Dillinger (1945) User Reviews

Fast-Moving, With A Real Thug Playing A Famous Thug!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 31 March 2006]

This movie has several big things going for it: its short, fast-moving and just plain entertaining. How much more do you want? Also, Lawrence Tierney was made for gangster/film noir movies. He looks the part, acts the part, and was a thug in real life, too. Who better than to portray famous criminal John Dillinger as a cold-blooded killer?

This was Tierney's starring debut and it was a good vehicle for him. I also enjoyed Edmund Lowe as the gang boss prior to Tierney taking over. I enjoyed the supporting cast, too: Anne Jeffreys, Elisha Cook Jr., Eduardo Cianelli and Marc Lawrence. All of them add to this film.

I was glad they concentrated on the crime part of the film and didn't go crazy with a sappy romance. However, I am sorry Jeffreys wasn't on screen more often. She had the '40s look, if I ever saw it.

Excellent Poverty Row Gangster Flick!

[bsmith5552 · 7/10 · 6 July 2005]

"Dillinger" was made by poverty row studio Monogram Pictures as a "B" picture programmer however, it turned out to be much better than everyone had anticipated. Although it takes liberties with actual facts, it is nonetheless a dark and brooding little film noire.

The producers lucked in when Lawrence Tierney was cast in the lead role. He plays John Dillinger as a cold blooded non-repentant killer. The real Dillinger was apparently nothing like Tierney's interpretation but was more of a Robin Hood type character who was only a bank robber and not the cold blooded killer depicted in this film.

The story follows Dillinger from a small time hood to his first prison term where he meets future members of his gang. Specs Green (Edmund Lowe) is the planner and three of the most recognizable faces in gangster pictures round out the gang. First there is Marco (Eduardo Ciannelli), then Doc (Marc Lawrence) and finally Kirk Otto (Elisha Cook Jr.).

Along the way Dillinger meets his "femme fatale", Helen Rogers (Anne Jeffreys). After Dillinger springs the gang from prison they go on a bank robbing spree. Dillinger takes over the gang from Specs and runs things his way. Eventually the gang members are either caught or killed and Dillinger goes to hide out in Chicago. After several months in hiding he and Helen go to a movie at the Biograph theater. Helen is dressed in red and well you know the rest.

Tierney should have risen to major stardom after this film but due to his personal problems, he never really did. He reportedly had a hair trigger temper and often got into bar room brawls, Naturally producers began to shy away from. His career is not unlike another actor who almost made it, Tom Neal.

After starring roles in a few films, notably "Born To Kill" (1947), he drifted into smaller and smaller roles. He did find work well into the 1990s but never did achieve stardom. But his work in this film is what has elevated it to the cult status it enjoys today. The gunning down of the elderly Ottos (Elsa Janssen, Ludwig Stessel) and the maiming of a bar waiter are particularly chilling.

Edmund Lowe had been a star in silent films. By this time his career was winding down. Ciannelli, Lawrence and Cook were staples in gangster roles for decades thereafter.

John Milius who made the 1973 "Dillinger" (closer to the facts) provides some interesting insights and commentary on the DVD release.

A shooting star is born...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 2 May 2020]

... and by that I mean Lawrence Tierney. He is the reason to watch this film. Without him this would be a 5/10 star crime drama that is short on facts and, quite frankly, also short on chills and thrills. With Tierney in the lead you get to see him change along with his character John Dillinger. What an interesting presence he is.

Tierney was a supporting player at RKO at the time, barely noticed in his first couple of years there. The leading role here was supposed to go to Chester Morris, but somebody insisted that Tierney would be good for the role, plus they could get him on the cheap. At poverty row Monogram it was all about economy.

And so in this film you see Dillinger evolve from somebody who wanted to be a broker - in the roaring 20s who wouldn't - to somebody who screws up his first armed robbery in which the weapon is - well - his arm! He is impressed by the big time bank robber who is his prison cell mate for said robbery., busts his cell mate and his gang out of jail once released, and then his viciousness grows with his ambition.

The woman who turns out to be the "lady in red" is his long time companion, actually one of his first stick up victims once he gets out of jail. In fact, Dillinger was far from a one woman man, but her role is needed here. Because you see her grow from fascinated to cold and distant as Dillinger grows more wanton in his blood lust.

