it's called GUN CRAZY - Gun Crazy (1950) Discussion

[–] T-aerial 18 years ago

I wonner too. But we may submit an update. Or at lest pull a switch on both titles!

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Agreed. It should definitely be listed as Gun Crazy. After all it is about their fetishistic obsession with guns, so that title makes much more sense and fits the overall mood far better. Deadly is the Female is a very campy, silly, misleading title for this terrific little movie.

Change it now, IMDb!

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[–] lawyersgunsmoney927 18 years ago

I just watched this movie and next to Out of the Past,it may be the best film noir film ever made. The cast, script, cinematography, are perfect. (The scene of the bank heist while they're dressed in cowboy garb, all shot from the back of their car is incredible).I usually refrain from using superlatives, but this movie deserves them all. What a gem!
Trivia- Bart's character as a teen is played by Russ Tamblyn, who ten years later starred as the leader of the Jets in the film West SideStory. The scene in GC when he breaks the window of the store to steal his gun, and spreads his arms out is just like his scene in WSS when he is stabbed by Bernardo, spreads out his arm, and hands his knife to Tony.
Anyhow, watch this movie. You won't be dissappointed/

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] jasonbourne (1027) 6 years ago

I thought Rusty Tamblyn was doing some hammy acting by spreading his arms out. I didn't know why he did that since he wasn't cornered or in any danger of being caught. Maybe his character was just nervous. Yet, they kept it in the scene.

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[–] benevente4 18 years ago

The odd thing about the title is it's something of a twist on "Deadlier than the Male" (note the slightly different phrasing that makes a lot of difference - "Deadly is the Female" comes off pretty stilted) which was the original title of Robert Wise's "Born to Kill" with Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor. I think the line is from Kipling and I like it as a title for the Wise film - however Gun Crazy fits this one like a glove. Anyway, the upshot here is that this movie gets listed twice - somebody's sleeping on the job ;)

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[–] mothfodder 17 years ago

i like GUN CRAZY way much than OUT OF THE PAST or BORN TO KILL, i thought it was way better, better camera work and funner to watch.

i think that IMDB calls this film DEADLY IS THE FEMALE rather than the real title for the same reason that the CRAZY 88 (KILLBILL reference) calls themselves the CRAZY 88...

because it "sounds cool".

"She's Goth. She's never heard of David Lee Roth." RM

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] AlanSquier 17 years ago

It was filmed under the title, Gun Crazy, but the studio changed the title to Deadly Is The Female. It didn't do well, and months later, was re-released as Gun Crazy. But the "real" title is Deadly Is The Female.

I killed him for money and for a woman. I didn't get the money... and I didn't get the woman.

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[–] hoyo-mont 14 years ago

I realize IMDB uses the title the film was released under, but like AlanSquier says, it was filmed as Gun Crazy, and changed back to Gun Crazy after a short while. In Peter Bogdanovich's book Who The Devil Made It, the director explains the title change.

Bogdanovich: Why was the title changed back and forth from Deadly As The Female? [note: the say Deadly "As" the Female in this interview]

Lewis: ...Gun Crazy was just a great title ... the head of United Artists said this was one of the finest filmed they'd ever seen and the title was just cheap, and they had to find a high-class title because they expected to do about 8-million dollars with this picture. I said, "You cannot give it another title. The title it has - Gun Crazy - is most provocative." Well, the title was changed, and the guy who won fifth bucks for [coming up with] the new title was a dear friend of mine ... we often laugh about it: he came up with Deadly as the Female, and I wanted to vomit. Well, as you know, they released it with that classy title and nobody'd go see it. Then they changed the title back to Gun Crazy.

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[–] nettwench 14 years ago

I saw it for the first time Saturday Night 11/02/2010, and not only was it listed on the TCM schedule as "Gun Crazy," Robert Osbourne called it "Gun Crazy" in his intro for the film.

If that ain't enough to legitimize "Gun Crazy" as the correct title for this film, I don't know what is! At least I found it when I looked it up as "Gun Crazy" on IMDB, but it was confusing!

Ssssshh! You'll wake up the monkey!

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[–] nettwench 14 years ago

I saw it for the first time Saturday Night 11/02/2010, and not only was it listed on the TCM schedule as "Gun Crazy," Robert Osbourne called it "Gun Crazy" in his intro for the film.

