Handgun is an obscure little rape and revenge thriller that has more weight than many other films in the genre and actually tries to make some points outside of it. The film I would liken this one to most is the Swedish exploitation flick 'They Call Her One Eye' as it features an innocent young looking girl being wronged and then getting herself some weapons and some training to get back at her enemy. In fact, the two films are so similar that I would be very surprised if Handgun director Tony Garnett has not seen They Call Her One Eye. The major focal point here is course, rape. Kathleen Sullivan is a young woman who moves from Boston to Dallas. While there, she meets a man and starts seeing him; but shortly thereafter, the relationship turns sour when she refuses her advances, and he rapes her at gunpoint. She gets over the initial shock by getting angry and later buying herself a nice big gun and learning how to use it, all with the intention of hunting down and killing the man who raped her...

The film comes off as being slightly classier than the 'Video Nasty' style rape and revenge flicks such as The Last House on the Left and I Spit on Your Grave, although it's not as graphic, sleazy or nasty; and to be honest, I prefer the aforementioned classics to this film. The film is rather slow to start and nothing much happens for the first half hour. This is good in a way because it lets us get used to the central character, but on the other hand it's quite boring so becomes a bit of a problem. Otherwise, the plot flows fairly well; but there's never any secret made over where it's going so the film doesn't contain a lot of suspense. The rape scene is not particularly graphic either, which is a shame because it's what a lot of people will be tuning in for. There's a point thrown in there about guns and their usage, but it's not very potent. The film boils down to a good conclusion, despite the fact that it's obvious it was going to turn out that way - but it does pull an interesting little twist out at the end which is decent. Overall, I'm not surprised that this film isn't well known as it's not all that good and wont appeal to a mass market; but it's decent stuff and I can recommend it.

This is being written from memories of it being of UK TV, so bear with me. My dad used to rave about this, and when we got the chance to watch it, I could see why. This is a powerful, emotional driven film where the act of rape and the subsequent cold revenge using the rapists method are excellently executed. I am still kicking myself because we didn't video it and it isn't available on DVD. For shame! This is a film that seriously challenges the ownership and use of guns, and even for a person who sees no problem with guns used responsibly (like myself), this film still challenges... Worth watching for the ending - twist central!

This is very underrated thriller which also poses questions about America's love of guns. It is very low key and filmed almost like a documentary, and Karen Young is excellent as the victimised main character. It perhaps isn't as powerful as it could be but it is definitely worth watching.