As for Lawrence Tierney, this is the only time in any film he's starred in that I've seen where he starts out smiling - sincerely even! - and then develops that "Born To Kill" intimidating stance and visage of his later roles all in about 90 minutes.

Best small scene: Dillinger has just performed a particularly vicious act, in the middle of the night, no witnesses. His girlfriend comes halfway downstairs, witnesses his handiwork, throws a disapproving glance Dillinger's way, and then swirls around back upstairs to her bed. She is dressed in this sexy negligee that reveals nothing and in fact could double as a wedding dress if adjusted a bit. The fact that they are sleeping miles apart along with that glance says more than any dialogue could. The production code did lead to some filmmaking ingenuity in some cases, and this was one of them.

If you ever get hold of the old Warner Brothers DVD of this film, it is worth a second watch for the commentary by John Milius who wrote and directed the 1973 version of Dillinger. Not only does he tell you where this film actually parallels Dillinger's actual life, but he points out how Monogram managed to shoot this film on a shoe string and not have it appear so. He points out where stock footage is used, where sets are redressed and reused, and points out how the intro with Dillinger's father bizarrely appearing in a movie theatre to tell his son's story is a quick and cheap way to get the character's background out there without actually having to film it!

Tough crime drama that benefits from a tight running time

[bob the moo · 4 January 2002]

When Dillinger is sent to prison as a young man for a small scale robbery he winds up sharing a cell with Specs. Specs introduces Dillinger to his gang and he joins them. On his release Dillinger breaks the gang out of jail and they set out on a spree of well planned robberies. With tensions rising between the clinical Specs and the violent risk-taking Dillinger the mood in the gang become tense. Dillinger eventually takes over the gang leading them into increasingly dangerous jobs risking capture and death.

One of the many filmed versions of this gangster's life and death. It may also be one of the shortest, but by having a tight basic plot and good script it doesn't feel too short. The story is stripped down to key moments and events in Dillinger's life as told by his father, however this makes the film more urgent and tense compared to more rambling versions. However I suppose as a life story that's not really what you want, but here it works because it's a crime thriller rather than a biopic.

Lawrence Tierney was a bit of a hellraiser in his day and he brings a menacing streak to the role. Of those who don't watch films made before 1990 it may be a surprise to realise that this young man is the same as played Joe in Reservoir Dogs. The whole gang gives strong support especially Edmund Lowe as the harassed Specs, it's also always good to see Elisha Cook Jr, here playing Kirk.

Overall a taught little crime thriller that benefits from a tough cast and a short tense running time.

The meanest eyes in Hollywood.

[Ham_and_Egger · 7/10 · 27 November 2005]

*** Slight spoiler in fourth paragraph. *** A poverty-row gangster flick that, for much of its 70 minutes, rivals the best Warner Bros. had to offer. The movie plays fast and loose with history, mixing fact and fiction at will, but almost to be expected when dealing with Dillinger and at least this film doesn't masquerade as a documentary like so much of the infotainment on TV these days.

Blessed with matinée idol's looks and an ex-con's temperament Lawrence Tierney was the perfect actor to play Dillinger. I'd seen a couple of his other, lesser, films before checking this one out and I honestly didn't think much of him as an actor. He has screen presence and shoots a furious glance like nobody's business, but beyond that he'd always seemed limited to me. In Dillinger he proved me wrong, obviously his swagger was just right for the character, but he really does give a superb performance. At times he brings to mind James Cagney as Cody Jarrett in White Heat (which wouldn't be made until 1949).

The rest of the cast is good as well, it's tempting to call the familiar Elisha Cook, Jr. the stand-out but really the members of the gang all fill their roles admirably. Anne Jeffreys plays Dillinger's fictional moll Helen Rogers, unfortunately her character is really just a sketch. If this had been an "A picture" she surely would have gotten more screen-time.

*** Spoiler? *** Is it really a spoiler to say that John Dillinger was shot to death by FBI agents in an alley behind Chicago's Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934? I found the end quite disappointing, it builds to a false climax and then maunders for about ten minutes before unceremoniously disposing of the "hero" at the correct time and place. Of course just about everyone knows it's coming, but in my opinion the editor could have added a little more tension. I suppose in '45 they were still worried about glamourizing Dillinger, but these qualms didn't seem to slow them throughout the rest of the picture.

