Supposedly, this is based on the story of Bonnie and Clyde. If so, I'd have to say it's very loosely based indeed. These two aren't the petty thugs who so captivated the public imagination. Oh, it's true that they are stick-up artists, certainly. But unlike that infamous duo, it's made pretty clear that they aren't really doing it because they like killing people. In fact, it is made crystal clear from the beginning that he doesn't like killing animals, much less people. He joined the army, but it seems as though it was because he didn't know what else he could do with those four years of reform school under his belt. Besides, the army would let him shoot all he wanted to, and that's all he ever wanted to do anyway.

Bart Tare (Russ Tamblyn) is, as the title tells us, gun crazy. His sister, Ruby (Anabel Shaw) saves up to buy him a BB gun, and he loves it. He accidentally shot a chick and killed it once, and he never knowingly killed a living thing again. He did, on the other hand, break into a hardware store window and steal a pistol out of the display. (Clearly, it was a different time.) He just wanted to have it. However, the judge sent him to reform school. After eight years, Bart (now John Dall) returns home to see his old childhood friends, Dave Allister (Nedrick Young) and now-sheriff Clyde Boston (Harry Lewis). They go to a carnival, and he meets sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins). He outshoots her and ends up joining the carnival as part of her act. They ditch the carnival and marry. Since Laurie wants nothing but the best, and since Bart really has no marketable skills, they end up as robbers. Though Bart never kills anyone, does what he can to avoid it, Laurie has no such compunctions.

That's another difference from Bonnie and Clyde, you see. Clyde was also pretty evil. Neither one really cared if the people who crossed them lived or died. I'm pretty sure they didn't much care if the other members of their gang lived or died. Each other, probably. But they weren't the caring, concerned robbers these two are shown to be. Oh, it's true that Laurie's kind of nuts from the beginning. There's that great close-up of her while she's saying, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" But she does seem pretty much willing to go along with Bart's Don't Kill Anybody policy, at least at first. Also, Bart does what he can to avoid hurting Clyde and Dave. They're his friends. He doesn't want to hurt them; he doesn't really want to hurt anyone.

I guess the whole point of the movie, as in any noir, is to show a Good Man Brought Low by a Bad Woman. However, I don't think we got enough setup of Laurie as a Bad Woman. She's a wild, crazy carnie, it's true, and she doesn't seem to have qualms about making her will known. But a thrill-crazy killer, as the tagline claims her to be? There's not enough setup for that. She has been using Packett, possibly (Berry Kroeger), to further her own goals, but she doesn't harm him. She just runs away with Bart. She does Lead Bart Into Wrongdoing with her desire for the good things in life, things someone like Bart can't get her. Then again, she's willing to go with Bart in the first place. She does really seem to love him; he's not just her chump.

I don't think this film should hold a very prominent place in the history of noir. It's from the tail end of the genre, but I don't think it's the last one made. There's no extraordinary film work here; some of it is, in fact, quite bad. I like some of the nonviolent scenes, such as the one where Bart and Laurie are having an evening out together while they're on the lam. Yes, they've robbed the payroll of a major packing plant, and yes, the police are closing in on them. Yes, people died this time. But Bart and Laurie have fun on a rollercoaster. Still, much of the filming isn't very good, and the story is uneven. As I've said, Laurie isn't really given enough of a motive. Surely it would have been much easier for her to become a gold digger than a stick-up artist.