Writer / director C.M. Talkington doesn't go about trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to "lovers on the lam" cinema. He merely tells a decent, straightforward story (albeit with some pretentious narration), with the usual amount of sex and violence, as well as humour, style, and some irreverence. The main hook is that the couple at the centre of this tale are not inherently vicious, violent people; they merely resort to it when forced into a corner.
Hell, our main protagonist, "Watty" Watts (handsome Gil Bellows) is a veteran robber who regularly uses guns that AREN'T loaded, in an effort to avoid bloodshed. But he has a problem because he still associates with a fellow ex-con named Billy Mack (a memorable Rory Cochrane), an utter psychopath with an itchy trigger finger. They attempt a robbery, it goes bad, and "Watty" flees with his gal Starlene (the enchanting Renee Zellweger); Billy, a pair of loan sharks (Jeffrey Combs, Jace Alexander), and the law pursue them.
"Love and a .45" is an amusing, visceral modern crime thriller with some fun touches. It acknowledges the debt that all movies of its kind owe to the granddaddy of them all, "Bonnie and Clyde". It also seems influenced by Tarantino, but in truth this was filmed *before* "Natural Born Killers", to which people often compare this one. It wouldn't work quite as well if we didn't like the two main characters to some degree, and "Watty" and Starlene make for a pretty engaging coouple. Granted, he does get annoyed with her towards the end, since it's clear she's enjoying her status as a "celebrity", and sometimes courts trouble.
The whole cast is great in this thing; it's too bad that Bellows and Cochrane never became bigger stars (of course, we all know that Zellweger went on to bigger things). They're supported by a variety of familiar faces. Peter Fonda is a hoot, well cast as a modern hippie who now has to speak using one of those voice generators. Michael Bowen, Jack Nance, Ann Wedgeworth, Wiley Wiggins, and Charlotte Ross round out the cast. It's particularly fun to see Combs outside the horror genre and delivering a flamboyant, priceless performance.
Aided and abetted by its soundtrack, "Love and a .45" is worth a look for those movie lovers who seek out efforts like this that never quite got their due.
Seven out of 10.
