begob A man obsessed with guns falls in love with a reckless carnival sharp-shooter, but her ambitions draw him to the dark side.Moralizing tale of a crime spree, with good performances but an uninspired story. The male character's background is shown in a prologue and we can pretty much piece his motivations together, but the female character is a mystery who only once lets slip a tidbit from her past so we can form an idea of how she got this way. The depravity is contained, not just because we're encouraged to take the view of the law enforcers, but also because the relationship is shown in cute close-ups without a hint of savagery. The tension does mount as the net tightens, but I got a bit tired toward the end of what is a short run time.Most interesting element is the POV camera during a long take that tells the story of a heist - all from a fixed point behind the driver of the getaway car, with the only flaw an unconvincing run-in with a cop.Music is emotional but not too intrusive for a 1950s production. Direction and photography had their moments.Overall: well told story, but too tame.

mark.waltz There's something erotic about femme fatale Peggy Cummins' obsession with guns in this superb film noir, the best low budget example of the genre since "Detour". Like that film's hard boiled female, Ann Savage, Cummins is an outstanding example of what makes film noir as hot and dangerous as a ticking time bomb. John Dall is this film's version of "Detour's" Tom Neal, a troubled young man manipulated by sex, and he's going to get the best lay of his life, probably at the expense of his life! Like Neal, he's in a situation from which there is no escape, and even if he knew of a way, Cummins would find a way to block his exit. A scene where they try to leave each other in separate cars is quite sexual in nature as they can't leave each other. The only thing this is missing in its obvious insinuations (of which many got past the sensors) is a shot of their car heading into a very tight tunnel.This film starts off with a sequence of Dall's past, showing him as a kid (Russ Tamblyn playing him as a 14 year old), breaking the window of a store and stealing a gun, then a sequence where even younger, he broke down in tears after killing a baby chicken. Going to reform school, he meets up with gun shark Cummins in the circus. Unlike her, though, he despises shooting live targets, and for her, the violent urges are both carnal and sexual. She's impish, immature but every inch aware of what she's got to give, and even more aware of what she can get out of it. They become a post war era Bonnie and Clyde, and we all know what happened to them.Shocking in its time for its frank look at the carnal nature of a female so young, it never looses steam, and Cummins and Dall are fabulous together. This is quintessential film noir, one of the very best. While it has its moments where the audience has the chance to catch its breath, it quickly regains steam and twists the audience into quiet frenzy as the film reaches its obvious conclusion. The script, photography, editing and direction all crisp and tight, and one where you may feel your own carnal urges coming out by at times hoping they get away with it all, that is until you come to your senses. The photography, in particular, is fascinating with the fog representing the darkness of their minds, the approaching dangers as their fate awaits, and a shocking conclusion that continues to be used in similar dark dramas of men manipulated by their lusts and the women whose devious natures lead them both into a one way ticket to damnation.

higherall7 This is a great date movie! Peggy Cummins looks like one of those Kirby inspired female characters straight out of Marvel Comics. She is a knockout in her Cowgirl costume at the beginning of the film. A cross between a Comic Book Heroine and a pinup out of a girlie magazine. A woman conjured up out of every adolescent boy's wishful thinking and nascent sexual fantasies. Playing Annie Laurie Starr she is as much a girl woman as her counterpart is a boy man. A once in a lifetime opportunity for the right fellow. John Dall as Bart Tare, despite his aversion for killing any living thing, is her match as an expert marksman and it is on this basis that their romance begins. I must say that it is the way their relationship commences in a display of skill that puts this film head and shoulders about other love stories based primarily on sexual heat. Even though the physical attraction is evidently there between Annie and Bart, he wins her company because of his ability with guns more than his looks. Otherwise, he would be just the same as the other yokels, carrying a torch for a woman he cannot have. The fact that they are both expert at the same thing suggests an excellent basis for a relationship, and there is the sense that this romance could just as easily evolve into a positive rather than a negative one.During the course of the narrative, however, we are led to see that their skill with guns is about the only thing fully ripened in their personalities. It is their inability to handle money or work hard towards appropriate career paths for their talents that reveals their immaturity in other areas of Life. Bart would like to use his talents to work for Remington in some capacity handling and testing new models of guns and weaponry. One can easily envision him doing this. But Annie wants the luxurious and glamorous life. She wants it now and she wants it to come easy. Bart finds her too beautiful to refuse, and his feelings for her override any moral reaction he may have concerning the virtue of her intentions in polite society. Annie presents him with an ultimatum, he can become a career criminal with her or find someone else. Bart chooses her and a life of crime, but insists on no killing and only until they can get back on their feet into a more legal line of work.This film is considered by some reviewers here as a precursor to BONNIE AND CLYDE. Personally, I prefer it to Bonnie and Clyde. It is excellent Film noir and these characters have more substance to them. Especially Bart Tare, who has a compelling back story presented in flashbacks during the beginning of the narrative. I wish Annie Laurie Starr had been given a few scenes of back story as well, however fleeting, to suggest an explanation for her more murderous impulses and sharply developed killer instinct which is in distinct contrast to Bart Tare's distaste for killing.I also do not buy the idea that Annie was 'bad to the bone', or 'rotten to the core'. Rather that someone in Life drilled or beat this idea into her until she accepted it and found to her dismay she could not prove otherwise. Neither she or Bart Tare come across as essentially bad people given to sadism and cruelty simply for the pleasure of it. Rather they come across as personalities not fully developed and willing to do anything to come out of their poverty of character into the affluent lifestyle that Annie desperately craves and Bart would like to achieve through more reasonable and legal means.That their love demonstrates the inchoate nature of their relationship and lack of moral strength is the basis for their tragedy and ultimate downfall. This, despite a charming and romantic beginning filled with superficially glamorous possibilities.

Claudio Carvalho In Cashville, the boy Bart Tare steals a gun from a hardware store and during his trial, his sister Ruby (Anabel Shaw) and his best friends Dave and Clyde testimonies to Judge Willoughby (Morris Carnovsky) disclose that Bart has always loved guns. Further, he is a skilled shooter but incapable to shoot a living being. However he is sentenced to spend four years in a reform school and after that, he joins the army. Years later, he returns to his hometown and is welcomed by Ruby and her family, and his friends Deputy Clyde Boston (Harry Lewis) and Dave Allister (Nedrick Young). They go to a carnival to celebrate, where Bart meets the performer Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins) that is also a crack shot. Bart is hired by the owner of the carnival and soon the ambitious Annie convinces him to leave the carnival and try a better life. They get married and do not have lucky in gambling, losing all their money. Soon Annie convinces Bart to rob different towns in the beginning of their crime spree. Although Bart is unable to use his gun for killing, he does not know the violent past of his wife that murdered a man in St. Louis years ago. Until the day she kills again and they become wanted by the FBI. "Deadly Is the Female", a.k.a. "Gun Crazy", is a good film-noir with a story of a couple robbing several towns probably inspired by Bonnie and Clyde. But the acting and the great action scenes make this movie worthwhile watching. Peggy Cummins performs the femme fatale that ruins the life of a man that is not capable to shoot another human being. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Mortalmente Perigosa" ("Deadly Dangerous")