This Gun for Hire
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| This Gun for Hire | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Frank Tuttle |
| Produced by | Richard Blumenthal associate producer |
| Written by | Graham Greene (novel) Albert Maltz) & W.R. Burnett |
| Starring | Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, Alan Ladd |
| Music by | David Buttolph |
| Cinematography | John Seitz |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 13, 1942 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 80 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
This Gun for Hire is a 1942 film noir, directed by Frank Tuttle and based on the novel A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene.
[edit] Plot
A hit man, called Raven (Alan Ladd), is doublecrossed by nightclub owner Willard Gates (Laird Cregar) who acts as a middleman for a traitorous industrialist, the president of Nitro Chemical, Alvin Brewster (Tully Marshall). Traveling to Los Angeles to kill his way to the top of his betrayers, Raven meets up with Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake) a nightclub magician and singer. Graham's been enlisted by a senator to use Gates to find out who is making deals to manufacture poison gas for the Japanese. Ellen's fianceé Lt. Michael Crane (Robert Preston) tries as best he can to keep up, tracking Raven while wondering if his girlfriend has been kidnapped or is a willing accomplice. Yvonne De Carlo also has a small role.
When the film was first released, Ladd received fourth billing. Because of fan reaction and critical praise, the film made Alad Ladd a movie star. In 2004, "DVD Savant" reviewer Glenn Erickson wrote that he wasn't impressed by the glamorous Veronica Lake, but thought Ladd was influential in inspiring future action films: "This Paramount picture is what back in the UCLA Cinema School we used to call a seminal film - it formed some of the main ideas in film noir and in later action films, particularly the James Bond franchise." [1]
The film was highly influential on later American film noir, in that it attempted to provide psychological insight to the noir hero. It also made direct impact on French noir such as Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï.
[edit] Featured cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Veronica Lake | Ellen Graham |
| Robert Preston | Det. Lt. Michael Crane |
| Laird Cregar | Willard Gates |
| Alan Ladd | Philip Raven |
| Tully Marshall | Alvin Brewster |
| Marc Lawrence | Tommy |
