This is a uniquely American film with its gun-obsessed protagonists and wild cowboy-outfit wearing female lead. But the setting is the dead giveaway. Gun Crazy differs from the other noir films we've seen because the setting is not in the city. The genre typically favors urban settings for the grittiness of the streets. In contrast, Gun Crazy takes place on the road between small towns between the Great Plains and the west coast. The one similarity in the setting is the climactic scene at the meat processing plant, which represents industry more associated with the city. The neat rows of endless carcasses represents the order that they seek to disrupt. But the unclean carcasses are symbolic of the untame nature of the west.
There is a significant scene at the carnival where Laurie and Bart (the original Bonnie and Clyde!) meet. The carnival is the most exciting thing that happens to a small town in America. And carnivals are stereotypically seedy, which is sort of a noir-ish quality. Notably only the opening scene has the giveaway night and rain combo. But the closing scene attempts to replicate that atmosphere. In the California wilderness, Laurie and Bart stumble through a swamp. They get soaked, recreating the wet and dark feeling. And the fog is very doom-and-gloom.
The road represents a journey and the car takes the protagonists to the end of the proverbial road. Once Laurie and Bart meet, Bart is doomed to a certain fate. Laurie lacks the conscience that it was made clear that Bart possessed. But she slowly chips away at his conscience until he finally ultimately shoots to kill for the first time. And though they meet a tragic end, I think it is actually an ironically triumphant ending for Bart. His single kill allows him to reclaim his masculinity by overpowering the dangerous woman that made him change. He gains a handle on his own fate. There was no chance they would escape alive, and I think they both knew that, but he at least went out on his own terms.
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