Gun Crazy (1950)

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Superb noir with perhaps the quintessential femme fatale played by Peggy Cummins. She is Laurie Starr, a sharp shooter in the local carnival. One night Bart walks in to see her show, and challenges her to a shooting contest. He just happens to be an ex-military trainer with a lifelong fascination with guns and beats her at her own sideshow attraction. He joins the show, and before long they strike up a passionate relationship. The owner, her former lover, kicks them out. They run out of money, and if there is one thing Laurie wants it's money, so she threatens to leave him. Out of options, Bart turns to a life of crime to keep her around. Soon they are criss-crossing the country, their crimes escalating from small time stick-ups to bank robbery and eventually murder. Relentlessly pursued by the police, they hide-out at Bart's sister's house, then are chased to the mountains. In a memorable finale they are hunted on foot by dogs through a swamp.