MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Guncrazy’ Young Lovers on the Road to Armageddon

Passionate women and unstable men, trapped in doomed romances by an uncaring world, have proved an irresistible lure for generations of filmmakers. But no matter how often we’ve seen it, if it’s done right there’s something endlessly watchable about violence-prone young lovers facing off against a fatalistic universe. And “Guncrazy” does do it right.

Borrowing its title (here shortened to one word) and some broad conceptual outlines from Joseph Lewis’ classic 1949 film noir, much of its spirit from Terrence Malick’s “Badlands,” and bits and pieces of its ethos from everything from “They Live by Night” to “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Guncrazy” (at the Nuart for one week as the kickoff to a Violent Femmes festival) is nothing if not derivative.

But first-time director Tamra Davis and screenwriter Matthew Bright have brought a refreshingly empathetic approach to this latest version, and in actors Drew Barrymore and the protean James LeGros they have the performers who can carry out their intentions. Made with sureness and authority, this film doesn’t condescend to either its characters or their relationship, and that counts for a lot.

“Guncrazy” is set in the mythical central California town of Helm, a pocket of fringe housing so drab the local dump is excitement central (the drive-in has been closed for 10 years). The place is so listless that many of its male members view 16-year-old Anita Minteer (Barrymore) as their primary source of entertainment.

Living in a tiny trailer with the sexually predatory Rooney (Joe Dallesandro), her absent mother’s ex-boyfriend, Anita is a study in isolation and despair and a prime target for local scuzzballs who call her sperm bank and regularly exploit her. Barrymore, who was allowed to drift over the top in “Poison Ivy,” is much more in control here, and her portrayal of someone so deeply in need of even artificial affection that she allows herself to be sexually coerced is genuinely moving.

Things start to change for Anita when, in response to a high school assignment, she begins a pen-pal relationship with the equally bereft Howard Hickok (LeGros), a prisoner in Chino with a violent past. “I always dreamed of a girl who liked guns,” he writes her. “I feel something bigger than us both is bringing us together.” A sample reply: “I love you more than words can ever know, my darling.”

These fantasy-laced letters are soon replaced by action. Anita convinces the local snake-handling preacher (Billy Drago) to sponsor Howard for parole, and suddenly there he is getting off the bus, an awkward study in polyester. But Anita knows just how to break the ice: She’s brought him his favorite gun, a handsome 9 mm job, and soon he is all smiles.

Anita and Howard are attracted to more than each other; they are both hopelessly infatuated with automatic weapons. Guns seem to empower them, make them feel special, provide them with a way to take control of their otherwise frustrating lives.

But that control is illusory, for the weapons they so love ultimately overstimulate Anita and Howard, leading to results neither could anticipate and no one can come close to handling. Like Adam and Eve thrust from the Garden, this pair of hopeless lovers, as naive as they are pathological, slowly stumble to Armageddon.

While it is traditional in these films to portray the woman as the instigating bad seed, as in fact she was in the original “Gun Crazy,” Davis and Bright have very sensibly put things on a more even keel here, making Howard into a more than equal partner where carnage is concerned.

A key factor in making this conception believable is the performance of LeGros. One of the best of young actors, with fine work in “Drugstore Cowboy” and “My New Gun” behind him, LeGros hits the right combination of sweetness and violence to make Howard, who turns out to have considerable problems of his own, a memorable creation.

Though “Guncrazy” (rated R for strong violence, sensuality, language) is very efficiently made (and stylishly photographed by Lisa Rinzler, one of a very few women cinematographers) it does occasionally overreach, going a little heavy on the rural grotesques as well as the romantic nature of the Anita/Howard relationship.

On the other hand, it is the film’s ability to mostly show us that relationship on its own terms, to reveal both why these two are made for each other and why their very closeness inevitably leads to disaster, that is its strongest suit. With moments of odd, dark humor sprinkled among the violence, this traditional study of psycho kittens in love breaks just enough new ground to be an impressive piece of work.

‘Guncrazy’

Drew Barrymore: Anita

James LeGros: Howard

Billy Drago: Hank

Rodney Harvey: Tom

Joe Dallesandro: Rooney

Ione Skye: Joy

Michael Ironside: Mr. Kincaid

A Zeta Entertainment production, in association with First Look Pictures, released by Man Ray Associates. Director Tamra Davis. Producers Zane W. Levitt, Diane Firestone. Screenplay Matthew Bright. Cinematographer Lisa Rinzler. Editor Kevin Trent. Costumes Merrie Lawson. Music Ed Tomney. Production design Abbie Lee Warren. Art director Kevin Constant. Set decorator Rafael S. Tapia. Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes.

MPAA-rated R (strong violence, sensuality, language).