Handgun came out around the same time that a slew of rape-revenge thrillers did, such as Savage Streets (1984) and M.S 45: Angel of Vengeance (1981). But what separates Handgun from other films of this type, is that it’s far removed from the exploitation fare that spilled onto screens throughout the early 1980s , because of the way it’s shot- in a documentary realist tone- and because there’s plenty of searing criticism of gun culture and the violence associated with it.
Kathleen (Karen Young) plays a school teacher, recently moved from Boston to Dallas – the apex of conservative U.S gun culture. She meets confident lawyer and gun enthusiast, Larry (Clayton Day) and he makes a play for Kathleen, charming and badgering her until she goes on a date with him. It’s on their second date that she’s raped by him at gunpoint.
But, in a film that understands nuance, Larry doesn’t believe that what he’s done is rape, because he convinces himself that Kathleen is sexually repressed and assaulting her was his warped way of getting her to tap into that repression. She manages to escape from his apartment, but soon realises that the way Larry set up the date and bedroom scenario, means that no jury would convict him. So, Kathleen cuts her hair off, joins a gun club and vows revenge.
With criticisms of the easy availability of guns, and how they’re used in the commission of dreadful crimes such as rape and murder, director Tony Garnett (producer of Kes) deftly manages to marry the tenets of the thriller genre with social commentary-you don’t root for the victim as much as take a step back and think about the issues at play.
Karen Young gives a brave performance: the best of her career. It’s painful to watch, but it’s testimony to her skill as an actor that she makes her ordeal so convincing. Clayton Day conveys denial and machismo like the last outpost of reactionary thought in a smarmy, reptilian performance.
At the end of Handgun, there’s no guttural triumphalism to leave you satisfied. Instead, you’re forced to confront the notion that archetypes such as Larry still exist. With gun-related crime on the increase, Handgun is a timely reminder of why arming the police and allowing increased gun ownership would be a bad idea.
Extras: Trailer and a short archive interview with director Tony Garnett from the time of the film’s release.
Andrew has awarded Handgun (1983) on DVD three Torches of Truth
