American Gun

American Gun is a suitably elegiac and death-obsessed film that closed the career of James Coburn. It's a sometimes worthy, but never less than interesting story, starting as one thing and ending as another. It begins as one man's search for truth, and finishes as the truth about a man. Along the way, director Alan Jacobs (whose previous credits have been romantic dramas and comedies) fashions an interesting narrative, using flashbacks and reconstruction in ways that are dramatically intriguing and never distracting.

Coburn plays Martin Tillman, whose daughter Penny (Virginia Masden) is killed in a shooting. Martin, an infantry veteran of the Second World War, experiences vivid memories of combat and his youth - notably his meeting and early romance with his wife Anne (Barbara Bain, a face familiar from re-runs of TV's original Mission: Impossible) as well as the traumatic killing of a young sniper who shot his friend. At the same time Martin seeks to re establish contact with Penny's estranged daughter (Alexandra Holden) who, after blaming her mother for her father's desertion, has disappeared.

Martin's grief over loss, and one-man odyssey to find the owner of the gun that killed his daughter is what lies at the centre of the film. Elderly, and with his knuckles visibly distorted by arthritis, Coburn still has an undeniable screen presence, raising the film out of the ordinary, and gives a quiet authority which adds necessary gravitas to his search. Despite being predicated around a violent act, American Gun is a relatively subdued film, making points about weapon ownership, responsibility and guilt in persistent ways that, understandably, caused some irritation amongst gun-owning filmgoers at home. It also had the bad luck to be made as a change of administration, and then the events of September 11th, marked a sea change in American attitudes to arms. It is doubtful that a film, which plays so much on the social question of weaponry, would be made today.

Besides some wintry settings, there is an excellent score, the work of the underrated Anthony Marinelli, which enhances much of the film's tone. Marinelli's spare note clusters, floating in dead air as it were, emphasise the silence and loss in lives touched by the gun. They suggest how much grief isolates the central character from all but the most essential relationships, where he can only really communicate by writing letters to a dead woman. The epistolary nature of many of Martin's scenes, as well as the distancing effect of his flashbacks, remove him further from daily life and place him further in his self-absorbed quest. ("He's on a crusade," despairs his wife at one point.) Martin's dedication to his search is also counter-pointed by a crisis in faith: "I still believe in God," he says during a glum meeting with a young pastor, "but I don't know what to make of him." Given the nature of Martin's grief, the churchman understandably finds it hard to offer more than passing support.

American Gun is apt title. It refers both to a weapon, as well as the name of the company manufacturing the offending item (Its factory of the same name is the first place Martin visits). Like something aimed and fired itself, Martin's single-minded journey transcribes its own trajectory, until it reaches its mark. Along the way we discover the gun's history: as an instrument of death in the hand of an abduction victim, a means of revenge for a jealous youth, and so on. The gun has taken more than one life and, the film suggests, is typical of such items passing through so many hands. Whether or not one takes this simplification at face value is down to the position held on gun control. Meanwhile the film benefits from an avoidance of hectoring, and a script that demonstrates the casual dissemination of small arms, as well as the numbing effects of their misuse.

Jacob's film recalls the similar premise explored in John Badham's The Gun (1974), an above average TV movie in which another firearm was followed from cradle to grave, although here the irony is of another sort. In Badham's film the piece is only fired once (at the end) for instance, while Jacob's weapon is used several times. American Gun also has a more complicated structure, the filmmakers using a combination of narrative and filmic methods to show the effects of gun violence on individuals. It is also has a clever twist in the tale, one which accords the hero greater tragic status as well as forcing us to reinterpret events. This ending, while the film still tends towards the episodic, reaffirms Martin's central role and allows the peculiarly penitential nature of his quest to be explained.

There's nothing about the film that wouldn't sit just as comfortably on the little screen as on the big, but it rarely drags and sustains interest. Those who seek the dynamism of most films explicitly associated with weaponry will be advised to look for thrills elsewhere. Those who'd enjoy a quiet, well made look at a perceived American blight, as well as those wanting a last glimpse of a memorable Hollywood star still at work, should check this out.

some people on this messageboard seemed to enjoy this movie, though i can't imagine why.

it's hardly cinematic; it tells its story in a very heavy-handed fashion. i couldn't believe my eyes at the sight of the first scenes that had dialog; not only were the lines really corny, but throughout the scene, each of the two actors (james coburn and virginia madsen) got a close up while delivering his line! even for utterances as negligible as "okay"! i didn't think such disregard for storytelling technique is even possible anymore, but there it is.

the movie did get a little better as it went along, thankfully, and delivered various flashbacks detailing coburn's history (on film) and the gun's owners' (on video) to liven things up a little. but the movie doesn't know how to deliver any insight into american gun culture. coburn's voice-over is comprised of his embarassing letters to his dead daughter(!). finally, a surprise ending negates most of the movie and leaves you with close to nothing.

as for coburn's performance... you won't hear me say a bad word about him, but i just can't praise his performance in "american gun". i assume his oscar for "affliction" was well-deserved (i haven't seen the film), but i don't see any awards (or nominations) for this one.

the storytelling style can best be described as "naïve", and that's the kind of movie-goer you have to be to enjoy the movie.

At first I thought this film was going to be about finding a killer and blaming guns and the lack of laws we have in the United States controlling them. I was wrong. This is a story of relationships, and what it takes to keep them. The writing is sensitive, not safe by any means and gets to the heart of every human. I was touched by the candid view points of the characters and how the camera and direction noticed them. This is a strong story, not too simple and very complex but very real and grass rooted. The bottom line is...I can see this happening to anyone...anywhere and I was thrilled that it made me feel this way. I thought all the performances were believable and brilliantly acted. Even though Mr. Coburn isn't on this earth to receive one, he should be nominated for an Oscar.

I saw this film at the Sonoma Film Festival earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised. It was not what I was expecting.

James Coburn gave a tremendous performance and all the other actors were very good as well.

I was able to buy into what the film was selling, but I was not expecting the twist at the end. About ten minutes before the twist was revealed, I starting thinking this was the direction they were headed. I just sat there thinking "No, that can't be where they are taking this." It was difficult to see the ending and I felt disturbed by the movie for a while afterwards.

I recommended it to friends and think it is well worth seeing.

This is a fairly animated drama about a man who researches the gun that killed his daughter, looking for answers through that path.

The movie is a lot of things. It certainly has style, I think one must admit. It continually goes off into new directions.

We get many flashbacks to the greatest generation years during World War II, where the father is a young man who is a very believable young soldier. He finds killing hard, and guns take getting used to.

There is a huge sense of realism in this story. Even though we don't have the specific experiences and backdrops that the father, played by James Coburn, experiences, we somehow feel them. We are drawn into the home and decor of this family, and adopted.

Thereis some smart directing, and some smart writing.

However, this is "hit and run, hit and miss". There are just as many fanciful stretches in this story, too, seemingly to make a point.

It isn't exactly "preachy", but the history of the gun does seem to have a Hollywood story to it. Never once does it just wound anyone. It manages to kill a number of people through different owners.

That part just didn't fit in with the "realism" feel of the story, and of the family.

As for the "hit and run" turning into "hit and miss", we feel like the writer is congratulating himself on keeping us off balance. It becomes less of a story we are in, and more of a story we know someone is telling. We lose the natural flow, because we are so conscious he is always trying to throw us for a loop.

However, I realize some people probably like that. I felt the writer did this too much to keep a natural look about the story.