Song – Richard Gere & Others ‘We Both Reached for the Gun’ (2002)

The musical ‘Chicago’ has been performed on stage for many years but in 2002 it was made into a movie.  The principal actors were Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere.  This particular song ‘We Both Reached for the Gun’ – the youtube visual and audio clip of which is below – is a catchy, and highly visual piece.  It is performed in the movie at a point where the heroine Roxie Hart (Zellweger) is engaging with media in an effort to exonerate herself from a charge of the shooting murder of her lover.  Her corrupt lawyer Billy Flynn (Gere) is manipulating this media endeavour, in effect putting words in her mouth; hence the depicted faux puppetry.

How much of the performance was sung by Gere and Zellweger is not clear, but I note, from research, that the principal vocalists are credited as Chrstine Baranski – the ‘older’ women depicted in the video at several points – Cleve Asbury, Shaun Amyot, Rick Negron and Taye Diggs.  The well-credentialled Baranski – who plays the role of journalist Mary Sunshine – later played a lead role in the movie version of the musical ‘Mamma Mia’.

Despite the movie being released in 2002 – to significant acclaim and award – remarkably 22 years later, in August 2024, the song found its way back into the TikTok Billboard Top 50.

Enjoy!

The principal source for the above is an article by Hugh McIntyre in Forbes business magazine of 21 August 2024.

The YouTube clip is here.