The Rubber Gun
The kids your mother
never let you play with
The Rubber Gun (1977)
Charismatic artist Steve (Scanners star Stephen Lack) has carved out a reputation as Montréal’s premiere drug connection, trafficking with a crew of friends and lovers living as a makeshift “family” on the fringes of society. But tensions rise when the police catch wind of their latest shipment, and Steve strikes up a friendship with a university student eager to observe the group’s illicit lifestyle for his graduate thesis. As the walls start to close in, old jealousies and new paranoias surface, and the family scrambles to adapt or perish.
Featuring seven songs by acclaimed Leonard Cohen collaborator Lewis Furey, the directorial debut of Allan Moyle (Times Square, Pump Up the Volume, Empire Records) is an innovative drug drama that set the stage for Drugstore Cowboy and other celebrated portraits of addiction. Equal parts Warhol and Cassavetes, the film’s docu-fiction approach earned widespread praise for its urgency and vivid reality, with The Toronto International Film Festival citing it as “one of the best films of the ’70s.” Out of official circulation for decades, The Rubber Gun returns in a stunning new restoration from the original camera negatives.
Special features
• Newly scanned and restored in 2K from the original 16mm A/B negatives by Canadian International Pictures with sound transferred from the answer print
• Stumbling Forward (2026, 32 min.) – New interview with director, actor, and co-producer Allan Moyle
• Different Thinking Boys and Girls (2026, 21 min.) – New interview with actor, co-writer, and co-producer Stephen Lack on his early years
• Different Thinking Filmmakers (2026, 22 min.) – New interview with Lack on The Rubber Gun
• Plead the Fifth (2026, 21 min.) – New interview with composer Lewis Furey and Lack
• Golden Times (2026, 17 min.) – New interview with co-cinematographer Frank Vitale and Lack
• American Cinematheque Q&A (2025, 35 min.) – Post-screening discussion featuring Moyle and AGFA’s Bret Berg
• Fantasia intro and Q&A (2024, 31 min.) – Lack and Vitale at the Fantasia International Film Festival
• Original theatrical exit music by Furey
• Theatrical re-release trailer
• Booklet featuring a new essay by film professor Nathan Holmes and an archival profile by P. M. Massé-Connolly
• Reversible cover artwork
• English SDH subtitles
• New slip art by Sister Hyde
Canadian International Pictures
From arthouse to Canuxploitation, Canadian International Pictures (CIP) is devoted to resurrecting vital, distinctive, and overlooked triumphs of Canadian and Québécois cinema. We are focused on the country’s original cinematic boom years – spanning the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s – occasionally venturing past that period (and the country’s borders) to highlight the films of Canada’s most inspired actors and filmmakers.
