Love and a .45 (1994)

Wonderful character development!

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I took the time to register just so you can see an awesome flick. This film is right up there with Pulp Fiction, Snatch, Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels, even Fight Club.I am not gonna do a critique here, but it has it all - its funny at times, and deadly serious at others. It has a great flow, and the soundtrack is perfect. I'd never heard of the Reverend Horton Heat or Mazzy Star, but they rock this flick.Frankly I am very surprised that we haven't heard from the Director in any other films. I just checked, and this and something called Killers Head are about it.Anyways, watch it and it might become one of your favorites too!

In the 90s, movies about quirky criminals and their misadventures were especially popular. "Love and a .45" aims for "Raising Arizona" and falls somewhat short of "Spun". A charismatic and Eastern philosophy following convenience store robber and his aspiring movie-star girlfriend have to go on the run after a run-in from the cops caused by their friend Billy Mack making the mistake of loading a gun and getting high before a robbery. A self-consciously wacky Texas road trip movie ensues with creepy loan sharks, insane druggies, and aged hippies speckled throughout, with more than enough references to "Bonnie and Clyde".Gil Bellows as Watty certainly keeps the movie rolling with his pleasantness and charm. He's the really interesting character here; Starlene (Renee Zellweger) really slows the movie down with her incessant rambling about being on television. Rory Cochrane is all over the spectrum, and in the right mindset he can be really funny or incredibly obnoxious. Jack Nance and Peter Fonda make appearances for all you cult cinema lovers out there, and... well... that's about it, really, as far as what this movie offers that's different from anything else.Well, it does have a splendid Southern-themed soundtrack.I think, overall, that the movie was a decent ride but that the director should have removed himself a bit away from an obvious liking to his characters. The movie is very aware of how quirky the characters are, and thus spends more energy staging them than letting them drive the storyline. In a romp of this nature, cutting things that drag is somewhat necessary.--PolarisDiB

Yeah my dad was in the movie, he worked for Bigred and there is a scene where they are showing the front of a little store in the middle of nowhere, and a Bigred truck drives right in front of the screen....and my dad was driving the truck. he says it was his "BIG 10 MIN OF FAME!" but it was more like 7.2 sec's loll but He's still proud of it...Love you dad! :)...anyways i loved the movie and i now own it. lots of people say that it is a knock off or whatever but i think that its original and funny.... plus with my dad being in it i cant really say anything bad about it. but i will say it is a bit corny and the filming is not the best but it is still a really great movie so see it and look for my dad!

The video case for 'Love and a .45' managed to name-drop 'True Romance', AND 'Pulp Fiction' AND 'Natural Born Killers', always a bad sign in my book (what I call "the Tarantino blurb rule"), but this movie surprisingly a) doesn't completely suck, and b)isn't really all that Tarantino-like. I'm not saying it's actually all that good mind you, but it's passable, especially if you're a fan of Jeffrey Combs or Peter Fonda. Personally I think the movie was more inspired by David Lynch's 'Wild At Heart' than Tarantino (and let's face it, of those three movies mentioned only 'True Romance' actually preceded it, and the "lovers on the run" genre is an established one, with important milestones like 'Badlands' and 'The Getaway' in the 70s, 'Bonnie And Clyde' before that in the 60s, and even the underrated 'Gun Shy' back in the 40s). Gil Bellows, best known now for Ally McBeal, and Renee Zellweger, now a big time Hollywood star, are the white trash lovers, and Rory Cochrane ('Dazed And Confused') Bellows ex-partner who is out to kill them. All three are okay I suppose, but nothing special. Zellweger does look cute I must admit, but the Southern accents eventually become profoundly irritating. Writer/Director C.M. Talkington drops in little in-jokes referring to 'Pink Flamingos' and 'Easy Rider', which made me think he was pretty hip, but sadly the movie really fails to add anything new or interesting to this Gen X road movie genre, unlike Gregg Araki's subsequent 'The Doom Generation' or Matthew Bright's 'Freeway' and 'Freeway 2', which are kinda similar movies but much better. The only real reason to watch for the cool soundtrack and some of the character actors in supporting roles. Television's Tom Verlaine composed the score, The Reverend Horton Heat performs, and the movie features songs by Mazzy Star, The Flaming Lips, Johnny Cash, The Jesus And Mary Chain and others, as well as a rare duet between Kim Deal (The Breeders/The Pixies) and Bob Pollard (Guided By Voices). The supporting cast includes a great turn by horror legend Jeffrey Combs as speed freak Dinosaur Bob, cult figure Peter Fonda as Zellweger's burned out hippie father, and bit parts from David Lynch regular Jack Nance ('Eraserhead'), Ann Wedgeworth ('Scarecrow'), Michael Bowen ('Jackie Brown'), Wiley Wiggins ('Waking Life') and Charlotte Ross ('NYPD Blue'). 'Love and a .45' is a difficult movie to get enthused about. It's not an absolute stinker, but it's just not all that good and there are many more enjoyable and interesting movies out there in a similar vein.