Guns Don't Argue is a 1957 low-budget feature film about the early achievements of the FBI in defeating the most notorious criminals of the 1930s. The film involves dramatizations of the crimes and eventual demise of various gangsters, along with a moralistic narrative. It was edited together from a composite of three episodes from the 1952 TV series Gangbusters.
Production
The film was released to theatres in 1957 as a feature produced by William Faris, directed by Bill Karn & Richard Kahn. A similar film, Gang Busters, was also originally based on the dramatic radio program first titled G-Men, which premiered on July 20, 1935. The title was changed to Gang Busters on January 15, 1936.
Plot
The film takes the form of a docudrama in which actors who are cast as FBI Special Agents speak to camera about the war on gangsters in the mid-1920s through the late-1930s. Using contacts with gun molls, agents track down criminals. The film dramatizes the crime careers, and final capture or deaths of John Dillinger, the Barker Gang, Bonnie and Clyde, Homer Van Meter, Doc Barker and Pretty-Boy Floyd. The "docudrama" does not portray events, many situations, or the FBI Special Agents accurately. For instance, the name of the FBI Special Agent who was killed in the Kansas City Massacre on June 17, 1933 was Raymond J. Caffrey, and it was not his first day with the FBI. Names of all FBI Special Agents who have been killed in the line of duty may be found on the FBI Hall of Honor.
Portrayal of events
The film is a revisionist docudrama, portraying the war on gangsters in the mid-1920s through the late-1930s from a pro-FBI point of view. Most notable is the portrayal of the deaths of Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger. The scenes show each firing off the first shot, and having ample time to "give themselves up", when in fact they were gunned down in an ambush by the police and Federal agents. The movie is greatly admired by Martin Scorsese, who has said, "It's an amazing film. It's to be studied, because it shows you how to make a film on a low budget".
