The Gunrunner Reviews

Returning home from China, where he has just made a gun-running deal, Ted Beaubien (Kevin Costner) finds himself drawn into the current underworld rage, speakeasies, one of which is run by Maude (Sara Botsford), to whom Ted is increasingly attracted even as he discovers that he can trust no one. His brother George (Ron Lea) is killed while trying to set up a meeting with some arms dealers, and the brother of George's sweetheart (Mitch Martin) is kidnaped. It all leads to some complicated revelations. Considering the then-unknown Costner's involvement, it's not surprising that THE GUNRUNNER turned up on video some six years after it was made. What is surprising is that this pointless film was made in the first place. Character motivations are so completely arbitrary that as little as five minutes into the film it's impossible to care what anyone does or says. And don't look for action scenes to relieve the boredom and bewilderment, because the action is almost as nonexistent as the plot. Moreover, it's a good thing that THE GUNRUNNER's advertising tells us the film is set in 1926, since the architecture and dialog belie the period setting throughout. THE GUNRUNNER can't even come up to the relatively low standard for arms-dealing movies set in 1983, when William Friedkin's DEAL OF THE CENTURY hit the screen.