Dillinger (1945)

Director: Max Nosseck

Starring: Lawrence Tierney, Edmund Lowe, Anne Jeffreys, Elish Cook Jr.

More info: IMDb

Tagline: SHOCK-BY-SHOCK STORY OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS BANDIT OF OUR TIMES!!

Plot: The rise of John Dillinger from petty criminal (including, unforgiveably, holding up a cinema) via prison and bank robbery with his new convict associates to the accolade of Public Enemy Number One.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah, at least once more and with the commentary by John Milius


As a big fan of Depression-era gangsters I've been looking forward to seeing this for a long time. I finally came across it at a Big Lots for 3 bucks. SOLD! The only thing I've seen Lawrence Tierney in was RESERVOIR DOGS (1992) as the old man who's the mastermind of the bank heist. Apparently he was a tough rough bastard in life, always getting into fights and being a mean drunk - probably not someone you'd want to be around much.

He does the roll of Dillinger justice with his cold, menacing looks and tough guy persona. He gets to show that off more than a few times.

To his girl...


Helen: Who lives here?
Dillinger: What do you care?
Helen: I just like to know where I am.
Dillinger: You're with me.

after he suspects her of infidelity...




and in my favorite scene in the picture...

Early on, before Dillinger became a criminal, Dillinger tries to buy he and his girl some drinks but the uppity waiter won't serve them without him ponying up two bucks in advance. Dillinger's insulted and tries to write him a check but they won't take anything but cash. Fair enough but the waiter's kind of a dick about it. I'm sure he gets this shit all the time but he crosses the asshole line when he calls Dillinger a two bit chisler (I've always LOVED that name).


Embarrassed that he doesn't even have the dough to pay for a few drinks in front of his bird, he tells her he'll be right back, leaves the bar, robs a grocery down the street and gets nabbed by the coppers and goes to jail. John Dillinger is born.


After getting out of the big house and his crime spree has begun, he takes his girl to the same joint, at the same table with the same waiter. He's essentially blaming his situation on this one guy. Now he's got plenty of dough, see, and he orders three beers. He pays the waiter with a one hundred dollar bill and tells him to keep the change. Naturally the waiter's whistling a different tune now but he has no idea this is the same cat from way back when. Dillinger asks his girl to leave and invites the waiter to sit and have a drink with him. Dillinger gives him that cold stare and asks the guy if he remembers him. He doesn't so he jogs his memory with the details of that night we saw at the beginning. It suddenly dawns on him and he's frightened. Dillinger bangs the beer glass on the table, breaking it nicely, stands up to block our view and cuts the guy's face up.










The cool thing is we don't see it (Dillinger's blocking the view) and we don't even hear it. The piano player plays faster and louder during the assault and the only evidence we have that something happened is the waiter falling out of his seat clinging to the tablecloth. It's a great fucking scene. Absolutely stone cold and brutal in its execution.

Here's a little Elisha Cook Jr beefcake for the ladies...

Not even close to the original photograph.

Gotta have a montage...


Yet another Hollywood biopic going for absolute realism...here's the gun Dillinger made in the movie...
and here's the real deal...

I can't tell them apart, can you?

The climax isn't much of one and it's awfully rushed which is not surprising since this is only 70 minutes long. After spending who knows how long in a lonely apartment on the lam, Dillinger can't take it anymore so when his girl suddenly shows up after disappearing for a bit, they walk outside. He hasn't been out in a long time and he's soaking up being in the sun and seeing the children playing.


Helen: Let's go to a movie.
Dillinger: Any particular one?
Helen: I'd like to go to the Biograph.
Dillinger: Hey, you got a new dress, huh? You look good in red.

Minutes later, he's dead. OOOOOPS! Sorry! Spoiler alert!












It's a better than average noir B picture with a surprisingly good cast and some great moments but it suffers from a lack of facts and overblown ones at that. Surprise. Don't watch this for an account on Dillinger's life. Stick to documentaries for that. Watch this as a good 40s gangster picture where the lead's name just happen to be that of one of America's most notorious Depression era bank robbing killers. If you do that you'll be satisfied.