SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Bill Slocum "These few dollars you lose here today, they're gonna buy you stories to tell your children and your great-grandchildren."Thus John Dillinger (Warren Oates) introduces himself to a bank full of cowering citizens and to us the audience. He wants us to know that he's doing a service with this robbery by gracing us with his celebrity.If the rest of the movie was as clever and gripping at its first 90 seconds, "Dillinger" would be remembered today as a first-rate crime movie, instead of a chaotic pit stop by one of the wildest and most singular characters of the auteur era, John Milius. With all it has going for it, you want "Dillinger" to be more than it ever manages to be.Milius loved violence in films. "Dillinger" is a raucous epic of criminal violence inspired by then-recent bad-guy films like "Bonnie And Clyde" and "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid." It's clear from the casting of Oates and of Ben Johnson as Dillinger's nemesis Melvin Purvis that the film he really wanted to make was "The Wild Bunch." It's here "Dillinger" falls apart."Wild Bunch" is a movie about bad men where loyalty and interpersonal relationships dominate until the bloody end. You see them as people running out of options and care about them enough that what happens to them matters. "Dillinger" is in such a hurry to get to the bloodshed that it sidesteps the characterization until it's too late. Dillinger is surrounded by henchmen, but most of them are just there for the stunts and squibs. The only person he has any time for is a woman he assaults until she loves him, Billie Frechette (Michelle Phillips). Watching him holler at her as she screams and cries is exhausting, and pretty much all you get from Milius the scriptwriter in the way of relationship development."He lets himself go too easily," is how one of his more thoughtful henchmen, Pierpont (Geoffrey Lewis), explains it. Whether roughing up Billie or another hood with an even more dangerous reputation than himself, "Baby Face" Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss), Dillinger as played by Oates is all snarling brawn and no brains.The violence here is visceral and energetic, but it doesn't serve much of a purpose. Ultimately, all that Dillinger, and "Dillinger," is about is celebrity. Even Peckinpah didn't work in so nihilistic a vein."I'm already a murderer, so I might as well be famous," declares prisoner Reed Youngblood (Frank McRae) when running off with Dillinger. Later, after Dillinger's fatal date at the Biograph Theater, Milius lingers on a shot of a woman dipping her kerchief on a bloody wall, symbolizing fame of a sort.Johnson does provide a strong presence, even if Milius can't decide whether he's supposed to be a decent man or a glory hound. Perhaps he is a bit of both. Celebrity works both ways in this game. At least with Johnson, you have a character you can understand at some level, who understands the symbolic importance of stopping a famous criminal and pulls you in in his unshowy way. Oates, a great actor, doesn't have himself a great part here, and it shows in the way his characterization meanders from that of a gentleman robber to a vicious killer.Being Milius, you get some good lines amid the carnage. There are also some well-shot scenes of bucolic beauty by Jules Brenner which stand out more for the absence of anything interesting going on. Dillinger buries a comrade and talks about Jesse James; Dillinger and Billie ponder a run to Mexico before returning to his life of crime. A life of sound and fury, signifying nothing, except celebrity, which is in "Dillinger" turns out the biggest nothing of all.

