Official selection
New Directors/New Films 1977
Locarno Film Festival 1977
Jeonju International Film Festival 2024
Honors
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Stephen Lack - Genie Nomination 1980
Best Original Screenplay - Genie Nomination 1980
Director
Allan Moyle
Producer
Paul Haynes, Stephen Lack, Allan Moyle
Writer
Stephen Lack, John Laing, Allan Moyle
Cast
Peter Brawley, Lily Glidden, Pam Holmes-Robert, Stephen Lack, Joe Mattia, Allan Moyle, Pierre Robert
Cinematographer
Jim Lawrence, Frank Vitale
Composer
Lewis Furey
contact
Canadian International Pictures
« Si THE RUBBER GUN (1977) peut irriter de prime abord parce qu'il se situe dans le milieu des petits trafiquants de drogue, il fascine au bout du compte par son côté étrange et brut, par la récupération qu'il fait de l'esthétique du cinéma direct, par son audace formelle et humaine»– CINÉMAS
« OVNI à part entière, tant dans sa structure que dans son contenu, ce premier film d’Allan Moyle reste à ce jour l’un des rares essais cinématographiques produits au Québec dans les années 70. »– FILMS DU QUÉBEC
« Curieux mélange de document et d'imagination. Milieu bien décrit. Réalisation vivante et directe. Interprétation réaliste. »– MEDIAFILM
A loquacious painter and impetuous drug dealer, Steve (Stephen Lack) meets Allan (Allan Moyle), a young sociology student. They become fast friends, and Allan is invited to Steve's studio on Montreal's Rue St-Laurent to meet various members of his commune, including Pierre (Pierre Robert), a bisexual prostitute and heroin addict, eager to supplant Steve as leader of the group. Allan decides to write his thesis on the positive effects of drugs, using the community around Steve as a case study. Meanwhile, Pierre concocts a plan to steal drugs from a locker at Windsor Station, but Steve is convinced it's a trap set by corrupt cops from the narco quad.
Quebec screenwriter, director and actor Allan “Bozo” Moyle was born in Shawinigan in 1947. He made his directorial debut here before migrating to the United States, where he made TIMES SQUARE (1980), PUMP UP THE VOLUME (1990) and EMPIRE RECORDS (1995). Earlier in the 1970s, he collaborated with Frank Vitale on MONTREAL MAIN (1974) and EAST END HUSSLE (1976) before moving into directing himself with THE RUBBER GUN, a film he co-wrote with lead actor Stephen Lack, who later starred in David Cronenberg’s SCANNERS (1981) and literally bursts onto the screen with a thrilling charisma and provocative cynicism. The main characters in THE RUBBER GUN were already present in MONTREAL MAIN, another experimental film combining cinéma vérité, exploitation tropes, and documentary. It's a kind of genre cinema that evokes the work of Canadians Robin Spry and Ted Kotcheff, as well as the early films of John Cassavetes and Jim McBride on the other side of the border. Add to this an original soundtrack by Lewis Furey – really a collection of songs from his should-be-classic album THE HUMOURS OF LEWIS FUREY (1976) – and you have an idea of the experience that awaits in this lost ’70s classic that earned two Genie nominations. You have a date with the North American premiere of a stunning new restoration from Canadian International Pictures. – Marc Lamothe
Showings
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