Dillinger (1973)

[jake_fink]

This is one of my guilty pleasures.

Aw, who am I kidding, there's nothing guilty about it, it's just a pleasure. A fast paced film based on the exploits of John Dillinger. It is wildly inaccurate (Ben Johnson portrays Melvin Purvis as older, experienced, stone-cold and in complete control - none of which was true), but the hats the cars the music the energy all more than make up for that. And all in this little cheapie made for the drive in and grind house circuits!

It features a lot of suits and ties and gratuitous wearing of skimmers. The supporting cast, including Harry Dean Stanton and Geoffrey Lewis are great, and so is the lead, Warren Oates - one of my favourite anti-hero, sort-of-stars of the 60s and 70s. There is spirted use of stock footage and montage and the shoot out at the Little Bohemia is a tour de force, and I believe an inspiration for sequences in the Coen Bros. Miller's Crossing, including the Danny Boy scene.

This is available on dvd and is usually very cheap. If you like gangsters and the 30s you'l like this film.

Dillinger at IMDB

 

[Feraud]

Nothing at all to feel guilty about for liking this film!
I watch and enjoy it every time I see it on t.v. I would buy the dvd in a flash!
This film, along with The Great Waldo Pepper and Bonnie & Clyde would make an awesome triple feature!

p.s. Great poster. Is it yours?

 

[Dixon Cannon]

How do you pronouce that...

There is some discrepancy about how John D. pronounced his own name. We all know him as Dillen-jer; there are many who call him as he pronounced it - Dillen-grrrr.

How do you pronounce it? Has anyone got the low-down on this name game?

-dixon cannon

 

[jake_fink]

There is some discrepancy about how John D. pronounced his own name. We all know him as Dillen-jer; there are many who call him as he pronounced it - Dillen-grrrr.

How do you pronounce it? Has anyone got the low-down on this name game?

-dixon cannon

Go diminutive: Johnny Dill.

 

[jake_fink]

Great poster. Is it yours?

Not that one, but one just like it.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Oh geesh....

Go diminutive: Johnny Dill.

Now we're in a pickle!!!! :eusa_doh:

-dixon can

 

[Feraud]

Now we're in a pickle!!!! :eusa_doh:

-dixon can

Pickllinger?

 

[MudInYerEye]

So-so flick. Warren Oates and Ben Johnson at their peaks (two of the Great Ones in my book). But woefully miscast, hammy Richard Dreyfuss clogs up the drain.
On a side note, I dated one of Geoffrey Lewis's daughters for about a year and she was smart, hilarious, and eager to please. Kinda miss her.

 

[jake_fink]

So-so flick. Warren Oates and Ben Johnson at their peaks (two of the Great Ones in my book). But woefully miscast, hammy Richard Dreyfuss clogs up the drain.

Thank-you for reintroducing me to my guilt.

 

[nightandthecity]

Forget that guilt again, it's a great film. One of my favourite "modern" (i.e. post 1960) gangster films. Not that its about gangsters, Dillinger and his peers were very adamant that they weren't gangsters but bandits.

As history it's a real mixed bag - at times its startling in its accuracy, other times its Hollywood mythmaking at its imaginative worst. But Warren Oates is superb: he actually looks a lot like Dillinger and captures his character very well.

On the other hand.....Purvis is brilliantly acted but the character bears no relationship whatsover to the real man. For the real Purvis (and Hoover) I recommend "Public Enemies" by Bryan Burroughs, an excellent recent history of the early 30s motor bandits and the formation of the FBI.

But whatever its faults its a fast paced, gripping action film and a top Saturday-night-in treat. Full of great clothes as well.....

 

[Clyde R.]

I'm torn on this one. Love it for the reasons jake mentioned, but agree it's not the greatest flick ever made for the reasons mud mentioned. Good action flick, though. The clothes and cars and such are pretty cool, too.

One of the classic books on the period was John Toland's "The Dillinger Days." I haven't read "Public Enemies" by Burroughs but I'll look for it. I read a paperback about the early 30s gangsters when I was a kid called, "The Bad Ones." I forget who wrote it. Neat book that I read unitl it was dog eared(one of two my Dad had in Vietnam, the other being "The Dirty Dozen" by E.M. Nathanson.)

Like feraud said, another good flick was Waldo Pepper...that WOULD make a good double feature at least

 

[nick1909]

Toland's book was a pretty good read. I have read six or more books on Dillinger and they all disagree on varying points.
But anyhow, The Dillinger family pronounced the name with a hard G. It was the press who softened it.
I am a Dillinger fanatic and have visited the "escape-proof" jail in Crown Point many times.
I would love to see a new Dillinger movie, closer to the facts. It was such an interesting story, there's no need to jazz it up for more interest.
(And yes, I admit I am one of the ones who really doubts that was Johnnie D. who was shot down outside the Biograph Theater!)