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The Way of the Gun

The Way of the Gunis a 2000 Americanneo-Westernheistaction thriller filmdirected and written byChristopher McQuarriein hisdirectorial debut.It is about two low-level criminals (Ryan PhillippeandBenicio del Toro) who kidnap a woman (Juliette Lewis) pregnant with the child of a mafia money launderer, only to find themselves facing a more complex and dangerous situation than they first realized.Taye Diggs,Nicky Katt,Scott Wilson,andJames Caanplay supporting roles.

The Way of the Gun
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChristopher McQuarrie
Written byChristopher McQuarrie
Produced byKenneth Kokin
Starring
CinematographyDick Pope
Edited byStephen Semel
Music byJoe Kraemer
Production
companies
Artisan Entertainment
Aqaba Productions
Distributed byArtisan Entertainment
Release date
  • September 8, 2000(2000-09-08)
Running time
119 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8.5 million[1]
Box office$13.1 million[1]

The film was released on September 8, 2000, and was a commercial disappointment, grossing $13 million against a production budget of $8.5 million. The critical reception was mixed, with some critics praising the acting, direction and action sequences, but criticizing the limits of the script, pacing and character development.

Plot

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Parker and Longbaugh are petty criminals hoping for the proverbial "big score". At asperm donationclinic, the pair overhear a telephone conversation detailing a $1 million payment to asurrogate mother.They kidnap the heavily pregnant surrogate, Robin, resulting in a shootout with her bodyguards, Jeffers and Obecks, who are arrested. Longbaugh summons Robin'sgynecologist,Dr. Allen Painter, to a truck stop to examine her, and he explains that she is carrying the child ofmoney laundererHale Chidduck and his wife, Francesca.

Jeffers and Obecks are bailed out by Chidduck's right-hand man, Joe Sarno, and Painter is revealed to be Chidduck's son. The kidnappers call from a motel south of the Mexican border, demanding that Chidduck send the doctor to deliver a $15 million ransom andinduce labor.Francesca is having an affair with Jeffers, and overhears his and Obecks' plan to recover the baby but kill the kidnappers, Robin, and Painter, keeping the money for themselves.

Sarno approaches Longbaugh as Chidduck's "bag-man", and Longbaugh declines $1 million to simply walk away but joins him for a cup of coffee. They commiserate about the state of their underworld professions, filled with characters who "want to be criminals more than they want to commit crimes", and guardedly go their separate ways, but Sarno leaves his associate Abner to watch the kidnappers. Robin reveals to Parker and Longbaugh that Francesca's embryo failed to implant, and Painter is actually the father of her child. Proceeding with the ransom plan, Jeffers and Obecks realize that Robin is Sarno's daughter.

At the motel, Parker has second thoughts, but Robin seizes a shotgun and calls the police, forcing Parker and Longbaugh to flee. Mexican police arrive as Robin is confronted by Jeffers, Obecks, Painter, and Abner. As the officers hold everyone at gunpoint, Parker and Longbaugh open fire from a nearby hilltop, killing the officers and wounding Obecks, and Jeffers drives off with Painter and Robin. Parker and Longbaugh torture Obecks to reveal that Jeffers has taken Robin to a Mexicanbrothel,and a mortally wounded Abner notifies Sarno.

Jeffers forces Painter to perform aCaesarean sectionto retrieve the baby, despite Robin's confession that the child is not the Chidducks'. Parker and Longbaugh, heavily armed, storm the brothel, while Sarno arrives with his own men and stacks the ransom money in the courtyard outside. Painter shoots Jeffers, and Longbaugh has a change of heart at seeing Robin's condition, urging Parker that "She's had enough." Aware that the money is bait, Parker and Longbaugh charge headlong into anambush.

Sarno's men are killed in the ensuing firefight, but Sarno shoots and cripples Parker and Longbaugh. An ambulance arrives as Painter emerges with Robin and the baby, and the gravely wounded Parker and Longbaugh inform Sarno that the child is his grandson. The ambulance departs with Robin, Painter, their child, Sarno, and the money, leaving Parker and Longbaugh to die. Days later, Francesca reveals to her husband that she’s pregnant (possibly due to her affair with Jeffers).

Cast

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Production

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After winning anAcademy AwardforThe Usual Suspects,Christopher McQuarrie assumed that he would have no problem making his next movie "and then you slowly start to realize no one in Hollywood is interested in making your film, they're interested in making their films."[2]He spent years as a script doctor while trying to get financing for an epic biopic ofAlexander the GreatforWarner Bros.before finally realizing that he "had to make a film with some commercial success to be taken seriously."[3]He approached20th Century Foxand told them that he would be willing to write and direct a movie for any budget they would be willing to give him as long as he had complete creative control. "Fox told me to get fucked. No money. No control. No nothing. They didn't want my input, they just wanted me. For nothing."[3]

Over coffee, Benicio del Toro asked McQuarrie why he had not made anothercrime film.McQuarrie replied that he did not want to betypecastas "a crime guy"[3]but realized that he had nothing to lose, "unemployed and ready to make trouble".[3]Del Toro convinced him to write a crime film on his own terms because he would get the least amount of interference from a studio. McQuarrie was interested in making a movie "that you can follow characters who don't go out of their way to ingratiate themselves to you, who aren't traditionally sympathetic."[2]

