The Gunrunner (1989)
1926. The Chinese Civil War. Drifter Ted Beaubien is captured and forced to witness his girlfriend's execution. He finally escapes and vows to avenge her death by taking on a deadly mission to buy guns abroad and smuggle them back. Arriving in his hometown, Ted is shocked to find his elderly mother and younger brother George are penniless. But time is running out, and before he can help them, he's got to get the guns. In setting up the deal, Ted meets and falls for the seductive nightclub owner Maud Ryan who introduces him to the treacherous gangsters who will sell him the artillery. For a gun-runner, falling in love is like pointing a pistol at your heart - and pulling the trigger!
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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Simply A Masterpiece
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Okay, so this movie is not wonderful but it's very entertaining. Kevin Costner looks absolutely gorgeous in this film, and his acting is pretty strong and convincing. The leading lady is suitably older than him, and also experienced looking. She gives one the feeling of an early 20th century lady of the night turned business woman, even though she has an 80's perm. The costumes are authentic and the film's locations are quite sexy and set the mood well. The death of his brother is quite corny, and I wanted Robert to stay kidnapped because he was jerk. The dialogue is b grade however and the plot is average. Overall this movie is worth a look, and is good for a night in.
Quite an interesting film indeed, very smoothly directed and easily played without ruining it by too much talking. The only thing I couldn't help thinking all the time was, that this looked as if it was a film by Alan Rudolph and even Costner and his way of acting looked a lot as if the director had intended to cast Keith Carradine instead. Even the soundtrack seems to imitate Mark Isham and if you close your eyes, it's sometimes hard not to be perplexed by the closeness to "Choose Me" or perhaps "The Moderns" - by the mood, not the story! The most surprising thing is, that the movie works, though. In fact, this is one of the best screen appearances of Costner I've seen, at least because he avoids the usual grinning and concentrates on the driven and melancholy character.
I picked this up on DVD for $4, because I knew I could trade it one-for-one at a used book store. It was well worth the investment.There are some problems with this movie. It's melodramatic for one. It has some cornball dialogue. It's just a little cheesy.The story has big romantic moments, but no big romantic leads. The woman could be Kevin Costner's mom, and he wasn't the leading man women knew him as a few years ago. Despite many sexy locations and moments, this film is asexual.In a way, The Gunrunner takes place in the naive, simple 1920s one might imagine after only having seen bad movie versions of the time. It's a really interesting world. I see this movie as a gangster-themed steampunk version of No Way Out (1987). I mean, what other movie hero helps start the Chinese Revolution? I was taken to a different place, and I didn't lose my suspension of disbelief along the way. Only afterwards do I admit that it wasn't so great. At the time, I was loving it.It reminds me a lot of The Boy in Blue (1986). It's always good to see rare movies like this, and it's definitely worth the price of a rental.
I like Kevin Costner, I really do. However, if I were him, I'd bury this unintelligible mess of a movie so far down on my resume it would take coal miners to find it. It has something to do with a drifter returning home to find the family fortune gone, and his brother in trouble with local gangsters. The drifter wants the money to finance a revolution in China for reasons that aren't made clear. Dreadfully slow and extremely bad.