Not to be confused with the 2005 film "American Gun" starring Donald Sutherland and Forest Whitaker, the 2002 "American Gun" is a very fine drama that was written and directed by Alan Jacobs. I originally rented this fairly obscure little picture because it features Barbara Bain, one of my main gals of the '60s, in one of her too-rare screen appearances, but as it turns out, the film has lots more to offer besides her more-than-welcome presence. In it, she plays Anne Tillman, who lives in Vermont with her husband Martin (supremely well played by James Coburn, in his last film role), and whose daughter Penny (the lovely Virginia Madsen) is tragically gunned down during a Xmas visit. This sets the grieving Martin on a cross-country odyssey, using the gun's serial number, to learn the history of this weapon and to confront its owner. The viewer thus learns that the gun was once used to defend a kidnapped woman, was stolen from a medical student in NYC, and was used in a teenage revenge attack/suicide. The journey that Martin takes culminates in Las Vegas, where, in a brilliantly realized series of flashbacks, we see the deeper reasons for his grief, and all our nagging questions are resolved. It is a pretty devastating finale, I must say, and one that will doubtlessly leave most viewers gasping with astonishment. Jacobs, whose direction is sometimes flashy but whose script is fairly understated, is surely a talent to be reckoned with; I look forward to seeing more of his work. His "American Gun" is a picture that should be required viewing for all NRA members, as well as for all film lovers who want to see Coburn, here in the twilight of his days, flash that trademarked toothy grin one more time. In a film suffused with so much sadness, that grin looks all the brighter....
Review of American Gun