If that ain't enough to legitimize "Gun Crazy" as the correct title for this film, I don't know what is! At least I found it when I looked it up as "Gun Crazy" on IMDB, but it was confusing!

Ssssshh! You'll wake up the monkey!

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[–] tenco 14 years ago

GUN CRAZY should, at least, be listed as an AKA at IMDB. It isn't. I only found the film by searching on the director. Look at the critical literature on the film over the decades: GUN CRAZY is the handle used. Whenever I've seen it screened, GUN CRAZY is what it has been called. Real doesn't mean what it should have been or briefly was titled, but what it actually was known as to the majority of viewers in the majority of venues.

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[–] PillowRock 14 years ago

GUN CRAZY should, at least, be listed as an AKA at IMDB. It isn't.

Yes, it is under the AKAs. However, that is one of the bits of information that is much less obvious when you look at the page under the IMDb's new format that rolled out last week.

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[–] babyfir77 14 years ago

That's right, but Gun Crazy is a better sounding title!

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[–] jasonbourne (1027) 6 years ago

There were a lot of great films released in 1950, so Deadly Is The Female got lost in the shuffle. I like Gun Crazy as the title better, but even if it was called that to start with, the movie would not have done that well at the box office. It's a great film with raw sexuality, violence mixed in with conscience and nausea and innovative cinematography, but the perception that it was another B-movie sank it. It probably would've done better if it was released in 1949. Gun Crazy led to Breathless and Bonnie and Clyde to show these types of crime dramas can be artistic and worthy of a big budget.

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[–] NAragonss 17 years ago

Here in Spain, the movie was tittled "The Devil of the Guns".

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[–] Catter 17 years ago

It's also listed as coming out in 1950 and everywhere else I have looked says 1949.

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[–] iwals 14 years ago

The copyright on the film at the beginning also says 1949(MCMLIX).

Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] ministerwithoutportfolio 14 years ago

imdb should have a policy to use the title upon release as the main title. Anything else is subjective.

It can make it a little harder to find a movie you want, but as long as subtitles are searchable, it's worth it for consistency.

See e.g. Carnal Madness a/k/a Delinquent School Girls

We Americans should accept foreign-language titles for films initially released elsewhere too.

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[–] janeofthewakinguniverse 14 years ago

I just searched for it under Gun Crazy and it didn't show up at all. Then I searched the lead actor's name, John Dall, and it wasn't listed in his filmography. When I finally saw a picture of the film poster with Gun Crazy and clicked on it, I discovered that it had the other title. And I noticed the date was listed as 1950 when I was looking for a film dated 1949. All in all, it made it very difficult to look up this movie. Shame on you, IMDB!!

Morse's Law: There's always time for one more pint.

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[–] JimB-4 13 years ago

Like it or not, Deadly Is the Female WAS the release title. Gun Crazy was the working title and, later, the re-release title. The fact that it's much better known today as Gun Crazy doesn't counter IMDb's rules for listing films under the title they were first released with. Maybe an exception should be made, it could be argued, but there's nothing technically wrong with it being listed as it is under IMDb's rules.

I found it under a search for Gun Crazy. It popped up as an AKA. Pretty simple.

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[–] JellyFish19 13 years ago

"Deadly Is the Female" sounds so corny, I probably wouldn't even bother watching it. Glad a friend recommended it, cause otherwise I would have missed a great movie. "Gun Crazy" will always be the true title for me. By the way, I believe that the film was released in 1949. This IMDb movie profile needs an update.

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[–] toshguy 11 years ago

As far as I know, back then a film would be copyrighted right after it was completed (in this case in 1949), but its general release year which could be a few months (or even years) later is displayed in IMDb as its release date.

I'm here, Mr. Man, I cannot tell no lie and I'll be right here till the day I die

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[–] Galley_WormFilledSkull 9 years ago

How about the portuguese translation of the title for it? Mortalmente Perigosa [Deadly Dangerous]? I don't know. I like Gun Crazy better. Sounds more modern.

'What goes around comes around. Just like a kangaroo.'

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[–] SamoanJoes 8 years ago

Both titles are terrible.

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