Detour and Gun Crazy Essays - English-language Films, Film Noir

Detour and Gun Crazy Essays - English-language Films, Film Noir Detour and Gun Crazy English 223 Professor Havas June 17, 2015 Detour and Gun Crazy Detour and Gun Crazy are the epitome of film noir, filled with thrill, suspense, and deadly interactions. The women in both films are adventurous trouble seekers with no problem in persuading men to do their dirty deeds, the perfect femme fatales. With their alluring beauty, and their charming and quick-witted personalities, they seduce their men into committing crimes only fueling more into their corruption. In Detour, Al (male protagonist) picks up hitchhiker Vera (female protagonist) in which they endure a wild adventure filled with scheming. In Gun Crazy, Bart (male protagonist) and Annie (female protagonist) are two characters with an abnormal obsession with crime. In the films Detour and Gun Crazy, they both exude the essence of film noir which is why I will be explaining the interactions of the women and their men, the strength and weakness of these men, and lastly, why the men were doomed since the beginning. In both films these women use beauty, charisma, love, and black mail as their lethal weapon. In Detour, Al is in a uncanny situation when his friend Hascal dies without explanation. Al than chooses to take Hascal belongings hoping that he avoids being framed for murder. On his way to Hollywood, he comes across and picks up Vera, whom unknowingly had a quarrel with Hascal. That is the moment when Vera decides to black mail Al in order to fulfill her plot; to scam the inheritance from Hascal's father. Vera was feisty and vicious and very unsympathetic unlike Al. She treated him unfairly knowing that he wouldn't do anything about it, a gentlemen. It was a very one sided relationship in which Vera was the autocratic leader and Al the follower (all he wanted was to see his girlfriend one more time.) Filled with crimes, this film is similar to Gun Crazy in which two crooked strangers coincidently meet and both end up in a life of crime, greed, lust, and love. In Gun Crazy, Bart, a humble young ex soldier with an obsession with guns meets Annie, a gun performer for sideshows, in which he is infatuated with and begins to work with her and together, they performed dangerous acts. Bart and Annie are young and in love, and it's that very thing that gets them fired from their performing jobs that swindles them into the life of crime. Annie is the mastermind behind their lawless adventures, robbing murdering and running away from the cops. Unlike Vera, Annie claims that they do all of this for the name of love. Her weapon was love. These women con their men and into having them do what they want, Vera used blackmail and Annie used love. Both women are both the strength and weakness for these men which will be described in detail next. Although in this era it was a very male dominated world, these two men were extremely obedient to their ladies. That was their weakness, their inability to say no and put their foot down. Both these men knew the severe consequences of their actions, yet, they continued to obey the women. They were meek, weak-minded, and they were followers and it is as simple as that. However, they both had their strengths as well. Both were loyal (to a point), both knew not to mess with their ladies, but what was their most powerful strength was their demeanor. They were calm, charming, and extremely pleasant through out the film. Even though they had very good strengths, it was their weaknesses that became their downfall. The women in both films and their aggressive and influential personalities are how the men were doomed since the beginning. Both men could have easily avoided their situations and simply run away from their problems. Al could have simply denied his misfortunate events and dropped her off somewhere else and Bart could have simply threatened their relationship in which he would of known if he was taken advantage of (she did love him of course but as she said before, she wanted action.) Al was charmed and although he wasn't in love with Vera, he was still compliant to her. Annie on the