- Two disturbed young people release their fascination with guns through a crime spree.
- Since he was a child, Bart Tare has always loved guns. After leaving the army, his friends take him to a carnival, where he meets the perfect girl; Annie, a sharp-shooting sideshow performer who loves guns as much as he. The 2 run off and marry, but Annie isn't happy with their financial situation, so at her behest the couple begins a cross-country string of daring robberies. Never one to use guns for killing, Bart's dragged down into oblivion by the greedy and violent nature of the woman he loves.—Martin Lewison <lewison+@pitt.edu>
- From the time he was old enough to hold a gun, Bart Tare was fascinated with firearms, and was put into a reform school for stealing one. He becomes an expert marksman, but after killing a chicken because it was a running target he becomes remorseful and vows to never again kill a living thing. Returning to his mountain home town of Cashville after World War II, he goes to a carnival and wins a shooting match against the sharp-shooting queen, Annie Laurie Starr. They marry, but Annie prefers luxurious living and persuades Bart to set out with her on a series of holdups. They move through the West committing robberies and holdups, and their life becomes a constant flight from lawmen. In fleeing the scene of a payroll robbery, which is to be their last crime, Laurie commits murder and the manhunt is intensified. They try to hide out in the home of Bart's sister but their presence becomes known. Two of Bart's childhood friends, Dave Allister and Clyde Boston, are deputized and lead the posse which pursues them deeper into the mountains.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
- As a child, Bart Tare had a fascination with guns. He was never a violent person and didn't even like shooting at animals. Caught after breaking a shop window to steal a gun, he is sent to reform school. He later joins the army but eventually returns home to see his older sister Ruby and two of his childhood friends. They go to a traveling carnival where Bart gets to show off some of his shooting skills with the sideshow's main attraction Annie Laurie Starr. They prove to be equals in their shooting skills and are eventually married. They choose a life of crime starting with robbing gas stations and liquor stores but eventually moving up to much larger heists. Their life of crime leads to its inevitable conclusion.—garykmcd
- In Cashville, the boy Bart Tare steals a gun from a hardware store and during his trial, his sister Ruby and his best friends Dave and Clyde testimonies to Judge Willoughby disclose that Bart has always loved guns. Further, he is a skilled shooter but incapable to shoot a living being. However he is sentenced to spend four years in a reform school and after that, he joins the army. Years later, he returns to his hometown and is welcomed by Ruby and her family, and his friends Deputy Clyde Boston and Dave Allister. They go to a carnival to celebrate, where Bart meets the performer Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins) that is also a crack shot. Bart is hired by the owner of the carnival and soon the ambitious Annie convinces him to leave the carnival and try a better life. They get married and do not have lucky in gambling, losing all their money. Soon Annie convinces Bart to rob different towns in the beginning of their crime spree. Although Bart is unable to use his gun for killing, he does not know the violent past of his wife that murdered a man in St. Louis years ago. Until the day she kills again and they become wanted by the FBI.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- On a rainy night, fourteen-year-old Bart Tare smashes the window of a hardware store and steals a gun, but is soon caught by Sheriff Boston. At Bart's hearing, his older sister Ruby, who reared the boy by herself, assures Judge Willoughby that despite Bart's strange obsession with guns, he would never kill anything. To prove her point, she describes the trauma he experienced when he shot a chick with a BB gun as a small boy. Bart's friends, Dave Allister and Clyde Boston, the sheriff's son, then recall how Bart refused to kill a mountain lion for the bounty, despite being an expert shot. Ruby, who is about to marry, asks that Bart be allowed to live with her, but the judge sends Bart away to reform school.
Years later, Bart returns to town and calls on Dave, who has become a newspaper reporter, and Clyde, who is now the sheriff. He tells them that he joined the Army after reform school and has returned to settle down. That evening, the three friends go to the carnival, where they attend a demonstration by beautiful sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr. The carnival owner, Packett, challenges the audience members to a shooting match with Laurie, and when Bart wins, Packett gives him a job. Bart and Laurie's mutual attraction angers Packett, and he tries to intimidate Laurie by reminding her about the man she killed in St. Louis. Bart comes in during the ensuing struggle and fires a warning shot, and when Packett fires them both, Bart and Laurie run away together.
At Bart's insistence they get married and enjoy an idyllic honeymoon until they run out of money. Bart wants to sell his guns and take a job, but Laurie desires the fast life and lots of money. After she persuades Bart to take up armed robbery, they embark on a daring crime spree, although they never actually shoot anybody. Bart grows increasingly unhappy with their life of crime, but Laurie insists on one last heist at the Armour Meat Company. They take jobs with the firm and carefully plan to rob the payroll office. Everything goes smoothly until Laurie's supervisor, Miss Sifert, pulls the burglar alarm, and Laurie shoots her, along with a security guard. Bart and Laurie narrowly escape and manage to flee to Southern California. Bart is horrified when he reads in the paper about the death of Miss Sifert and the guard at the plant, and Laurie confesses that she killed a man in St. Louis while committing a robbery with Packett.
When the FBI catches up with them by tracing money from the robbery, Bart and Laurie hop a freight train and take refuge in Ruby's house, which is near the tracks. Responding to worried calls from Ruby's neighbors, Clyde and Dave go to her house, where Bart greets his old friends at gunpoint. They urge Bart to give himself up, but Bart and Laurie take Ruby's car and drive into Madera National Park. When the car breaks down, they run into the woods, finally stopping by a swamp for the night. The next morning, through the heavy fog, they hear Clyde and Dave calling out to Bart. Laurie prepares to shoot them as they approach, but Bart shoots her and is then cut down by a hail of gunfire. Clyde and Dave look down at the bodies and slowly walk away.
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