starring John Dall, Peggy Cummins
directed by Joseph H. Lewis
87 minutes
Bart (John Dall) has a thing for guns. He's a great shot. He loves them so much that he steals one when he is still a boy. His older sister Ruby, who has raised him since their parents died, begs the judge to release Bart into her custody. Dave and Clyde, two of Bart's friends, also speak on his behalf. The judge is not moved to be lenient and chooses to send Bart to reform school. Bart serves in the army after reform school. He finally returns to his hometown years later.
Bart is reunited with his sister, who now is now married and has two children. He is also reunited with Dave and Clyde, one of whom is now a reporter and the other the town's sheriff. They take him to the carnival where he meets and falls in love with Laurie, a sharpshooter. She is equally attracted to him. Packy, her manager, hires Bart when he sees how well he can shoot.
Packy learns to regret his decision to hire Bart. Packy had hopes that Laurie would be his one day. Packy fires both Laurie and Bart after he gets into an argument with Bart, during which Bart draws his gun and shoots at Packy, but doesn't hit him.
Bart and Laurie get married and try to make ends meet but they have trouble selling their sharpshooting services. Laurie suggests that they could rob some businesses. Bart is very reluctant to do so but when it seems that his only choice is to go along with Laurie's plan or lose her he agrees to go along with her plan.
Bart and Laurie go on a spree robbing businesses. No one gets hurt during the first few robberies. Some cops get killed when they try pursuing the duo and Bart shoots out a tire and the police car crashes.
Bart and Laurie make their way across half the country. Their last big score is the payroll office of a meet packing plant. Two of the employees are shot and killed by Laurie. The FBI gets involved in the case. Laurie and Bart make their way to Los Angeles. They have plans to cross the border into Mexico and buy a house with the stolen money. Their plans fall apart when the police catch up to them.
Thoughts
This was really good. Laurie and Bart complemented each other quite well, dramatically speaking. She was ever the optimist and ready to shoot anyone who got in their way. He was always worried about what could go wrong and didn't want to hurt anyone. He only shot at the police car because Laurie was pushed him to do it.
Towards the end of the movie Bart is basically the moral center of the movie. He seems ready to turn himself in but he can't bring himself to leave Laurie. They are a very passionate couple and passionately in love.
I should probably watch this again someday. It really did get me from early on. My heart was in it from the first scene.
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