they watch formidable sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins) working her pistol magic, and before you know it they are already married. But there is trouble in paradise; Annie wants the finer things in life that poor old passive Burt can’t provide, and through her sexual wiles, she convinces him that it would be a great idea to use their guns productively and go on a Bonnie and Clyde style crime spree. This inevitably leads to trouble and as Burt tries to turn back, Annie leads him further into hell and soon they are stuck in a huge manhunt which inevitably ends in disaster.
Don’t get me wrong, Peggy Cummins plays an excellent lead lady. She is wild, powerful, feisty and sexy. In fact, the chemistry between the couple is impressive. This could be down to the fact that director Joseph H Lewis apparently gave specific instructions: “I told John, ‘Your cock’s never been so hard.’ And I told Peggy, ‘You’re a female dog in heat, and you want him. But don’t let him have it in a hurry. Keep him waiting.’ That’s exactly how I talked to them and I turned them loose. I didn’t have to give them more directions.”
But Peggy can’t escape the scripted clichés (“I told you I’m a bad girl, didn’t I?”) and throughout I was rooting for Burt to leave her and her criminal shenangigans to go make a good life for himself. So yes, girls and guns is deadly combo, but if it goes hand in hand with being a big bitch, then I’ll leave my ‘piece’ at home, thank you very much.
