FILM · 1950 · USA
Gun Crazy
- Directed by
- Joseph H. Lewis
- Runtime
- 87 min
- Studio
- King Brothers Productions
32 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Bart Tare is an ex-Army man who has a lifelong fixation with guns, he meets a kindred spirit in sharpshooter Annie Starr and goes to work at a carnival. After upsetting the carnival owner who lusts after Starr, they both get fired. Soon, on Starr's behest, they embark on a crime spree for cash.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (32)
- #001
John Dall and Peggy Cummins did all of the driving themselves in the film, and according to Joseph H. Lewis, only one process shot — that is, rear projection behind actors pretending to drive — was used in the entire film.
- #002
The 17-page bank robbery scene was planned to be shot over three to five days with numerous camera setups, but director Joseph H. Lewis decided he did not want to do it the conventional way. He told the producers he could accomplish it in a single day with one shot that never enters the bank. The idea appealed to their budget-consciousness because it would shorten production time and eliminate the need for a bank set, but he still had to prove to them it was possible. So he made a test run with extras using his own 16mm camera.
- #003
Al J. Jennings, a real-life bank robber from the "Old West" days, served as technical adviser. He was 85 years old at the time.
- #004
The on-screen credits list the screenplay as written by MacKinlay Kantor and Millard Kaufman. However, in 1992 it emerged that Kaufman had fronted for blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo.
- #005
To shoot entirely from inside the car, the back of the vehicle was removed and replaced with planks and a jockey saddle. The planks were greased so the camera could slide easily and change angles. Director Joseph H. Lewis and several crew members squeezed into the back. The only light the actors had was two small battery-powered key lights. Sound was recorded with microphones hidden in the sun visors. When Laurie gets out to distract the police, Lewis placed two sound men with microphones on the roof to continue the dialogue on the sidewalk; they were tied down there as the car approached the bank and sped away.
- #006
In a 1981 interview with author Danny Peary, director Joseph H. Lewis described how he directed his leads, John Dall and Peggy Cummins: "I told John, 'Your cock never got this hard,' and I said to Peggy, 'You're an angry bitch and you want it. But don't let him hurry. Make him wait.' That's exactly how I talked to them, and then I turned them loose. I didn't have to give them any more direction."
- #007
Although Bart and Laurie are broadly based on Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the scene in which they rob the factory appears to have been inspired by a 1938 robbery at the Nashville, Arkansas Coca-Cola plant carried out by two men named Floyd Hamilton and Huron "Terrible Ted" Walters. Hamilton was a former associate of Bonnie and Clyde.
- #008
Two of the newspaper close-ups shown in the film feature a story headlined "Mercury New X-ray Source, Two Scientists Report." The same story appears in newspaper close-up scenes in many films and TV shows. In real life it first ran in newspapers in 1934.
- #009
For whatever reason, Peggy Cummins did not pluck or wax her naturally thick eyebrows; instead she bleached them blonde. In most shots her natural brows are visible above and below eyebrows carefully drawn in brown. Attentive viewers will notice that the cinematographer used a great deal of soft focus in close-ups, particularly the trick of focusing the camera on the male lead or his hands, leaving her face slightly out of focus.
- #010
Joseph H. Lewis initially sought Veronica Lake for the role of Annie.
- #011
The screenplay calls for the police, dogs and police cars surrounding Bart and Laurie to be seen in the thrilling swamp scene, but director Joseph H. Lewis decided to keep the camera on the couple so that only the sounds of their pursuers emerge from the fog. The script also had Bart and Laurie separating after the meat-packing plant robbery, but Lewis decided to stop them in cars driving in opposite directions and have them run into each other's arms in broad daylight as the police approach, abandoning one of their getaway vehicles and driving off together.
- #012
As in real life, this is one of the few films to show hair blowing into the face while riding in a convertible (after robbing the payroll office). Many films of this era feature convertibles, and the hair is always perfect.
- #013
At the film's climax, Annie and Bart retreat to "Medera National Park" in California. No such park exists; however, part of Yosemite National Park lies in California's Madera County.
- #014
It was included on the American Film Institute's 1998 list of 400 films nominated for the 100 Greatest American Movies.
- #015
One of the banks robbed by the couple is the Hampton Building and Loan in the fictional town of Hampton. During filming it was actually the Security First National Bank in Montrose, California. As of the time of writing, Faye's Intimate Apparel occupied the site.
- #016
Bart Tare and Laurie Starr are modeled on Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, the notorious Depression-era outlaws who were also the subject of Bonnie and Clyde (1967), You Only Live Once (1937) and The Bonnie Parker Story (1958).
- #017
Close to Nicholas Ray's They Live by Night (1948), this film shares another common trait: the bank robbery scene experienced from inside the car.
- #018
Annie uses a nickel-plated Colt Police Positive revolver in the carnival show and throughout the rest of the picture. Bart uses a Smith & Wesson Model 10 to set off his crime spree by holding up a hotel, a liquor store and a gas station. He later switches to a Colt Official Police.
- #019
According to Eddie Muller of TCM, this was the only film produced by the King Brothers that lost money.
- #020
It was included on the American Film Institute's 2001 list of 400 films nominated for the 100 Years...100 Passions list of the most heart-stopping American films.
- #021
The body count in Gun Crazy is five, with one additional death occurring off-screen.
- #022
Charles McGraw is clearly visible in the first courtroom scene, even though he is not named in the credits.
- #023
In 1998, Gun Crazy was preserved in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
- #024
Frank King and Maurice King announced as early as 1946 that MacKinlay Kantor's story would be adapted for the screen. In an advertisement in the 1947 Film Daily Year Book, Gun Crazy is listed as "In Preparation" alongside the previously released The Gangster (1947).
- #025
Although the film was initially planned to be released by Allied Artists, its distribution was ultimately handled by United Artists.
- #026
Gun Crazy was among the 400 films nominated for the American Film Institute's 2002 list of the 100 greatest American love stories.
- #027
While working at the Armor Meat Company, Bart at one point stands beside a Black man cutting meat next to him. Bart says, "Thanks, George," and walks away. The name "George" was a generic name commonly used for all Black men.
- #028
As Bart and Annie Laurie look at the jeweler's shop window, the bus reflected in the glass is a double-decker Yellow Coach Model 720 or 735. It is boldly marked "Chicago Motor Coach Company," which operated them in the late 1930s. Production began in 1936.
- #029
After the bank robbery, the pursuing police car is a 1947 Ford Super De Luxe sedan. In the meat factory robbery, the main getaway car is a 1940-1 Buick Roadmaster two-door convertible, the car they abandon is a 1949 Packard Super Eight convertible, and the police car from which a machine-gun-carrying officer emerges (which appears to be stock footage) is a 1941 Ford.
- #030
Berry Kroeger and John Dall also appeared together in Atlantis: The Lost Continent (1961).
- #031
The second newspaper headline contains a small promotional blurb for "Storm Warning." This was another film from the same period (November 1949-January 1950) and may have been a subliminal advertisement for it.
- #032
While reading about the deaths at the meat packing plant, Bart says the security guard's name is William Bechtel. It is unclear whether this is intended as a nod to the comedian William Bechtel.
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