Blake Edwards

CHAPTER 6Gunn (1967) and Peter Gunn (1989)

Executive Produced (Uncredited), Created, Written, and Directed by Blake Edwards

Executive Produced, Created, Written, and Directed by Blake Edwards

Gunn opens with a dark screen that we soon realize is a long shot of the ocean at night as a distant vessel emerges from the darkness and steadily approaches the camera.¹ The film then cuts to an extreme close-up showing a distorted image of a huge eye looking through a nautical scope. We then get some narrative context as a man, with the name of his vessel, Tempest, on his jacket, lights a cigarette and quietly remarks to a crewmate, “Another boat, coming this way. What’s he doing now?” That boat pulls up alongside and what appear to be Coast Guard men come aboard. In a lower cabin, a man leaves a woman in bed to go up and confront the boarders, asking, “Do you know who I am?” One of the boarders replies, “Yes, Mr. Scarlotti, we know who you are,” and machine guns him to death. Then the woman and everyone else on the boat are slaughtered, with all but the last murder occurring off-screen. The killers quickly return to their boat, which seems to be commanded by a platinum blond man in a dark jacket, shown from the rear. The boat pulls away, a searchlight goes out, and all returns to darkness. Abruptly, the film’s credits appear against a brightly colored, psychedelic-looking backdrop, with silhouettes of go-go dancers gyrating to Henry Mancini’s hard-driving Peter Gunn theme music.

This ...