All in all, a tremendous B-movie that hints at what Lawrence Tierney could have been if his many mis-steps hadn't gotten in the way.

Tierney's the Man

[telegonus · 7/10 · 4 November 2001]

There are tough guys and there are tough guys, but Brooklyn-born Lawrence Tierney was the real deal off and on screen. His casting in the 1945 Dillinger was fortuitous, as the film was the sleeper of the year, and made Tierney briefly an overnight star. He soon became Hollywood's bad boy, getting into scrapes with the law and in general raising hell, which doubtless explains his relatively brief starring career. In Dillinger he is excellent in the lead role, and while he does not much resemble the real Dillinger he is right for the movie. His face and especially eyes, tough and sad at the same time, make him perfect casting whatever his other deficiencies. There is some pretty outdoor photography in the film, which is at times rather arty, but successfully so. The acting is generally quite good, and the mood offbeat and foreboding, and quite different from the typical gangster picture from the thirties. It started a new trend in more realistic, psychological, less city-bound crime pictures with 'dangerous' leading characters, such as the Walsh-Cagney White Heat.

From street punk to Public Enemy #1.

[michaelRokeefe · 6/10 · 9 August 2002]

Low budget, high quality B-film depicting the life of gangster John Dillinger. Seventy minutes of beautiful black & white action. For entertainment's sake I'm certain there is latitude given in the telling. Lawrence Tierney early in his career gives the performance for which he is most remembered...Public Enemy Number One. Rounding out the cast of this little gem are:Anne Jeffreys, Edmund Lowe and Elisha Cook Jr. Kudos to Dimitri Tiomkin for original music.

Note:In real life Tierney would be arrested more times than Dillinger.

Dillinger (1945) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 11 February 2006]

Although it would have been much more appropriate as part of a subsequent Gangster DVD Collection from Warners (rather than the Film Noir in which it was included), DILLINGER is a solid B flick buoyed by a fast pace, a bevy of familiar character actors (Edmund Lowe, Eduardo Cianelli, Marc Lawrence, Elisha Cook Jr.) and a terrific turn by Lawrence Tierney in the title role. Although John Milius' 1973 remake is much more factual and despite an over-reliance on stock footage from bigger-budgeted films - like Fritz Lang's YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (1937) - the film is also notable for an unusual narrative structure for this type of film in that the events are "told" to a theater audience by John Dillinger's father as a warning against the perils of living life on the wrong side of the tracks! This film also proved to be Monogram's most prestigious production as Philip Yordan received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay!

Terrific

[ftm68_99 · 8/10 · 18 January 2004]

I continue to be amazed at the ratings some movies get here. I just saw this snappy little movie and thought sure it would get a higher rating that 6.3. I agree with the another viewer's description of it being a "lean, mean, cheapo." A cheapo yes, but one where not a penny is spent on extraneous scenes. A nice antidote to higher-budgeted (and more highly rated) movies where we're made to spend hours watching actors doing virtually nothing in never-ending, story-killing close-ups. I'd watch this one again in a heartbeat.

Remember me?

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 23 September 2008]

John Dillinger (Lawrence Tierney) was an Indiana farm boy who had a thirst for cash, once realising where the cash was, Dillinger rose to become the 1930s public enemy number 1. This portrayal of a man who not only terrified the public, but also captivated them wholesale, benefits from an excellent screenplay courtesy of Philip Yordan. The picture's strength is not in purely aiming for entertainment values in guns and robbery rampage, it begs the questions of what made Dillinger the man he was? Was it an early stint in the big house that marked his life out for him? was his unison with Specs Green merely igniting a murderous rage within? or was Dillinger just a greedy bastard who was rotten to the core?

Running at only 70 minutes, and filmed on a "B" movie budget, Dillinger comes out as something of a triumph within the gangster genre. Posing questions and providing moments of genuine unease, it may just be one of the best gangster films that does not starg Cagney, Bogart or Eddy G. Stirring stuff, from a vengeful return to a bar, to the ripper of a finale, Dillinger is to me holding up considerably well in this day and age of pictures over killing violence for violence sake. 7/10

The Baddest Bandit Of The Twentieth Century

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 20 February 2012]

It's too bad that the first film tribute to the baddest bandit of the last century was done by Poverty Row Monogram Pictures. And while Lawrence Tierney is certainly brutal enough to portray that aspect of John Dillinger's personality, the charm that was also part of Dillinger was left out. It's possible a good deal was left on the cutting room floor of Monogram.