McQuarrie started to write the script and "the first thing I did was to write a list of everytaboo,everything I knew a cowardly executive would refuse to accept from a 'sympathetic' leading man. "[2]The first ten pages were a prologue, a trailer to another movie with Parker and Longbaugh (the real last names ofButch Cassidyand theSundance Kid) and was "to be shot as slick and hip as possible, but with horrible, unspeakable acts of violence and degradation."[3]During pre-production, McQuarrie realized that this was too extreme and cut it out. He and del Toro gave the script to several high-profile actors at the time all of whom turned them down. Ryan Phillippe wanted to change the direction of his career and "was besieged with choice offers, and we didn't want him, but he would not take no for an answer."[3]

Reception

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Box office

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The film opened at #9 at the North American box office making$2,150,979 in its opening weekend.[1]

Critical response

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OnRotten Tomatoesthe film has an approval rating of 45% based on 132 reviews, with an average rating of 5.50/10. The site's consensus read: "Christopher McQuarrie may exhibit a way behind the camera in the stylishThe Way of the Gun,but his script falters with dull characterization and a plot so needlessly twisty that most viewers will be ready to tune out before the final reveal. "[4]OnMetacritic,the film had a score of 49 out of 100, sampled from 30 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5]Audiences surveyed byCinemaScoregave the film a grade B− on scale of A to F.[6]

In his review forThe New York Times,Elvis Mitchellwrote, "It's a song you've heard before, but each chord is hit with extraordinary concentration."[7]Andy Seiler praised James Caan's performance in his review forUSA Today,"To hear Caan menacingly intone 'I can promise you a day of reckoning you will not live long enough to never forget' is to remember why this man is a star."[8]In his review for theVillage Voice,J. Hobermanwrote, "Phillippe talks likeBrando;Del Toro apes the body language. Nevertheless, James Caan steals the movie as a veteran tough guy, rotating his torso around some unseen truss. "[9]Entertainment Weeklygave the film a "B" rating andOwen Gleibermanwrote, "The Way of the Gunplays like an unusually ritzy festival circuit audition film, though McQuarrie, it must be said, aces theaudition."[10]

Roger Ebertof theChicago Sun-Timesgave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "McQuarrie pulls, pummels and pushes us, makes his characters jump through hoops, and at the end produces carloads of 'bag men' who have no other function than to pop up and be shot at... Enough, already."[11]In his review forTime,Richard Corlisscriticized McQuarrie for devising, "a two-hourgunfightinterrupted by questions ofpaternity.But he's not so hot as a director, so what aims at being terrifying is just loud and goofy. "[12]Peter Stack, in his review forSan Francisco Chronicle,wrote, "The Way of the Gunattempts to be poeticalPeckinpah,but it's a pointless exercise in gun violence with characterizations so thin they vaporize. "[13]

About the movie's reception, Christopher McQuarrie said: "I'm very proud of the film. Is the film flawed, is it uneven? Certainly. But it's sincere."[14]

Home Video

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The film was released on VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray.

References

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  1. ^abc"The Way of the Gun (2000)".Box Office Mojo.RetrievedJuly 12,2020.
  2. ^abcOlsen, Mark (November 2000). "Fist in the Face".Sight and Sound.
  3. ^abcdefKonow, David (September–October 2000). "The Way of the Screenwriter: An Interview with Christopher McQuarrie".Creative Screenwriting.
  4. ^"The Way of the Gun".Rotten Tomatoes.RetrievedOctober 18,2020.
  5. ^"The Way of the Gun".Metacritic.RetrievedOctober 18,2020.
  6. ^"WAY OF THE GUN, THE (2000) B-".CinemaScore.Archived fromthe originalon 2018-12-20.
  7. ^Mitchell, Elvis (September 8, 2000)."A Noir Story of Guns Always at the Ready".The New York Times.Archived fromthe originalon December 20, 2013.Retrieved2008-12-14.
  8. ^Seiler, Andy (September 8, 2000). "Weaving thisWayand that for thrills ".USA Today.
  9. ^Hoberman, J (September 5, 2000)."Desperate Remedies".Village Voice.Retrieved2008-12-14.
  10. ^Gleiberman, Owen (September 1, 2000)."The Way of the Gun".Entertainment Weekly.Archived fromthe originalon February 10, 2009.Retrieved2008-12-17.
  11. ^Ebert, Roger(September 8, 2000)."The Way of the Gun".Chicago Sun-Times.Retrieved2020-10-10.
  12. ^Corliss, Richard(September 11, 2000)."The Way of the Gun".Time.Archived fromthe originalon February 10, 2009.Retrieved2008-12-17.
  13. ^Stack, Peter (September 8, 2000)."The Way of the Gun".San Francisco Chronicle.Retrieved2008-12-14.
  14. ^Brown, Shaun (10 June 2015)."Christopher McQuarrie interview: The Way Of The Gun".Den of Geek.Retrieved2020-10-10.
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