There were so many famed outlaws during the early 30s that I chose to do another one. My choice is John Dillinger, and the movie is Michael Mann’s Public Enemies. It originated as a book by journalist Bryan Burrough’s Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI. It encompassed all the great criminals and Burroughs hoped to see it turned into a dramatic miniseries. After a few twists and turns, however, it became a theatrical film with a singular focus on John Dillinger.
John
Dillinger grew into a troublesome youth in Mooresville, Indiana and committed a
robbery. He was sentenced to a surprisingly harsh sentence of ten to twenty
years in prison. Instead of turning him straight, his incarceration hardened
him and kept him around experienced criminals who taught him all sorts of
things. When he came out, he developed into the infamous bank robber. Like
Bonnie and Clyde, he received exaggerated press and some romanticizing, but
even professional historians and journalists note that he had his good
qualities. This made him a good subject for Michael Mann, who specializes in
showing the good and bad sides of cops and criminals alike.
Most of what’s in Public Enemies is true, but jumbled around chronologically for narrative purposes. For example, the Sioux Falls Robbery combines elements of three of Dillinger’s crimes, with Dillinger’s wounding and the incident of a teen jumping onto the back of one of the robbers before being thrown off through a window. In another example, the Little Bohemia hideout and shooting actually occurred after, not before, the arrest of Dillinger’s girlfriend Billy Frechette (Marion Cotillard, more on her later). Furthermore, Baby Face Nelson, while present, made his escape and would actually die four months later than Dillinger on November 27, 1934. While the chronology is mixed, Mann did go to a lot of trouble to shoot on real sites and even had some locations altered to look more like they did back in the 30's.
The
movie only covers the last year or so of Dillinger’s career, including his famous incredible yet true escape from prison in Crown Point, Indiana. (he used a fake wooden gun to intimidate the guards). He’s never been
more notorious, but at the same time his associates are gradually killed off,
leading to his own famous death in Chicago. Played by Johnny Depp, this version
is truer to history, if more attractive (there is one mug shot of Dillinger
that does, thanks to the angle and facial hair, bears an uncanny resemblance to Johnny Depp). While previous on-screen
presentations of the outlaw veered into bullet-spewing mania, Dillinger may
have only ever killed one person, a cop in a shootout. Ironically, in a movie
that almost turns him into an anti-hero, he still kills more people than he did
in real life, clearly gunning down a prison guard in the opening scene.
John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) dons a mustache and hat for a disguise in Chicago during his last days. Dillinger actually had plastic surgery done on his face with the intention of evading the authorities further until presumably he could make his final big heist and escape.
Dillinger
was known for his meticulously developed system of robbing banks, where he and
his gang would quickly pull out their guns, get the cash and grab a couple of hostages,
and escape in their car, often before the police arrived. This was not only an
efficient way to rob a bank, but it cut down on wounds and killings (though employees were always threated with such to get them to move and behave). Dillinger
is also accurately shown offering his coat to a female hostage. Like quite a
few other outlaws, he refused to rob bystanders and bank customers, only going
for what the bank held in their vaults. Little chivalrous moments like these
are the reason he gained the sympathy and even support of newspaper readers
around America.
Historically,
Dillinger had several girlfriends, sought after thanks to his notoriety and bad
boy image, but the one who made the deepest impression on him as Billy
Frechette. A Menominee Indian (with French ancestry thrown in as well), she was
one of many young women who hooked up with an outlaw because “he was so nice to
me” and gifted a ton of jewelry. Unlike Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde, however,
she never participated but once in any of Dillinger’s crimes. The movie
accurately shows her being arrested right in view of Dillinger in St. Paul,
Minnesota. Dillinger’s emotional reaction is not a Hollywood invention. In
fact, the arrest of Frechette is said to have been the only event to
emotionally rattle the hardened outlaw.
John Dillinger makes a move on Billy Frechette (Marion Cotillard)
While
Mann chose to turn Dillinger into the main character, three other notable
criminals also appear. First is Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum) in a cameo
where he is finally tracked down and killed. Ironically he was actually killed
months after Dillinger, but is bumped off in the introductory scene for Mel
Purvis (Christian Bale). Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi), a creepy lead member of the terrifying
Barker-Karpis Gang, also cameos for one scene where he recommends a lawyer to
Dillinger. We get a more historically accurate Frank Nitti too (Bill Camp), representing organized crime's uncertain view of the traveling robbers. Because people like Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde often evaded capture by crossing over to another state, the federal government began to allow organizations like the FBI to engage in interstate activities. This not only made it easier to catch the outlaws, it also affected organized crime's interstate operations.
We
do get quite a bit of Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham in one of his many
gangster roles), who also outlived Dillinger in real life. Baby Face Nelson
teamed up with Dillinger and immediately caused problems, as shown in the
movie. Whereas Dillinger was methodical and liked to cut down on gun violence,
Nelson would often start his robberies firing off his machine gun. This
naturally led to some tension and the two would part ways following the Little
Bohemia shootout. Whereas he’s killed in the shootout in the movie, Nelson
would live on a little longer to become Public Enemy #1.
Jason Clarke plays John "Red" Hamilton, one of Dillinger's most faithful associates. Hamilton was actually missing two fingers, not from one of his bank robberies, but a sledding accident as a kid. All fingers are intact in the movie.
The
Public Enemy designation was an invention of J. Edgar Hoover, played here by
Billy Crudup as an ambitious, glory-seeking member of the newly formed FBI. The
Public Enemies was a list of the top criminals. The higher up the list a
criminal was, the more important it was to take him down. While a major
supporting player, Hoover is not the main antagonist for Dillinger. Rather it’s
Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale). Unlike other law characters in some other
Michael Mann projects, he doesn’t share main character status and is more of a hero antagonist. His historical
role in fighting crime is exaggerated, with him involved in taking down
multiple major gangsters when he was only observing or not even present. His
character puts on a stoic, professional front, but you can tell he’s not
pleased with some of the excessive tactics, including torture, the FBI uses to
catch the most dangerous criminals. Actually, my favorite law character is the
Texan Charles Winstead (Stephen Lang). He’s an experienced old hand who points
out flaws in the FBI’s plans and also shows some surprising sympathy for
Dillinger and Billie Frechette later in the film.
This
movie hits a lot of sweet spots for me, but it does have its flaws. The FBI
characters could use more development and Purvis in particular feels bland
compared to Dillinger. I can’t be sure, but I think Michael Mann was trying to
show how the FBI, along with other future agencies, would become as morally
murky as Dillinger with their willingness to use violence and abuse citizens if
it got the job done. If this is the message, it could have been clearer. On the
more technical side, the sound mix is not good. Mann tried to use more natural
sound and thus stuck microphones further away from the actors to capture
ambient sound. As a result the actors’ voices sound diminished in many scenes.
I guess one way to describe it is when you just wake up and turn on your TV,
and the volume is low. The effect on the story is to undercut the emotional
depth of certain moments.
Public Enemies is a film I
really like, but its flaws do hold its rating down a fair bit. Mann is great at
presenting complex criminals and Dillinger fits the bill perfectly. What really
helps the film is its last ten minutes, when Dillinger literally watched a
gangster movie where Clark Gable said that dying fast is far better than
rotting in prison. Then Dillinger himself took Gable’s advice.
Rating:
7/10
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