The American Myth was built on outlaws. We love our anti-heroes. Think of the Wild West and folks like Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Butch Cassidy. Or gangsters like Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel. In the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, some outlaws became folk heroes. Everybody was suffering. Hard times were everywhere.
Buy Dillinger (1973) Blu-rayBanks were foreclosing on average people’s houses. They showed no mercy. Men (and some women) who dared to rob the banks weren’t seen so much as villains but as people who dared to push back. Outlaws like Pretty Boy Floyd were said to burn up mortgage notes while they were robbing the banks, releasing their holders from having to pay the bank. To many, this made him a hero. Even bank robbers like John Dillinger, who were just out for themselves, were beloved for helping to bring down a corrupt system.
Maybe I’m overstating things a bit. To many, these criminals, robbers, and outlaws weren’t heroes, but their exploits sure were followed. The newspapers helped build their myths, making them some of the most famous people in the world.
In 1972, John Milius was one of the most sought-after screenwriters in Hollywood. His scripts for Jeremiah Johnson, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, and Magnum Force had helped turned those films into blockbusters. But he wasn’t happy with the way those films had turned out. He wanted to direct.
He turned to American International Pictures with a proposal: he’d write them a script for a fraction of what he usually charged if they’d let him direct it. They agreed, but told him he had to direct one of three films – Blacula; Black Mama, White Mama; or some kind of gangster movie. He chose the gangster film and immediately started working on Dillinger.
He hired Warren Oates to play Dillinger, and as it turns out, the actor rather looks like the real-life gangster. His script focuses on the myth rather than going for any sort of historical accuracy. It has no interest in understanding who the real Dillinger was. This is no origin story.
It begins with Dillinger robbing a bank. He’s already famous and likes it. We see him proudly tell the bank tellers and customers that he’s John Dillinger. He smiles when he says this day will be a story they can tell their grandchildren. Later, we’ll find him at a bar talking to Billie Frechette (Michelle Phllips). When she doesn’t recognize him, he robs the place just to show off.
His exploits catch the eye of FBI man Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson), who vows to catch Dillinger, as well as fellow gangsters Pretty Boy Foyd (Steve Kanaly), Homer Van Meter (Harry Dean Stanton), Baby Face Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss), and a host of others.
The film will move back and forth between Dillinger’s exploits and Purvis trying to catch him. There are several bank robberies, the infamous breakout from an Indiana jail with a wooden gun, and lots and lots of shootouts (one reviewer on Letterboxd joked that they probably spent more money on squibs in this movie than Dillinger ever stole). Purvis will one by one catch and kill all of his “rats” ending with Dillinger in an alley outside a Chicago movie theater.
Clearly inspired by the success of Bonnie and Clyde six years earlier, Dillinger isn’t nearly as stylish or iconic as that film, but it still has its charms. Oates is terrific as Dillinger, a young Richard Dreyfuss is a lot of fun to watch as Baby Face Nelson, and Harry Dean Stanton gets one of the great deaths in gangster cinema history. Ben Johnson plays Purvis like a man
Filmed on a limited budget, Milius does what he can to make the most of it. The shootouts are mostly exciting, and he really is shooting the legend of John Dillinger, not the facts. Sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
MGM presents Dillinger with the same 1080p transfer from the 2016 Arrow Video release. It was scanned in 2K from the original 35mm interpositive. Extras include the film’s trailer and a few behind-the-scenes photos.
