Guns Don't Argue

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Guns Don't Argue is a composite of three re-edited episodes from the 1952 TV series Gangbusters. The film was released to theatres in 1957 as a feature film which was produced by William Faris, directed by Bill Karn & Richard Kahn.

The film's taglines were "... and dead mean don't talk" and "The Factual story of the short but vicious lives of America's public enemies." A similar film, Gang Busters (1954), was also originally based on the dramatic radio program first titled G-Men, which premiered on July 20, 1935. The title was changed to Gang Busters on January 15, 1936.

The film is considered by some to be a revisionist style docu-drama which portrays the war on crime of the 1920s and 1930s notably in the favor of the Federal agents involved. A very pro-Hoover style film with narration of the criminal element in an over emphasized way. Though the film does show a counterpoint to the often romanticized lives of outlaws and criminals, it does so too far in the extreme. Where the real history gets muddled in the 1950s 'value' system.

Most notable is the portrayal of the deaths of Bonnie and Clyde as well as John Dillinger. The scenes show each firing off the first shot, and having ample time to "give themselves up". When in fact they were gunned down in an ambush by the police and Federal agents.

Discussed in the film are John Dillinger, Ma Barker, Alvin Karpis, Fred Barker, Homer Van Meter, Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow, and Pretty-Boy Floyd.