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This Gun for Hire Photos

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Movie Info

Sadistic killer-for-hire Raven (Alan Ladd) becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss, nightclub executive Gates (Laird Cregar), Raven sits beside Gates' lovely new employee, Ellen (Veronica Lake), on a train out of town. Although Ellen is engaged to marry the police lieutenant (Robert Preston) who's hunting down Raven, she decides to try and set the misguided hit man straight as he hides from the cops and plots his revenge.

Genre:

crime, drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Frank Tuttle
Writer:

Frank Tuttle, Albert Maltz, W. R. Burnett
Release Date (Streaming):

Aug 30, 2016
Runtime:

1h 20m
Production Co:

Paramount Pictures
Sound Mix:

Mono
Aspect Ratio:

35mm

Cast & Crew

Alan Ladd
Philip Raven

Veronica Lake
Ellen Graham

Robert Preston
Det. Lt. Michael Crane

Laird Cregar
Willard Gates

Tully Marshall
Alvin Brewster

Mikhail Rasumny
Slukey

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for This Gun for Hire

All Critics (16) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (1)

The film's thrilling bullet-laden finale, fast pace and lovely black-and-white photography more than makes up for some of the overt misogyny that was common in this genre and era.

February 12, 2009 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Erik McCarthy
Minneapolis Star Tribune
A sparse, harsh noir...

March 2, 2021 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm
There's a lot to unpack...And perhaps this is the very reason why This Gun for Hire has endured for as long as it has. It's a complex noir where rooting for a 'hero' doesn't have a clear line of sight.

September 15, 2020 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Kelechi Ehenulo
Set the Tape
Catapulted Alan Ladd to stardom, established Ladd and Veronica Lake as a screen team and is just plain as close to a perfect representation of film noir as you're likely to get.

October 29, 2013 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Well acted crime melodrama that catapulted Alan Ladd to major stardom.

January 20, 2013 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
A great vein of noir tropes, greatly mined

September 25, 2009 | Full Review…

Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion
Noir favorite; Ladd and Lake are a gangbusters team.

March 10, 2006 | Rating: 4/5

Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Quote not available.

July 4, 2005 | Rating: 4/5

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Quote not available.

May 19, 2005 | Rating: 3/5

Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly
Quote not available.

January 14, 2005 | Rating: 3/5

Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
For good reason it made Alan Ladd a star.

October 25, 2004 | Rating: 4/5

Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan
Quote not available.

July 30, 2003 | Rating: 4.5/5 | Full Review…

TV Guide

View All Critic Reviews (16)

Audience Reviews for This Gun for Hire

Sep 03, 2014

The more of film noir that I see, the more I love it as a genre. This has to be one of the best, if not the best that I have seen so far. Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd are dynamite. I can see how Ladd used this to eventually gain stardom through Shane and other vehicles.

John B Super Reviewer
Sep 05, 2010

A good forties film noir.

Aj V Super Reviewer
Jan 21, 2009

Alan Ladd is a patriotic hit man with a soft spot for cats in this war era film noir classic. A layered storyline emphasizes different levels of good and evil by pitting a killer against a spineless opportunist who works for a Japanese sympathizer who is pursued by a senator who recruits a beautiful magician to gather information, not knowing that she's in love with a cop who is on the trail of the killer who has been framed for a robbery by the opportunist under orders of the sympathizer. (Whew!)

Randy T Super Reviewer
Apr 02, 2008

alan ladd is terrific in this noir. i get the feeling this could have been better without having to stay within the boundaries of the code of the time. great set designs as well.

chase _ Super Reviewer