Matty’s stuck in the middle with Whitney Ransick’s so-so Tarantino cash-in.

An Aldi’s own version of Reservoir Dogs (1991) and True Romance (1993), HANDGUN — or, depending where it’s listed, ‘Hand Gun’ — passes muster due to the talents of the late, great Treat Williams. Incidentally, the film serves as the first of two Tarantino riffs the immensely likable star appeared in during the ‘90s, the other being the superficially similar Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995) which also hinges on a ‘botched job’ plot point. Here, Williams leads as a quick-witted gunrunner, who, along with his younger brother (Paul Schulze), gets caught up in the aftermath of a bungled robbery conducted by their estranged career crim father (Seymour Cassel).

Given the dynamic way in which he brings even Handgun’s ropiest passages of dialogue to life, it’s a shame the eminently watchable Williams didn’t receive the QT rub a la Michael Parks or John Travolta. He’d have fit nicely among the Pulp Fiction (1994) maestro’s ensembles [1]. Sadly, the rest of Handgun’s cast are pretty much left in the dust. Stricken with the same problem as many late-era Tarantino films — wherein every character speaks and sounds the same — the likes of Schulze, Cassel, and, even, True Romance alumni Michael Rappaport and Anna Thomson deliver their motormouthed prattle gamely, and eff and jeff with gusto. Their parts, though, just aren’t especially interesting, and the endless — ENDLESS — yapping becomes a little draining. That said, there are several amusing exchanges — if a few too many homophobic slurs — and some fun dark comedy in this eccentric look at broken families and low aspirations. Moreover, despite his lack of finesse as a writer, Whitney Ransick has decent directorial chops, at least from a technical and presentational point of view.

His feature length debut as helmer (he had, however, co-penned another crime caper, mob flick The Outfit (1993)), Ransick knows how to shape a scene; possesses a nice feel for texture; and harbours an earnestly quirky sense of place and rhythm. A graduate of the State University of New York’s Film Studies program and a founding member of fabled NY filmmaking consortium, The Shooting Gallery, Ransick subsequently plied his trade in television, tackling episodes of shows such as ER, Smallville, and Martial Law. 

Housing a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him appearance from Luis Guzman as an ill-fated robber, Handgun premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on 5th March 1994. It landed on tape in the U.S. on 9th November ‘94 via Triboro and in the U.K. in January ‘96 via 20th Century Fox’s video subdivision, Fox Guild Home Entertainment. Curiously, both releases ignored Ransick’s Tarantino bent and pitched the film as a straight action movie.

USA ● 1994 ● Comedy, Thriller ● 85mins

Treat Williams, Paul Schulze, Seymour Cassel ● Wri./Dir. Whitney Ransick

[1] An intriguing what-could’ve-been: Williams was, at one time, considered for a role in Django Unchained (2012).