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This Gun for HireRating:
Release Date: 06 July, 2004 Retail Price: $14.98 OUR Price: $12.99 You SAVE: $1.99! Cast: |
This Gun for Hire Reviews
A lad, a lake . . . and no swimming
I hadn't seen this wartime noir since it was screened at a local arthouse back in the early seventies. At that time nothing in the movie made much of an impression on me--either the quality of the print was dreadful (which is likely), or the owner/popcorn dispenser/projectionist was too harried to blow the lint off the lens occasionally (also likely). I do remember the terrific pops and sizzles emitted by two immense, floor-standing speakers--that is, the cabinets were immense; I assume that they housed a couple of horn-loaded speakers ripped from the rafters of some condemned elementary school auditorium.
THIS GUN FOR HIRE has been on DVD for a while now as part of Universal's somewhat meager offerings in film noir, and whether it's much superior to the earlier VHS issue I can't say. And while it's no TOUCH OF EVIL (what other noir is?), it is still a satisfying film with--I can now testify--some striking cinematography, a pretty brisk pace, and plenty of mugs who eat lead.
Plotwise: Oily henchman of Mr. Big tries to doublecross the hit man he hired to take care of a blackmailer. Svelte singer/dancer/magician (try getting THAT job today!) gets involved with both oily henchman (who repels her) and hit man (who interests her when he's not trying to kill her), unaware at first that her boyfriend--a cop--is after the hit man too. The plot is actually more convoluted than this, but it doesn't seem so while you're watching it because you don't care. You're too distracted by the gowns that appear to have been spray-foamed onto Veronica Lake.
Alan Ladd was "introduced" in the film, having been billed after Veronica Lake and Robert Preston, but he's the one who drives the story. Robert Preston makes a lot of noise (real noise: he's a Loud Talker in most of his scenes, even when addressing people standing two feet away)--and it's a shame. He's the cop the girl is supposed to be in love with, and you begin to wonder why. Preston must have wondered too.
Laird Cregar is very good in his oily henchman part, but you feel as you watch him that he was destined to be awarded more complex roles--he managed only a few before dying unexpectedly a couple of years after THIS GUN FOR HIRE.
Veronica Lake is best in her scenes with Alan Ladd. Perhaps his (and the character's) smoldering passivity--in contrast to Preston's more by-the-book emoting--makes her seem more animated and less like a lovely velvet drapery. Unfortunately, because she's who she is and he's who he is, they never get around to doing what they might if they weren't. Huh?
Alan Ladd--he was no Alec Guinness, to be sure, but then Alec couldn't have become Shane. Watch the first 15 minutes of THIS GUN FOR HIRE and you understand why Ladd was the absolute right choice for this troubled, repressed, cat-loving, dame-wary hitman. He underplays marvelously, making himself FELT as a threat well before he resorts to gunplay.
The DVD transfer is sharp, with real depth to the black and white.
West Coast Noir
Alan Ladd is razor sharp as Raven, a contract killer who likes cats and kills witnesses. The first 15 minutes of this film is excellent noir. A hit man (Ladd) lives in a shabby hotel, when the smart mouthed maid enters to clean she slaps his kitten aside, prompting Ladd to knock her to the floor, tearing her dress. Ladd then proceeds to his first job in the film and on the way up the stairs en route to the apartment where his soon-to-be victim resides he encounters a girl in leg braces. Ladd is so good, as is the directing, we are not sure if he is going to retrieve the ball that has bounced out of her reach or blow her brains out with his Colt .32 pistol.
Also excellent is the photography, set between San Francisco and Los Angeles, many great shots include a gas works used as a hideout, searchlights that sweep across a railroad yard in search of Ladd, and an abandoned building used for a rub-out.
What ranks it the only three stars? Sadly Ladd is surrounded by a ho-hum supporting cast, not even one is worth mentioning. Actress Veronica Lake is well remembered for her peek-a-boo hairstyle. If this film is any indicator it is no wonder she is not remembered for her acting. It is satisfactory at best. Lake plays a nightclub performer that stumbles into Ladd's dangerous world. Twice we are subjected to dumb song-and-dance/magic act numbers performed by Lake in the film which are simply a waste of time. The neo-fetish outfit she wears in one is of more interest than the whole silly sub-plot.
The story revolves around the fact that the person Ladd kills in the beginning was blackmailing a giant chemical company whose ruthless owner was planning on selling a poison gas formula to the Japanese. Another nice bit of noir film-making is when Ladd learns of this and expresses his indifference, he is just ticked because he didn't get paid. Another nice film noir moment occurs when one of the people on Ladd's list of revenge killings dies before Ladd can murder him, prompting Ladd to mutter, "Just one more double cross".
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