The Next Reel Film Podcast
Gun Crazy
Bart loves guns. Laurie loves crime. Together they’re inevitable—and doomed. Andy and Pete dig into Joseph H. Lewis’s scorching 1950 film noir Gun Crazy.
June 18, 2026
Some are lovers. Some are friends. Some are reluctant partners who have no business being in the same car. The Next Reel’s Couples on the Run series has been exploring what happens when two people hit the road with trouble in hot pursuit—and keeps finding new answers.
Bart loves guns. Laurie loves crime. Together they’re inevitable—and doomed. Andy and Pete dig into Joseph H. Lewis’s scorching 1950 film noir Gun Crazy.
Andy loves it. Pete can’t get behind it. Their disagreement over David Lynch’s 1990 Palme d’Or winner is specific, argued, and never resolved. Member bonus episode.
Pete hates the ending. Andy thinks the ending is the point. Their disagreement over Ridley Scott’s 1991 road film is one of the sharpest in the Couples on the Run series.
Nobody expected anything. Gable was hungover. Colbert hated it. Capra thought it was a throwaway. They accidentally invented the screwball comedy and swept the Oscars.
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Ten years later, Andy worried this one might not hold up. It does. Pete and Andy dig into Tarantino’s first script and the cast that makes “True Romance” sing.
Pete thinks De Niro is the weak link. Andy disagrees. Either way, George Gallo’s script is smarter than the genre usually allows—”Midnight Run” holds up.
The Next Reel has been tracking couples on the run since 2013. The original Season 3 lineup covered five films: Midnight Run (1988), True Romance (1993), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Night of the Hunter (1955), and It Happened One Night (1934). Member bonus episodes added Thelma & Louise (1991) in Season 10 and Wild at Heart (1990) in Season 11. Season 15 completes the current run with Gun Crazy (1950)—eight films in all.
The series earns its range. Midnight Run is a buddy comedy with action movie energy. It Happened One Night is pre-Code Hollywood screwball. The Night of the Hunter is gothic terror that barely qualifies as a road movie—and fits perfectly. Gun Crazy arrived before Bonnie and Clyde, before the New Hollywood road movie—passion and violence as the same impulse, already fully formed. Thelma & Louise redefined what the formula could carry. What holds all of them together isn't a mood or a decade. It's a dynamic: two people, bound to each other, moving through a world that doesn't especially want them to make it.
Andy and Pete treat the series as an ongoing conversation about partnership under pressure. What it means to have someone beside you when everything falls apart. What you're both willing to do. The films don't all end the same way. The series doesn't pretend they do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Next Reel's Couples on the Run series complete?
The current run reached eight films with Gun Crazy in Season 15—but a series is only ever as complete as we decide it is. The genre has a long and varied history, and Pete and Andy may well return to it in a future season.
Which films are in The Next Reel's Couples on the Run series?
Eight films across multiple seasons: Midnight Run, True Romance, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Night of the Hunter, and It Happened One Night in Season 3 (2013); Thelma & Louise as a member bonus in Season 10 (2021); Wild at Heart as a member bonus in Season 11 (2022); and Gun Crazy in Season 15 (2026).
Where should I start if I'm new to The Next Reel?
True Romance or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are both strong entry points—well-known films with wide-ranging conversations. If you want the earliest entry chronologically, It Happened One Night is where the series starts—and a great introduction to how far the formula can stretch.
Become a Supporting Member
The movie ends. The conversation goes further. Members of The Next Reel get every episode early and ad-free in their own private podcast feed, plus bonus episodes, exclusive Discord channels, and access to live recording sessions. Become a member at TruStory FM.
Related Listening
If the Couples on the Run series brought you here, you might also want to explore the Great Car Chases series—The Next Reel's look at films where speed, pursuit, and getting away are the whole point. The two series share some DNA, and the overlap between them is exactly as interesting as you'd expect.