Tagged: Dillinger (1973)
Dillinger (1973): Ben Johnson’s Indigo Chalkstripe Suit as Melvin Purvis
Ben Johnson as Melvin Purvis in Dillinger (1973)
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Ben Johnson as Melvin Purvis, experienced federal agent
Northern Illinois, Winter 1933
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Depression-era desperado roundup of 1934 which eventually took down the likes of John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and “Baby Face” Nelson began in the last days of 1933 when a 24-man strike force of federal agents and local police surrounded the rented cottage where “Tri-State Terror” Wilbur Underhill was spending his honeymoon with his new bride Hazel Jarrett Hudson… as well as his partner-in-crime Ralph Roe and his girlfriend Eva May Nichols. The subsequent gunfight resulted in one of the women’s deaths and Underhill mortally wounded.
Despite the title character’s removal from these events, John Milius’ 1973 directorial debut Dillinger gets these general circumstances correct, though it relocates the action from outside Shawnee, Oklahoma to “northern Illinois” and places rising FBI star Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson) onsite to single-handedly lead the counterattack against Underhill, silently portrayed by Dillinger‘s cinematographer Jules Brenner. Continue reading
Dillinger (1973): Geoffrey Lewis’ Striped Suit as Harry Pierpont
Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont in Dillinger (1973)
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Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont, even-tempered bank robber
Across the Midwest, Fall 1933 to Spring 1934
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Today would have been the 90th birthday of character actor Geoffrey Lewis, born July 31, 1935. A familiar face across decades of movies and television, Lewis had one of his earliest prominent screen roles among the supporting cast of John Milius’ bullet-riddled 1973 directorial debut Dillinger, chronicling the life and crimes of the titular Depression-era bank robber.
Lewis co-starred as Harry Pierpont, a real-life associate of Dillinger’s known for his loyalty, cool head, and quiet leadership within the gang. Born in Muncie in 1902, the real “Pete” Pierpont first made a name for himself with Indiana law enforcement during the early 1920s through a spree of escalating crimes and bank heists. He was eventually captured and sentenced to both the Indiana State Reformatory and Indiana State Prison, where he crossed paths with a younger inmate named John Dillinger, then serving a 10–20 year stretch for mugging a grocer. Pierpont took the eager Dillinger under his wing, teaching him the tricks of the trade. Continue reading
Dillinger (1973): Ben Johnson’s Stone Summer Suit as Melvin Purvis
Ben Johnson as Melvin Purvis in Dillinger (1973)
Vitals
Ben Johnson as Melvin Purvis, experienced federal agent
Memphis, Tennessee, September 1933
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
My most recent post commemorated the 90th anniversary of outlaw “Pretty Boy” Floyd’s death following a brief manhunt through rural Ohio led by federal agent Melvin Purvis, as portrayed by Christian Bale in Michael Mann’s 2009 drama Public Enemies. Two days later, on what would have been his 121st birthday, agent Purvis has inspired his second consecutive BAMF Style post—this time via Ben Johnson’s more grizzled characterization in John Milius’ bullet-riddled 1973 film Dillinger. Continue reading
Dillinger (1973): Harry Dean Stanton’s Raccoon Coat as a Doomed Homer Van Meter
Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter in Dillinger (1973)
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Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter, doomed and desperate Depression-era bandit
Wisconsin, Spring 1934
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Ninety years ago today in the late afternoon of Sunday, August 23, 1934, a 28-year-old named Homer Van Meter was rushing to keep an appointment in St. Paul, Minnesota. The tall, slender Hoosier nicknamed “Wayne” had been arrested multiple times and was currently wanted for the string of armed robberies and murders committed during his tenure with the infamous John Dillinger gang, which had all but crumbled after its eponymous leader was killed in Chicago a month and a day earlier.
The saga of the Dillinger gang continues to inspire an abundance of books and films, including the fiercely entertaining 1973 movie Dillinger. Written and directed by John Milius in his directorial debut, Dillinger dramatizes the facts and folks associated with the gang, benefiting from the involvement of Clarence Hurt, a retired FBI agent who was part of ace agent Melvin Purvis’ team and present when Dillinger was killed in July 1934.
