A cold-blooded professional killer finds himself suddenly caught up in a lot more than he bargained for in 1942's This Gun for Hire. Alan Ladd stars as the killer, Raven, with Veronica Lake as a saucy magician called Ellen. Like Detour, it's a story filled with absurd coincidences, which, from one perspective, could be taken as weak screenwriting. But the genuine feelings behind it turn the absurdity into nightmare logic.
The film starts off playing with our sympathies right away. Raven, cute and stone faced young man, sets up for his next hit. He pauses to give a saucer of milk to a kitten. A charwoman comes in to tidy up the place and tries to toss the cat out the window. Raven smacks her and tears her dress.
Already, he's attractive and repulsive at the same time. The movie continues this deliberate back and forth. He goes to his job, kills a gangster and his girl, but then stops on a staircase outside to help a girl with broken legs retrieve her ball.
Unbeknownst to him, he's getting paid in counterfeit bills by Laird Cregar. Cregar plays L.A. nightclub owner Willard Gates. Gates hires Ellen (Lake) as an act for his nightclub. Ellen just so happens to get a seat by Raven on the train. Gates just happens to be on the same train and sees the two together. And if that's not enough for you, Ellen also happens to be engaged to the detective investigating Raven's killings (Robert Preston, who gets top billing). And she's been secretly tasked by a senator to uncover Gates' business relationship with the Axis powers. Whew.
It all works because Raven is a solid presence as a conflicted, lost wanderer in this dark world of murder and avarice. It's not among the best films noir, but it's certainly fascinating and Raven is a magnetic character.
This Gun for Hire is available on The Criterion Channel.
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