The Gunrunner

My review was written in June 1989 after watching the film on New World video cassette.

Before playing Eliot Ness in "The Untouchables" Kevin Costner starred in this unreleased Canadian pic as a Montreal good-guy gangster. Video debut six years after has weak prospects since it's a very dull show.

In an otherwise Canadian cast, Costner toplines as Tod Beaubien, returning hotm to Montreal from China in 1926 to become embroiled in local politics, class struggles and family infighting. Boring plotline has him ultimately launching a one-man vendetta against corruption, with anticlimax that his gunrunning is actually on the side of the angels, to back a revolution in China.

For Costner fans, pic would have been more interesting if he played a baddie to contrast with his recent all-American hero stardom. Instead, he's laid-back, self-assured and stuck in an almost actionles vehicle that plays like a subpar telefilm. Sara Botsford brightens things up a bit as a villainous gambling club operator, but her sex scene with Costner is extremely tame.

Tech credits are chintzy, with variable sound recording.