Gunshy

This movie was good overall with great cinematography and the the special effects were well done. The actors did a great job in their roles despite a script that could have been better written as it had some unbelievable scenes.

Nothing not to love about this movie. Everything, acting, soundtrack and plot of Gunshy is a treasure, especially to those of us who grew up on loving film noir. The tough guy Frankie (Michael Wincott) is wonderful! He is tough as nails with a heart of gold. He feels the need to rescue people in return for someone who had helped him in his past, and feels the need to grow intellectually for the woman he loves, another he has rescued. He feels the need for a tutor to educate him. Enter Jake (William Petersen) a has-been writer who lives in a whiskey bottle in the underbelly of Atlantic City. Jake has lost his job and catches his lover with another man. He tells her he knows a place where a loser like him will fit right in.. So he checks in to a seedy hotel in Atlantic City. He becomes so down and out he becomes self-destructive, picking a fight in a bar and getting his butt kicked. Frankie sees something in him worth using and saving. This is movie-lovers TREASURE!

Okay, it's one of the oldest plot lines in the gangster film genre, but if done well, the "man infiltrates vicious gang and finds himself loyal to the friend who got him in.". The cast is good, William Peterson has the downtrodden man character down pat these days, Diane Lane is serviceable, but the real surprises come by the way of Micheal Wincott finally playing a sympathetic almost good-guy, and Eric Schaeffer for the first time in his life not being annoying on screen as the creepy hitman. Good dialogue, an abscence of bad acting, and dark look that hides its low budget origins. Definitely worth picking up from the video shop.

Ably directed by Jeff Calentano, and with a well judged script by veteran writer Larry Gross this is one low budgeter than delivers far better than expected.

However where Gunshy impresses most is in it's performances, with William Petersen, Diane Lane and especially Michael Byrne all very good in their roles, and an excellent turn by the under rated Michael Wincott. Eric Schaeffer and Kevin Gage are both pretty good in support, while the rest of the cast is solidly fleshed out by the likes of Badja Djola, Meat Loaf, Musetta Vander and (in little more than a cameo) R. Lee Ermey.

While not original by any means, 'Gunshy' still manages to be an entertaining, well structured thriller that delivers the goods far better than most of it's low budget brethren, due in no small part to a batch of very good performances and solid writing and direction, and as such is well worth catching.

Very well done film noir set in present-day Atlantic City, which uses the rather depressing boardwalk locations (off-season) to good effect. The story is rather twice-told but the direction and acting are solid, particularly in the case of William Petersen, Michael Wincott, and Eric Schaeffer.