Led by Warren Oates and Ben Johnson as Dillinger and Purvis, respectively, Dillinger‘s cast includes some of the most recognizable and reliable supporting players of the ’70s filling out the ranks of Dillinger’s gang, including Steve Kanaly, Geoffrey Lewis, John P. Ryan, a young Richard Dreyfuss as “Baby Face” Nelson, and Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter. Continue reading
Warren Oates’ Brown Striped Suit as Dillinger
Warren Oates as John Dillinger in Dillinger (1973)
Vitals
Warren Oates as John Dillinger, Depression-era bank robber
Indiana, Fall 1933
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Eighty four years ago tonight – November 15, 1933. Four police cars converge on a small office building on Irving Park Boulevard in the Chicago Loop. In an upstairs doctor’s office, one of the most wanted men in the tri-state area is being treated for either a ringworm infection or “barber’s itch,” an inflammation of hair follicles, depending on which account you read. On the floor below, a cagey informant named Art McGinnis is signaling desperately to police that their quarry is upstairs. Fate, however, is on the side of the outlaw, a thirty-year-old bank robber named John Dillinger. Continue reading
“Pretty Boy” Floyd’s Birthday
Steve Kanaly as Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd in Dillinger (1973).
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Steve Kanaly as Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Depression-era bank robber
Midwest U.S., Spring 1934
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Today marks what would have been the 111th birthday of Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, one of the best-known of the original “Public Enemies” that terrorized American banks during the Great Depression. The early 1930s were a prime era for American crime. Unlike the murderous gangsters whose machine gun battles littered newspaper headlines during the “roaring twenties”, many of the Depression-era desperadoes painted themselves as contemporary Robin Hoods, stealing from the banks to give to the poor. While some were genuinely psychopaths like “Baby Face” Nelson and Clyde Barrow, others like Floyd and John Dillinger were more akin to simple farm boys led astray. Continue reading
The Death of John Dillinger – 1973 Style
Warren Oates and Michelle Phillips as John Dillinger and Billie Frechette, respectively, in Dillinger (1973). The film inaccurately portrays Polly Hamilton as an alias for Billie Frechette; in reality, Polly was an entirely different person.
Vitals
Warren Oates as John Dillinger, doomed Depression-era bank robber
Chicago, July 1934
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Although it had been founded in 1908, the FBI had existed for more than a quarter of a century without grabbing major national attention. There were many major successes, but the recent crime wave of bank-robbing desperadoes tarnished the agency’s image and, in turn, turned outlaws into folk heroes.
One of these criminal “folk heroes” was John Dillinger, a 31-year-old Indiana native who had recently embarrassed national law enforcement by reportedly breaking out of jail with a wooden gun. Although they had Dillinger in their sights for the better part of a year, the FBI—then known as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI)—had no legal jurisdiction to take him down. Dillinger’s crimes—ranging from bank robbery to alleged murder—were all certainly major, but none violated any federal law. Then, it was realized that Dillinger had stolen the Lake County sheriff’s car during his escape. By driving the stolen automobile across a state line, Dillinger violated the Dyer Act.
The Dyer Act, also called the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, was passed in 1919 to combat the growing threat of trafficking stolen automobiles. If a person was found guilty of violating the Dyer Act, they would be sentenced with imprisonment up to ten years, a hefty fine, or both. In Dillinger’s case, the BOI determined that his punishment would be execution. Continue reading
Truth vs. Fiction: The Bank-Robbing Style of Warren Oates as Dillinger
Warren Oates as John Dillinger, leaving a South Bend bank job in 1973’s Dillinger.
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Warren Oates as John Dillinger, Depression-era bank robber and “super gang” leader
Indiana, Fall 1933
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Eighty years ago today in East Chicago, Indiana, 43-year-old ECPD patrolman William Patrick O’Malley responded to a call concerning the robbery of the First National Bank. Without hesitation, O’Malley showed up at the scene, unaware that he would be going up against John Dillinger, the Indiana bandit who would soon become famous as the first national Public Enemy #1. Continue reading
“Pretty Boy” Floyd in Dillinger
Steve Kanaly as “Pretty Boy” Floyd in Dillinger.
79 years ago today, Depression-era outlaw Charles Arthur Floyd was shot down by federal agents and local police in a farm outside East Liverpool, Ohio.
Vitals
Steve Kanaly as Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd
Midwest U.S., October 1934
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Want to know something that truly bothers the hell out of me? The life of Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd has never been accurately, accessibly, and fully portrayed on film. Continue reading
Warren Oates’s Dark Brown Suit as Dillinger
Warren Oates as master bank robber John Dillinger in 1973’s Dillinger.
Vitals
Warren Oates as John Dillinger, Depression-era bank robber and “super gang” leader
Mason City, Iowa to Manitowish, Wisconsin – Spring 1934
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
By March 1934, John Dillinger had well-established himself as a national criminal hero. He made a mockery of both hated bankers and inept police and, best of all, he kept getting away with it. Sure, he wasn’t the only beloved “Public Enemy” in the national scene, but “Baby Face” Nelson was too violent, Bonnie and Clyde were too incompetent, and no one had heard from “Pretty Boy” Floyd in almost a year. Continue reading
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