gavin6942 John Dillinger (Warren Oates) and his gang go on a bank robbing spree across the Midwest, but one G-Man (Ben Johnson) is determined to bring him down.Following "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Wild Bunch", American International Pictures wanted their own violent gangster film. Producer Sam Arkoff hired the then-unknown writer John Milius to construct the script. An earlier, very rough version of the script had come in to producer Lawrence Gordon, and Gordon thought Milius – his former assistant -- would be right for the job.A little research and a solid script would make this an excellent story, but those involved went one step better. Retired FBI Agent Clarence O. Hurt (1897-1975), one of the agents involved in the final shootout with Dillinger, was the film's technical adviser. Hurt had a distinguished career in the gangster era, also being one of the men who brought in Alvin "Creepy" Karpis. Interestingly, Hurt's house was burgled during his funeral – the newspapers liked to say this was the underworld's belated revenge.In order to save money (Arkoff was always cutting corners), Milius was also offered the director's chair so that AIP would only have to pay one man rather than two. Gordon says this was his idea, but either way the reason was the same. Milius used John Ford as his inspiration, and if you pay close attention you will see homages to Ford's "My Darling Clementine".The casting of Oates was pure perfection. Although many actors have portrayed John Dillinger before and since, Oates actually resembles the man for the most part. Singer Michelle Phillips as Billie Frechette, Dillinger's girlfriend, came about by an old Hollywood trick: lying. Phillips had told the producers she was half Indian to land her first acting gig.Arkoff wrote in his autobiography of the ways they saved money on this one; besides the use of Milius, AIP was also selling off the cars after the shoot. So any money they may have spent during filming was in some way regained, even before the first frame hit the movie screens! The script's attention to facts is impressive. Sure, there are some liberties with Melvin Purvis, having him personally strike down more gangsters than he did. And the Little Bohemia Lodge has a few more casualties than it should have, not to mention some guests who weren't really there. By and large, the changes are minor and can easily be dismissed as a way to make the story simpler and more exciting. Having one FBI agent as the hero rather than a dozen is easily to plot out. At least the plot was not a complete fabrication like "Bonnie and Clyde" was; and still, that film is the one that gets more credit.Upon release, it was inevitable that "Dillinger" would be compared to other gangster films, especially the identically-named "Dillinger" (1945). Dejan Ognjanovic calls Milius' film "the definitive version of the Dillinger story", and he is right. Ognjanovic also rightly notes that Milius paints his characters as mythical beings, larger than life, though the line between good and evil is often blurry. Carlos Clarens wrote that Milius' version "was considerably more romantic" than the 1945 film, despite the "carefully rigged bullet wounds and spurting blood." If nothing else, "Dillinger" deserves some recognition for its role in history: giving John Milius his directorial debut. AIP, especially through Sam Arkoff and Roger Corman, had given rise to numerous filmmakers from Jonathan Demme to Jack Nicholson to James Cameron. Milius may be lesser-known outside of cinephile circles, but his movies are larger than life: "Apocalypse Now", "Red Dawn" and the under-appreciated "Big Wednesday". Lawrence Gordon's career also took off at this point; his cost-cutting measures landed him a gig at 20th Century Fox, where hewent on to specialize in action films such as "Die Hard" and "Predator".Arrow Video's 2016 blu-ray release gives this film the royal treatment. We have audio commentary by Stephen Prince, the author of "Savage Cinema" and "Screening Violence" (among others), who is an expert on both the violent film genres and gangster history. We also have brand new interviews with producer Lawrence Gordon, director of photography Jules Brenner, and composer Barry De Vorzon. Not enough? There is also a collector s booklet containing new writing by Kim Newman on fictional portrayals of John Dillinger, plus an on-set report containing interviews with writer-director John Milius, illustrated with original production stills.

telegonus The 1973 film version of the (criminal) life of notorious bank robber John Dillinger, not really a remake of the 1945 film of the same title but a re-imagining of its eponymous character's career in crime, is hugely entertaining, featuring a star turn performance from Warren Oates that shows that the actor had major star potential, hampered, sadly, by his short stature, which doesn't really figure in the film as its director, John Milius, manages somehow to make Oates look taller than he was.Allegedly made on the cheap by American-International, it doesn't look cheap to me. It has, in its modest way, a kind of epic sweep, as we see Dillinger and his gang move through the Midwest like a tornado. The supporting roles are mostly played by young, at the time unknown players, one of which, Richard Dreyfuss, strangely well cast as Baby Face Nelson, went on to a starring career. As Dillinger's squeeze, Michelle Phillips is surprisingly effective and very sexy. There's good work, too, from Steve Kanaly and, especially, Harry Dean Stanton, who plays the most likable of the Dillinger gang.A problem I have with the film, and it's a fairly big one, is Ben Johnson's performance as FBI man Melvin Purvis. A former stunt man, Johnson became an accomplished player in western films, had a fine, mellow voice and a pleasing presence. He was not, however, a versatile actor, and this hurts Dillinger, as Johnson has the second biggest part in the film, and director Milius seems to favor him. Johnson looks his age, well past fifty at the time, and doesn't strike me as trim enough to be an FBI man. But if he was otherwise good casting this could be overlooked. Johnson simply lacks the authority, the heroic presence, to be Dillinger's nemesis, especially Dillinger as electrifying played by Warren Oates. Johnson was an actor who could steal scenes from major stars, hold his own with the best of them; and yet when "handed" scene after scene in Dillinger he just doesn't measure up. Worse, he often comes off as smug when what he should really be conveying is confidence, competence at what he does.With better casting in the Purvis role this Dillinger might have been a classic. As it is, it's excellent. The action scenes are done to perfection, nearly choreographed, I suspect, and yet they feel real none the less. There isn't a wasted moment in the film. Indeed, it could have been longer and worked just as well, maybe even better. The characters could have been more fleshed out; and some sections in the film, the one in the gang's Little Bohemia retreat in particular, could, with more time, greatly enhanced this already very well made film. John Milius was on a roll when he made this one, never fulfilled his potential. I wonder what went wrong.

beatlemania909 I just finished Dillinger, not even 10 minutes ago, and have realized that John Milius didn't know what kind of film he wanted to make. At times Dillinger is seen as a rough cruel crook, then he changes into a loving and respected hero. Warren Oates plays the title role, while Ben Johnson plays Purvis, the man searching for Dillinger. These men portray the characters well, but my God were they old! Dillinger and Purvis were both 31 in this time period, while Johnson was 55 and Oates was 45, I would have cast some younger actors since the characters looked strange being so old. I will give it to Milius, the action sequences are absolutely amazing. His directing is perfect, his screenplay, not so much. The characters seem forced at times, and the dialogue didn't keep me interested for long. It's worth a watch, but I think I'm going to return my copy and pick up Apocalypse Now instead.