Gun Crazy

Gun Crazy (also known as Deadly Is the Female) is a 1950 American crime film noir starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. It was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, and produced by Frank and Maurice King. The screenplay by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo—credited to Millard Kaufman because of the blacklist—and by MacKinlay Kantor was based upon a short story by Kantor published in 1940 in The Saturday Evening Post. In 1998, Gun Crazy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Plot Teenager Barton "Bart" Tare gets caught breaking a hardware store window to steal a gun. He is sent to reform school for four years despite the supportive testimony of his friends Dave and Clyde, his older sister Ruby and others. They claim he would never kill any living creature, even though he has had a fascination with guns even as a child. Flashbacks provide a portrait of Bart who, after killing a young chick with a BB gun at age seven, is hesitant to shoot at anything, even a mountain lion with a bounty on its head. However, he is a dead shot with a handgun. After reform school and a stint in the Army teaching marksmanship, Bart returns home. He, Dave, and Clyde go to a traveling carnival in town. Once there, Bart challenges sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr ("Laurie") to a contest and wins. She gets him a job with the carnival and he becomes smitten with her. Their mutual attraction inflames the jealousy of their boss, Packett, who wants her for himself. When Packett tries to force himself on her, Bart fires a warning shot within an inch of his nose. Packet fires the couple, who leave together. Before they marry, Laurie warns Bart that she is "bad, but will try to be good". They embark on a carefree honeymoon on Bart's savings. When the money runs out, though, she gives Bart a stark choice: join her in a career of crime or she will leave him. They hold up stores and gas stations, but the paltry take does not last long.