Both Johnny Depp's Public Enemies and even more so the film Dillinger that starred Warren Oates in the title role were far closer to the truth than this was. To be sure Dillinger's legendary escape from an Indiana jail with a fake wooden gun and the matter of his demise were included if not completely accurately. You couldn't have a film about Dillinger without them.

No deep psychological insights into John Dillinger here. He was just a mean anti-social individual who took to a life of crime. In most other times he would have not been glamorized. But this was The Great Depression and bankers were not popular back in those days. They were foreclosing left and right and when they weren't doing that they were failing, robbing people of life savings. So if Dillinger and his kind were taking out withdrawals their way, who really cared?

Dillinger while in prison for a two bit convenience store stickup meets up with old time bank robber Edmund Lowe and the rest of the gang which consists of Eduardo Ciannelli, Elisha Cook, and Marc Lawrence. Tierney as Dillinger bust them out of the joint after he's finished his sentence and takes over the mob from Lowe. He also meets up with Anne Jeffreys who becomes the infamous lady in red.

Certainly Depp and Oates got more out of the Dillinger role than Tierney did. But what Tierney got was a career and in a limited way he did capture part of the Dillinger mystique. Sad this film was not done at a major studio though.

Fantastic, bare-knuckled trip through the lives and times of John Dillinger with a menacing and compelling Laurence Tierney!

[jem132 · 8/10 · 23 February 2008]

This solid, efficient, very low-budgeted little film deserves to be as well-known as other 1940's "Poverty Row" films such as Ulmer's DETOUR. In fact, it's much better than DETOUR- the King Brothers sense of narrative economy and relentless, fast-paced storytelling make this a compelling ride throughout, while Ulmer's film only really gets interesting once Ann Savage shows up.

Tierney is fascinating, frightening and utterly dominating as Dillinger, and he barely even has to raise his voice to do so. Debates still rage over whether or not the real John Dillinger was a Robin Hood style thief or a vicious killer. Tierney plays more towards the vicious killer angle, though his eyes are both suspicious and strangely sad.

The film, made for Monogram, was very low budget and it shows. However, this benefits a film like DILLINGER. Set in the Depression and with much of the sequences filmed on location, the film seems to breathe authenticity even if it does take a few liberties with the Dillinger story. The atmosphere Nosseck conveys is dark, foreboding and very noirish.

The film is very well-cast, with such unforgettable tough guys like Cianelli and the not-so-tough Elisa Cook Jr filling out the supporting slots. Anne Jeffreys does very well as Dillinger's gun moll and I was pleased that Nosseck's film didn't take the "Hollywood" route and turn events into a love story. The most memorable supporting player, however, is Edmund Lowe as Specs Green. Lowe, a veteran of many films, gets one of his best roles here.

I also enjoyed how Nosseck (because, I suppose, due to the Hayes Production Code, but he also cuts away when he has the opportunity to show more violence) cuts away from some of Tierney's most violent acts, such as glassing a waiter and killing a double-crossing gang member with an axe. This narrative efficiency (rather than have a prolonged scene of a man screaming in agony he cuts away, then back again) and sense of letting the audience think for themselves is seldom seen in today's graphic, blood-and-guts cinema. It's a pity more film-makers don't look towards this film and the King Brothers later brilliant effort GUN CRAZY (one of the seminal pictures of the 1940's) for lessons on how to make a tough, raw crime pic with very little fuss and a hell of a lot of bite.

Inaccurate and clumsy, yes, but entertaining

[bullterrier100 · 7/10 · 22 July 2005]

I was aware of Tierney from Reservoir Dogs and "Seinfeld", but not his early career until I saw Dillinger and Born to Kill. He is one of the great, largely unrediscovered actors of postwar, tough guy films -- with a fascinating way of switching from menacing psycho to hurt little boy and back again, all within seconds. Hopefully, more of his movies will be released on DVD.

In Dillinger, when Tierney first meets Anne Jeffreys, the clock in back of her box office booth clearly says Gruen (the manufacturer) on its face. But when Tierney goes in to see the movie, there's a dissolve to what is obviously supposed to be the same clock, indicating passage of time. In the second clock shot,however, there is no Gruen label.

