Day 50: "Gun Crazy"

Director: Joseph H. Lewis 1949
A legendary movie among die-hard noir fans, "Gun Crazy" tells the sordid tale of Bart Tare (John Dall) and Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins). They meet at a carnival, where Annie is a trick-shot artist. Bart is her equal in marksmanship. They fall in love. They marry. They start robbing banks (hey, this is noir-world). Lewis' direction is skilled and imaginative, and there's a bravura, done-in-one-shot robbery sequence. Bart loves guns but doesn't believe in killing. Annie has no such reservations. Loosely inspired by the Bonnie and Clyde story, the film is somewhat saddled by the dreaded Production Code (there's a clunky scene near the end in which the characters lament their criminal ways), but it's still an impressive achievement.