The Gunrunner Review

1926. The Chinese Civil War. Drifter Ted Beaubien is captured and forced to witness his girlfriend's execution. He finally escapes and vows to avenge her death by taking on a deadly mission to buy guns abroad and smuggle them back

by William Thomas |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1983

Running Time:

92 minutes

Original Title:

Gunrunner, The

A Canadian gangster yarn that was shelved almost immediately after its initial release, then shamelessly resurrected on video as soon as Costner became the hottest thing in Hollywood. Kevin plays a young gunrunner (hence the name) trying to help the Chinese rebellion in the 1920s, then returning home to Canada to switch from guns to booze-smuggling with his brother. Costner's boyish good looks, later to put him on Hollywood's A-list, here work badly against him, failing to come anywhere close to convincing as the bad guy turned good. Compulsive proof of the all-have-to-start-somewhere argument

This average B-movie drama is only for true Costner fans.
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