The movie makes a point of telling us most of the action takes place in the Midwest, specifically Indiana -- with the help of at least four newspaper mockups: the Indiana Journal, the Evansville Courier, the Indianapolis World and the South Bend Daily Press. But when a "be-on-the-lookout", all-points bulletin is issued for Dillinger, a montage of the dragnet features a city map clearly labeled as Los Angeles and showing the Southern Calfornia cities of Inglewood and El Segundo.

Check out Anne Jeffreys going into the Biograph with Tierney near the end. Shot from the rear, the only word to describe her is 'steatopygous'.

Horrible horrible horrible!!!

[kittyvista · 3/10 · 3 January 2021]

When I chose this movie to watch, I wasn't expecting anything noteworthy. But this was beyond the pale horrific in its inaccuracies and flat out goofiness. As an Indiana native who is very familiar with all of the locations Dillinger trolled, I found it off-putting to see the prison in Michigan City surrounded by mountains and scrub pines! Tierney's depiction of Dillinger as a totally psychopathic murderer was also not close to accurate - those who remember the real Dillinger say that he was pretty affable, and he actually had a good sense of humor (remember, this was the guy who wrote a fan letter to Henry Ford saying that of all the getaway cars he stole, he preferred Fords.) There was no attempt to create any 1920s atmosphere - even the train robbery scene showed a diesel engine pulling streamliner cars, something that wasn't part of the landscape until well after WWII. The plot was thin, characters even thinner and entertainment value the thinnest of all. This would have been the third show at a drive-in.

"B" Movie That Rivals an "A" Product

[Bucs1960 · 23 December 2003]

This taut little crime noir is worth watching a couple of times. It has a short running time which was typical of "B" films and it packs a lot of action into a little over 60 minutes.

What a cast this film boasts!!......Edmund Lowe, a former screen idol of the silents and early talkies; Marc Lawrence and Eduardo Cianelli who could never shake their bad guy images; the greatest of all character actors, Elisha Cook Jr. whose career spanned in excess of 50 years; and Lawrence Tierney, born to portray a criminal. Tierney, who was a bad boy in real life (which sank his career for many years before he made a comeback in the 1980s)is the epitome of a cold eyed, hardened gangster who lives for today and the hell with tomorrow. Tierney, whose brother Scott Brady was a recurring presence in films of the 50s, will always be recognized for this part alone and it could have shot him to stardom but his personal life got in the way.......too bad. This film is a standout in the realm of "B" movies and is worthy of it's reputation.

Rough-edged drama packs a wallop

[NewEnglandPat · 6/10 · 29 August 2009]

This film biography is an entertaining movie of a total thug who took what he wanted at the point of a gun. Dillinger was indeed a public enemy no. 1 who turned on friend and foe alike to suit his own twisted purposes. The mastermind of assorted criminal activities, Dillinger insisted on being the boss and demanded allegiance from each gang member, using an itchy trigger finger to make his point. The feature has a film noir look, and Anne Jeffreys is just right as a typical femme-fatale of this era. Jeffreys, a perfect clone of Virginia Mayo, is pleasing to the eye but doesn't really have much to do except suffer abuse from Dillinger, but evens the score in her own good time. Tierney is dashing and tragic as Dillinger but is overshadowed by Edmund Lowe's clever underplaying of Specs. Eduardo Ciannelli and Elisha Cook Jr. are also good. Marc Lawrence's natural menacing visage is a big plus but it's Ciannelli who makes the best impression as a grumpy, suspicious gunman.

Fancy a beer?

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 26 October 2016]

Lawrence Tierney plays Dillinger, who was America's Public Enemy Number One for a short while in the 1930s. His crime spree is documented in the film along with his demise.

The film is short and rolls along as a series of events and that is possibly its downfall. If it was a longer film, we may have got more depth in terms of character study and possibly had more time with some of the other characters. As it goes, the film is OK, there are good scenes and Tierney pulls off a menacing portrayal of a threatening gangster, whether it is a true depiction or not.

Films like this make me go onto Wikipedia and read up about the characters – always a great past-time for afterwards.

