The Gun Runners Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

The Gun Runners Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 16, 2019

Don Siegel's "The Gunner Runners" (1958) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only bonus feature on the disc is a vintage American trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

You gamble? You still owe money for the boat -- a lot of it.

If you have seen and enjoyed Michael Curtiz’s The Breaking Point -- which was recently restored by Warner Bros. and brought to Blu-ray by the Criterion crew -- you should go ahead and pick up Don Siegel’s The Gun Runners. Made in the 1950s, these films are based on the same great novel, To Have and Have Not, and in terms of style are equally impressive. Curtiz’s film alters Ernest Hemingway’s original story quite a bit, but I am not convinced that this makes a crucial difference because its message remains the same. What separates the two films and actually makes them look unique is the manner in which Curtiz and Siegel shoot their male stars, John Garfield and Audie Murphy, respectively, and in the process allow them to shape up the drama.

Siegel’s film, which came a few years later, is set on the other side of the country, in Florida’s Key West, where fisherman Sam Martin (Murphy) and his wife Lucy (Patricia Owen) are facing a grim future because they don’t have the money to continue making the payments on their boat. Sam isn’t panicking, but each time Siegel’s camera spends a few seconds studying his face it immediately becomes clear that he is tense and quietly struggling to suppress a growing anger that he is failing Lucy.

When the wealthy playboy Hanagan (Eddie Albert) hires Sam to take him to Havana with his Swedish girlfriend (Gita Hall), he finally sees light at the end of the tunnel. However, in Havana Hanagan leaves his glitzy toy in a busy bar and then disappears in the shadows of the city, forcing Sam to begin reevaluating his initial impressions of the couple. Then in the wee hours of the night, after he sees Hanagan running towards his boat and looking nervous, Sam begins suspecting that he was booked for a very different kind of ‘pleasure trip’. A day later, the local authorities prove Sam right when they attempt to find out from him if he has recently taken anyone to Havana and knows anything about a trouble that has produced a dead man in an army uniform.

When the playboy’s girlfriend reappears and attempts to arrange a new meeting Sam refuses, but shortly after discovers that he has lost his boat -- because Hanagan has paid off the outstanding fees on it and acquired it. Shortly after, Sam meets the new owner of the boat and he offers him a deal: if he makes another illegal trip with him to Cuba to deliver a load of illegal guns, he can keep the boat and get paid a hefty bonus.

Siegel shot The Gun Runners on the same locations in California that Curtiz used for The Breaking Point while working with a much smaller budget. His film also alters some key bits of Hemingway’s story, with the biggest one being the introduction of the shady arrangement between Hanagan and the Cuban revolutionaries that falls apart and unleashes the drama.

The quality of the drama is singlehandedly defined by Murphy’s performance and this is where the character of The Gun Runners comes from. Indeed, Murphy’s sailor quickly emerges as a straight shooter that does not like overanalyzing the predicaments that he faces and when Siegel’s camera begins following him around the film willingly adopts the same ‘tell-it-as-it-is-and-get-it-done-fast’ attitude. Unsurprisingly, The Gun Runners is a faster, more action-oriented film than The Breaking Point.

If Siegel was forced to make any compromises because he had a modest budget to work with, it is absolutely impossible to tell. Like The Breaking Point this film looks stylish without creating the impression that it wants and tries to be.

The only area that could have used some extra work to appear more in sync with the rest of the film is the finale. It is awkwardly edited and feels slightly rushed.

The Gun Runners Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Gun Runners arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a new 2K master that I like a lot. On my system this film looks gorgeous now, in some areas actually even better than its close relative The Breaking Point. Depth, in particular, is excellent, though I can easily see that a few small density fluctuations remain. The grading job is excellent. There is quite a bit of darker and nighttime footage and I think that the overall balance is very convincing and the helps shadow definition tremendously. A few tiny blemishes remain but the film is clean and healthy. Again, I really like this master and had great time revising the film on my system. Well done. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Gun Runners Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is very healthy. The dialog is clean, sharp, and stable. There are no balance issues. Dynamic intensity is very good, even surprisingly so in some areas, but as always you have to keep in mind that the native sound designs on older films have native limitations. Here are the most obvious ones appear during the sea footage where separation becomes a bit weak and affects dynamic balance. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in our review.

The Gun Runners Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original U.S. trailer for The Gun Runners. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following Kino Lorber releases:
  
  1. Madigan
  2. Charley Varrick
  3. The Black Windmill

The Gun Runners Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The three early cinematic adaptations of Ernest Hemingway's popular novel are now out on Blu-ray -- To Have and Have Not, The Breaking Point, and The Gun Runners -- and while quite different they are all really, really good. Don Siegel's film was made with the smallest budget but it has a unique attitude that is very effective for its chosen personality, so if you like Hemingway's story pick it up for your library. Kino Lorber's release of The Gun Runners is sourced from a lovely new 2K master, but does not have any meaningful bonus features. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.