John Dall

Gun Crazy

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Laurie and Bart, both with guns in their hands

A crazy mixed-up kid is dragged to hell by a sexy dame in Gun Crazy (not for nothing also known as Deadly Is the Female), a film that has us by the scruff of the neck right from its fabulous opening scene. In super-sharp close-up a kid smashes the plate glass window of a hardware shop, steals a gun and then falls flat on his face in the rain as he tries to run away. Bad luck of this sort is to dog Bart Tare for the whole of his life. Flashback scenes flesh out this pretty decent kid with a strange obsession with guns – “Shooting’s what I’m good at. It’s what … Read more

The Man Who Cheated Himself

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Ed and Lois with the dead man between them

The Man Who Cheated Himself is a prime example of a good movie ruined by bad casting. Lee J Cobb’s in this case, who’s meant to be playing a cop blinded by love and winding up on the wrong side of everything. If Cobb’s Lieutenant Ed Cullen is a poor sap being driven by his dick, it doesn’t come across. Jane Wyatt also isn’t quite right as Lois, the object of Ed’s affection. It’s hard to locate her as a woman who could drive a man to mess his life up totally. No heat, no spark, no nothing. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The plot revolves around a little lie that turns … Read more