He was a good boy who just got in with the wrong crowd

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 22 February 2016]

****SPOILERS**** With the movie over and lights on and curtain coming down we see this decrypted and grizzly looking old man step on the stage to give us the in-side info about the movie "Dillinger" that we just witnessed. The old guy turns out to be Pa Dillinger, Victor Kilon, the father of the person the movie is all about gangster John Dillinger,Lawrence Tierney, who gives us the audience the true story about his son John the most wanted man, by the police, in America in the mid-1930's who's still a legend in the world of crime today.

A bit overdone in Dillinger murdering a number of people, in real life he only killed one, but still very accurate film about his exploits in crime committed with his forming the "Dillinger Gang" that terrorized the mid-west from 1933-34 robbing about a dozen banks as well as, I kid you not, two police stations. That's until it, the crime spree, finally came to an end in urban Chicago with Dillinger, the last surviving gang member, shot down by the FBI and local police leaving the Biograph Theater after watching the movie "Manhattan Melodrama". It turned out that the woman he took out for his last date the "Woman in Red", Ann Jeffrey, was the one who set Dillinger up for the kill.

Were shown Dillinger's career in crime as a young man who first gets busted for a $7.20 stick up of a grocery store who later became involved with his cell mate Specs Green, Edmund Lowe, to form the notorious Spec Gang that terrorized mid-west banks and brokerage houses at the height of the great depression. Feeling that Spec is not tough enough like he is Dillinger later took over the gang-After dispatching Spec- and did things or robberies his way. Caught and later after escaping from prison with a hand made wooden gun Dillinger continued his reign of terror until the law caught up with him in Chicago where he was on the lamb from the law for some 10 months. And ironical it was Dillingers only weakness,a beautiful woman, that in the end ended up doing him.

P.S According to the movie the only thing of value besides his .380 automatic the FBI & police found on the dead John John Dillinger was the $7.20 that he still had, as a memento I guess, in his pocket from his first robbery.

Lawrence Tierney.

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 8 November 2013]

Max Nosseck directed this biographical tale of the rise and fall of real-life criminal John Dillinger, here played by Lawrence Tierney as a ruthless and menacing man who isn't afraid of anyone or anything. He is sent to jail for armed robbery where he befriends gangster Specs Green(played by Edmund Lowe) and his associates(played by Marc Lawrence, Elisha Cook, and Eduardo Ciannelli) He later leads a prison breakout with a wooden gun, then becomes part of the gang, eventually taking it over, though this later leads to lethal consequences for Dillinger when he takes his girlfriend Helen(played by Anne Jeffreys) to a movie theater where the police are waiting... Good film may take some liberties with the facts but has solid acting and crisp direction.

box office melodrama

[RanchoTuVu · 9/10 · 30 March 2006]

A brief and pointed bio pic on a tight budget, which dictated a fast and efficient manner, but from a director who knew how to organize the story in an intriguing way where we see Dillinger (Lawrence Tierney) and his gang (Elisha Cook Jr. and Edmund Lowe, among others) both on the job robbing banks (above average scenes) and hiding out (way above average) thanks to the screenplay that captures the internal tension of a group constantly on the run. It's a stellar 40's version of a 30's gangster film, with double crossing and cheating lurking behind a lot of the action, and a couple of very well cast against type characters in Edmund Lowe as Specs and Anne Jeffries as Dillinger's wayward girlfriend.

"I rob banks"

[Ed-Shullivan · 6/10 · 31 March 2023]

In a nutshell John Dillinger was a notorious bank robber and prison escapee. Actor Lawrence Tierney who plays John Dillinger has a stone wall face of a real killer so it was easy to see how Director Max Nosseck chose Tierney to play the real life bank robber and prison escapee. There is one particular scene in which Dillinger (after breaking out of jail for the second time) confronts his old prison cellmate Specs Green (Edmund Lowe) and you can just feel the tension brewing between these two alpha males, both who believe they deserve to lead the other criminals gang in their future criminal exploits.

Of course the film takes some liberties with the real life escapades of bank robber John Dillinger but for the most part we witness the main occurrences through the life and death one of the most notorious bank robbers of the roaring 1920's and 1930's.

I give the film an acceptable 6 out of 10 IMDb rating and it is worth watching to learn a bit about one of J. Edgar Hoover of the newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) most wanted criminals.

Almost completely fictional account of Dillinger's life

[LCShackley · 5/10 · 4 August 2009]

This film bears about as close a relation to the facts of Dillinger's life as Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" did to that other set of outlaws. It's amazing that a film made about a decade after the historical events could play so loosely with the truth, when the audience would no doubt remember the real story.

