Dillinger – 1973
…he was the gangster’s gangster
Director
John Milius

Writer
John Milius

Producers
Samuel Z. Arkoff executive producer
Buzz Feitshans producer
Lawrence Gordon executive producer (as Lawrence A. Gordon)
Robert Papazian associate producer (as Robert A. Papazian)

Cast
Warren Oates – John Dillinger
Ben Johnson – Melvin Purvis
Michelle Phillips – Billie Frechette
Cloris Leachman – Anna Sage
Harry Dean Stanton – Homer Van Meter
Geoffrey Lewis – Harry Pierpont
John P. Ryan – Charles Mackley (as John Ryan)
Richard Dreyfuss – Baby Face Nelson
Steve Kanaly – Pretty Boy Floyd
John Martino – Eddie Martin
Roy Jenson – Samuel Cowley
Read Morgan – Big Jim Wollard
Frank McRae – Reed Youngblood
Bob Harris – Ed Fulton
Terry Leonard – Theodore ‘Handsome Jack’ Klutas
Jerry Summers – Tommy Carroll
David Dorr – Leroy (uncredited)
Catherine Tambini – Leroy’s girl (uncredited)

Review by Theo Robertson

Dillinger (1973)
Inaccurate But Still A Good Movie,
Reputation is a strange thing. Take John Dillinger for example. He was public enemy number one during the fledgling FBI`s war against organized crime gangs. He was a nasty piece of work who committed the murder of a Chicago policeman called O’Malley but that why he wasn’t public enemy number one, he was public enemy number one because he robbed banks, he was a prolific bank robber during an era when banks repossessed homes and businesses at the merest hint of not paying back loans, many hard working honest American citizens found themselves destitute because of the greed of banks in depression hit America.

To many people bank robbers at this time were viewed as Robin Hood types (Even though they weren’t too keen on giving to the poor) and there does seem to be some very slight injustice in John Dillinger being public enemy number one when he was far from being the worst criminal in America. Hell he wasn’t even the worst member of the Dillinger gang.

John Milius bio pic of DILLINGER is fairly inaccurate, for example Melvin Purvis wasn’t as portrayed here middle aged but a fairly young man, but Milius is a first rate director even though he’ll always be remembered for writing the screenplay to APOCALYPSE NOW.

Despite not having a massive budget his shoot out scenes are bloody and brutal and reminded me of the recent Ridley Scott blood fest BLACK HAWK DOWN. He also uses a very striking visual style for exposition featuring a montage of newsreel, stock footage, still photos and newspaper headlines. Milius also casts well by hiring Ben Johnson (Despite being too old for the role), Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton, Geoffrey Lewis and Richard Dreyfuss, all fine character actors in a fine – though rather violent – gangster film