The Gun on AllMovie

Designed along the lines of the old multistoried film Tales of Manhattan (albeit with a tragic ending), the Richard Levinson/William Link TV-movie effort The Gun "stars" a .38 caliber revolver. Our first glimpse of the gun is as it is being assembled in the factory. From this point on, it passes through several hands, both legally and otherwise. After it has ruined--or, at least, radically altered--several lives, the gun is purchased by a homeowner...who has a curious, impulsive little boy. When originally telecast, The Gun ended with a "crawl" listing the most recent dates of accidental handgun deaths in the United States; the last date was November 13, 1974--which was also the day that The Gun made its network debut. The director was John Badham, who got his chance to direct his first theatrical feature, The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars and Motor Kings, on the strength of the positive critical response to The Gun.