It's also a cheap production, with re-usable sets, bad rear projections, and the substitution of California scenery for the Midwest of the story. The acting isn't bad, but the script feels more like a set of snapshots being flipped as fast as a deck of cards.

John Milius (who did his own Dillinger pic in the 70s) does a commentary on the DVD, which is interesting, but he's also unsure of many facts in the story. May I recommend the book "Dillinger's Wild Ride" if you'd like a historical, documented account.

true gem B-movie

[winner55 · 9/10 · 15 April 2009]

By no means true t the actual story of famed bank-robber John Dillinger, but may be true to the personality of the man. Tierney plays Dillinger unromantically as an unredeemable sociopath completely obsessed with getting money on his own terms. His depiction of Dillinger's transformation from punk wannabe to actual cold-hearted thug is completely believable. The supporting cast is all tops, especially Lowe and Elisha Cook Jr. in his best bad-guy performance. The cheap sets, integration of stock-footage, location shooting are all surprisingly effective - only some of the back-screen effects are weak. The script is demandingly tight but both the cast and the director are up for it - despite the fact that the story spreads across some 15 years, it moves right along, intent only on depiction of the high-points of its theme. It's an intentional throw-back to the Warner Bros. gangster films of the early thirties, which makes it top-of-the-line of a wave of crime B-mellers in the late '40s (also dominated by Warner Bros., which studio apparently insisted on this film losing the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, and which, with further irony, now owns its rights). And its hard to imagine a film that makes so much use of violence without any graphic depiction of it.

A true gem of American B-movie history.

None

[Pleasehelpmejesus · 7/10 · 13 September 2005]

If anyone knows who played the Black prisoner in the cell next to Tierney's Dillinger and the waiter Dillinger attacks with the beer stein I would appreciate their posting it. Also wanted to note that the only other comment I've seen posted does a good job on this film and mentions Tierney's brother, actor Scott Brady, but doesn't mention his more famous sister, the beautiful Gene Tierney.

I suppose it was his rather prickly personality that prevented Tierney from attaining the legendary status of some of his contemporaries but a look at "Dillinger" will make you wonder what would have been had he had the career his talent and charisma merits.

If anyone plans to watch this on DVD I must say that John Milius' commentary is one of the worst and most superfluous I've ever heard. Not the least reason being that one has to turn the volume way up to hear it and then lower it fast during passages of film dialogue because it's turned up so high for the commentary. It's not a very informative one either. It doesn't even contain the interesting tidbit that the actor who played Mr. Otto (the lodge owner)Ludwig Stossel went on to kitsch fame as The Little Old Wine Maker for Italian Swiss Colony's TV commercials.

Despite this gangster film and film noir fans will really enjoy this one. Tierney's performance really shines and makes up for some scrip lapses and budget shortcuts. Look for the scene in which "Specs" tells him to 'smile'. Perfect.

Glib Attemp, Little based on Reality

[brucewhain · 3/10 · 30 January 2013]

Things like this are usually better if they stick more or less to known facts. In this case it's so garbled that it's difficult to tell exactly what these peoples' intentions were.

Dillinger is a cartoon character with limited social graces and seldom without some inept business or something awkward to say. It would have been nice - and seems to me particularly film-worthy - to include the part about the amazing plastic surgery that enabled him to avoid capture for a while. But then Wikipedia doesn't include that either, sticking strictly to a well known "after" (as opposed to "before") picture, to ensure implementation of their propaganda goals. Ditto this movie as to intentions.

The result is that the requisite gratuitous violence is so implausible it turns into a cartoon, about a mild-mannered guy who goes around shooting a lot of people without explanation. The criminal characters are so gaseous and dull! Except the one mentor guy, but he's not believable either, due to the stilted Affekt of almost every line and directorial detail. Of course all their names have been changed... to protect the guilty, I suppose.

In real life it was not his long-time squeeze but a hooker working for the FBI that finally lured him into the staked out movie theater. It took her about a year as I recall from reading about 10 years ago. The intentions of the present cinematic squeeze are garbled as well in this regard. (To protect the innocent?) And he didn't die in a pile of back ally garbage, but right in the middle of the sidewalk: Great, if your intentions are in the lines of gruesome noirishness.

There's certainly little that's sinister or noirish about it.