This Gun for Hire (1942)

A hired killer (Alan Ladd) is double-crossed and sets out for revenge. Pretty Ellen (Veronica Lake) is caught in the middle. World War II propaganda is shoehorned in.

Here is the second of seven films that paired Ladd and Lake. Ladd was a talented actor with leading man good looks, but at only 5’6” there were few leading ladies he could play opposite. Lake, at 5’2” or shorter, fit the profile. Here they are not a romantic pair, Lake’s Ellen was with Detective Crane (Robert Preston).

A box office success, This Gun for Hire made Ladd a star, affording him the opportunity to take hero roles. Friends but not romantic in real life, Ladd and Lake had much in common. Both struggled with substance abuse and died at fifty.

Life has been (and will continue to be) busy, so it has been about a month since I saw this film. I did enjoy it but I had to do some reading to refresh my memory. Perhaps that in itself isn’t a great sign, but I did like it.. Anyhow, AMRU 3.5.

Shane (1953)

An ex-gunfighter (Alan Ladd) crosses paths with a homesteading family that is being bullied by a wealthy rancher. He decides to hang around to help.

Shane leans hard into the myth of the old west, while getting a surprising amount right. Conflict between ranchers and farmers was a real thing. Despite the vastness of the landscape, resources (grazing pastures and water in particular) were scarce. Gone is the quaint and clean old west town. Life was harsh. The trope of the good gunfighter against the evil gunslinger, however, is readily apparent. The “Man’s gotta do” philosophy is a prevalent theme.

Jean Arthur came out of retirement as a favor to friend director George Stevens to play the homesteader’s trusty wife. The unspoken sexual tension between her and Ladd’s Shane was palpable. It was borderline scandalous, this being a very kid friendly picture. Eliza Cook Jr. is a pint-sized blow-hard and Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton) is his wife. Jack Palance is wonderfully evil as the gunslinger.

Ten year old Brandon De Wilde played Joey, the boy that idolizes Shane. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. Brandon embarked on a productive, if not stellar Hollywood career, also appearing in Hud. That career, however, was tragically cut short when he crashed his camper van on his way to visit his wife in the hospital. He was just thirty.

Shane was an iconic novel and is also an iconic film. The tension felt by the characters contrasts greatly from the optimistic and somewhat comedic tone of the John Wayne western. Something of a slow burn, it is a well paced and a very well made film. AMRU 4.

“A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can't break the mould. I tried it and it didn't work for me.”

The Blue Dahlia (1946)

When a war hero (Alan Ladd) comes home early to surprise his wife, she surprises him right back (nudge nudge). When he finds out how his son actually died, he considers killing her, but decides she isn't worth it. Later she is found dead by his gun, and he decides to lay low for a while. His army buddies bumble around.

Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake were in seven films together. They had a few things in common. Other than stature, they both died at age 50. While he died of the manly disease of liquor and barbiturates, she died of hepatitis. While he worked in pictures up until the end, she was seldom caught on camera past the age of 30. Her last picture was the terrible Flesh Feast.

Screenwriter Raymond Chandler didn't like Lake much, calling her Moronica Lake, thinking her performance didn't add anything to the movie. She would call herself a sex zombie. Sounds like Chandler was kind of a dink himself, offering to drink himself blind in order to finish the script on time. What a way to take one for the team.

This is the third film I've done to feature Hugh Beaumont of Beaver fame. I actually don't remember him in The 7th Victim. I recognized the voice of suspect number 1 and looked him up. He played Ben Franklin in 1776, my favorite musical ever.

In real life, shortly after the film's release, a young woman named Elizabeth Short was murdered in a particularly grizzly manner. The press labeled it the Black Dahlia murder and it is still unsolved. There is no actual connection to the film.

Blue Dahlia is better than fair film-noir mystery for most of it. Ladd struck the right tone, Lake (the Kristen Stewart of her day) was passable as eye candy with lines, and the supporting cast was interesting. As we approached the finale, the mystery gets muddled. I won't elaborate but suffice to say I have one big pet peeve with mysteries and this one hit it. The reason was because the studio demanded a rewrite of the ending, throwing Chandler for a loop.

Still, better than fair. AMRU 3.5.

"You've got the wrong lipstick on, Mister."