This Gun For Hire

Paramount's 1942 Film Noir crime drama, This Gun For Hire, helped establish the detached, loner main character as a staple of the genre. Hitman Raven is played by fourth billed, five-foot-five Alan Ladd in his debut role. Rather than a femme fatale, Veronica Lake plays the emotional hero, who helps Raven find a touch of joy on his way to revealing a treasonous plot.



Ladd and Lake went on to make six more films together including two Noirs: The Glass Key and The Blue Dahlia. In the 1997 film L.A. Confidential, Kim Bassinger won an Oscar for her supporting role as a prostitute who looked like Veronica Lake. (Though, if you ask me, Bassinger looks more like Rita Hayworth.)

Ladd continued to play laconic characters, reaching his peak with the role of Shane in the movie of the same title.

Ladd's real life ended in Noir fashion. In 1962 the actor was discovered unconcious in a pool of his own blood after a bullet just missed his heart. He died from an overdose of alcohol and barbiturates in 1964.

Unlike a cop or detective story, This Gun For Hire follows Raven, a tough-shelled hitman who has a soft spot for cats, does a job, and is then setup to be taken down as a loose end. Raven barely escapes capture by the police and then tracks down his double-crossing client, Willard Gates (played by Laird Cregar). Gates works for the Nitro Chemical Company, which is selling poison gas to the highest bidder.

Being from the early forties, the film balances its hard edge with Cregar's somewhat comic performance, Robert Preston's lovestruck role as the police lieutenant, and two song and dance numbers complete with magic tricks, nicely performed by Veronica Lake. American Film Noir didn't get truly gritty until after the servicemen returned with their battle scars from WWII.

Today This Gun For Hire is definitely dated, but enjoyable. It has some classic moments - like when Raven goes to and leaves his job with a little girl wearing braces sitting on the stairs. She clearly sees his face, but he doesn't have the heart to hurt her. The scene where Raven escapes the hotel by hiding in the phone booth and misdirecting the cops is nicely choreographed and directed.

The film is a bit soft for my tastes, but, given its 1942 release date, it ranks as a key building block of the genre. Ladd's performance is tough, but Lake is the real hero of this early Noir classic.

I give it seven of ten stars.