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This Gun for Hire

This Gun for Hire

Crime · Thriller · Mystery · 1942

Sadistic killer-for-hire Philip Raven becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss, nightclub executive Gates, Raven sits beside Gates' lovely new employee, Ellen, on a train out of town. Although Ellen is engaged to marry the police lieutenant who's hunting down Raven, she decides to try and set the misguided hit man straight as he hides from the cops and plots his revenge.

Movie details

This Gun for Hire

“A Lone Wolf…dynamite with a girl or a gun!”

1942 Crime · Thriller · Mystery 1h 21m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.4 / 10

10.9K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

94 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Sadistic killer-for-hire Philip Raven becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss, nightclub executive Gates, Raven sits beside Gates' lovely new employee, Ellen, on a train out of town. Although Ellen is engaged to marry the police lieutenant who's hunting down Raven, she decides to try and set the misguided hit man straight as he hides from the cops and plots his revenge.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over This Gun for Hire?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Double Indemnity

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Killer's Kiss

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Frank Tuttle

Written by

W.R. Burnett · Albert Maltz

Alan Ladd

Alan Ladd

Philip Raven

Veronica Lake

Veronica Lake

Ellen Graham

Robert Preston

Robert Preston

Det. Michael Crane

Laird Cregar

Laird Cregar

Willard Gates

Tully Marshall

Tully Marshall

Alvin Brewster

Marc Lawrence

Marc Lawrence

Tommy

Olin Howland

Olin Howland

Blair Fletcher

Court is in session

Put This Gun for Hire on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Big-Idea Head

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.