Hand Gun. Un bersaglio particolare

I remember back in the early 80's when home video was an exciting new concept, seeing a brochure from a local video rental store which featured a bunch of alluring looking movies, in amongst titles like Pia Zadora's Butterfly (1982) (yes, it is amazing what you can remember) was an interesting film called Handgun. The brief synopsis made it sound like an adult and challenging feature, i.e. something that I as a kid wanted to see! So it was strange for me to realise when I saw it for the first time just recently on a cable channel that it was in fact a very obscure movie. It seems to have not gotten too far beyond its home video release back in the 80's before more or less vanishing from sight. Well this seems like a criminal situation, as unlike a lot of movies I have anticipated seeing for many years, this one turned out to be an excellent and intelligent dramatic thriller. It follows a young woman who is a free-thinking teacher who begins a relationship with a charming gun-lover; on their second date he rapes her at gun point. She decides to turn the tables on him by learning to also become a crack shot with a handgun and with this new found skill she plans her revenge.

This definitely qualifies as one of the more intelligent rape-revenge thrillers out there. Part of its message is a criticism of American gun culture which seems more and more pertinent as each year goes by and another mass shooting happens in the name of gun ownership. Karen Young is excellent in the lead role and travels a wide arc of emotion in this one. She is very easy to get behind - let's be honest if you are not on her side in this movie, chances are you are a sociopath! Anyway, I am very pleased that this one is now doing the rounds on cable here in the UK as it certainly deserves to be re-discovered as it should never have become forgotten in the first place. A first rate thriller in my personal opinion.

Handgun is an obscure little rape and revenge thriller that has more weight than many other films in the genre and actually tries to make some points outside of it. The film I would liken this one to most is the Swedish exploitation flick 'They Call Her One Eye' as it features an innocent young looking girl being wronged and then getting herself some weapons and some training to get back at her enemy. In fact, the two films are so similar that I would be very surprised if Handgun director Tony Garnett has not seen They Call Her One Eye. The major focal point here is course, rape. Kathleen Sullivan is a young woman who moves from Boston to Dallas. While there, she meets a man and starts seeing him; but shortly thereafter, the relationship turns sour when she refuses her advances, and he rapes her at gunpoint. She gets over the initial shock by getting angry and later buying herself a nice big gun and learning how to use it, all with the intention of hunting down and killing the man who raped her...

The film comes off as being slightly classier than the 'Video Nasty' style rape and revenge flicks such as The Last House on the Left and I Spit on Your Grave, although it's not as graphic, sleazy or nasty; and to be honest, I prefer the aforementioned classics to this film. The film is rather slow to start and nothing much happens for the first half hour. This is good in a way because it lets us get used to the central character, but on the other hand it's quite boring so becomes a bit of a problem. Otherwise, the plot flows fairly well; but there's never any secret made over where it's going so the film doesn't contain a lot of suspense. The rape scene is not particularly graphic either, which is a shame because it's what a lot of people will be tuning in for. There's a point thrown in there about guns and their usage, but it's not very potent. The film boils down to a good conclusion, despite the fact that it's obvious it was going to turn out that way - but it does pull an interesting little twist out at the end which is decent. Overall, I'm not surprised that this film isn't well known as it's not all that good and wont appeal to a mass market; but it's decent stuff and I can recommend it.

I absolutely love this film, I saw it first when it was first released and found its message both powerful and thought provoking. The way the film was made was how any of us would react if we had been that girl that we wanted justice and sometimes although its not always right its the only way to get it. Brilliant performances from both the main actors which give credence to the film. It does start of slowly but that is to get you used to the characters in the movie but when it kicks in it does so with a bang and I actually found my anger growing and my belief in justice coming out. This film will hit a raw nerve within you if it doesn't your a robot. This is for sure a movie to see before you die.

Actress Karen Young (Jaws: The Revenge, Torch Song Trilogy, The Sopranos) made a very creditable starring film debut in this independent drama that is at once a tried-and-true rape & revenge tale, and an interesting look at gun culture in the United States. Young plays Kathleen Sullivan, a high school teacher in Texas who makes the acquaintance of macho lawyer / gun enthusiast Larry Keeler (Clayton Day (The Day After)). They seem to hit it off for a while, until he decides to force himself on her after a date at his apartment.

Since Kathleens' chances of actually getting justice through the legal system are slim to none, she undergoes a major change in her personality, deciding to take gun training and own her own handgun.

Although this well-intentioned and VERY well-acted (especially by Young) drama is reasonably intelligent & believable, it does ultimately lead to a predictable, inevitable finale, albeit one which does allow the viewer to feel some sense of satisfaction. Overall, the film is appreciably low-key and never over-emphatic, and its almost documentary-style approach in its second half is definitely effective.

Since Handgun (also known as Deep in the Heart) isn't too well known nowadays, I'd recommend that interested viewers give it a look - even if it's just for Youngs' compelling performance.

Seven out of 10.

A teacher in Texas (Karen Young) learns how to use a gun in order to take revenge against the lawyer (Clayton Day) who raped her in British director Tony Garnett's American film debut. EMI Films funded this slow, thoughtful, and considered character study that criticizes American gun culture but refused to release it as they were expecting a commercial action movie with some sexy rape scenes. Like the director's previous film, Prostitute, you could be mistaken for thinking you were watching a documentary rather than a film, and this is certainly not your standard exploitation revenge thriller that Hollywood regularly churned out, especially coming from an era when movies like I Spit On Your Grave were rife. Garnett used a mix of unknown actors and non-professionals in key roles and operated right at the apex of contemporary social issues, upholding the traditions of the utterly authentic, socially aware films he produced with Ken Loach in Britain during the '60s and '70s. He sold the film to Warner Bros who just sat on it as they were producing a Clint Eastwood rape and revenge film at the same time and didn't want the competition. It opened in just a few theatres before being pulled and was a Box Office flop.