The Rubber Gun

Sometimes pleasure heads must burn before they explode, as proven in the unearthed 70s Canadian counter-culture oddity The Rubber Gun, directed by Allan Moyle, who, along with John Laing, contributed to the screenplay written by Stephen Lack. Steve (Stephen Lack) drives around Montreal in a big car with a decrepit baby doll tied into the grill and a mounted loudspeaker, barking his way through pedestrian traffic. And why shouldn’t he be stuck up, as he lives with The Family, a commune in the city that controls the hard drug distribution in the youth scene?

The group is led by Pierre (Pierre Robert) and his old lady Pam (Pam Holmes-Robert), though Pierre’s real old lady is whatever sits waiting in the syringe to stick in his arm. Steve and Peter (Peter Brawley) make the rounds delivering drugs at McGill University while checking out the packages for the hockey players. It is in the college bookstore that Steve comes across some promising talent when he catches a student (Allan Moyle) stealing a book. The student is introduced to the Family, and he starts doing an ethnographic study of the drug culture for a research paper.

“…a suitcase of fresh dope sitting in a locker in a station, just waiting to be picked up…”

However, a major panic is about to drop as there is a suitcase of fresh dope sitting in a locker in a station, just waiting to be picked up. However, it is being watched day and night by undercover cops, just waiting to bust whoever goes for the bag…

Even with all of the wacko indie outlaw cinema I have seen, this is a very strange movie. It came and went in 1977, surviving only from someone taping a broadcast off of CityTV with blurry analog image quality. Thanks to a miraculous remaster, The Rubber Gun can now be seen all crisp and spotless, with lines sharp enough to cut lines with. All of the generation degradation is eradicated, making it look better than it ever has. The level of detail restored is astounding, as you can now see every crinkle along the surface of the dope bundles.