Movie review: ‘Dillinger’

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Arthur Penn’s iconic “Bonnie and Clyde” from 1967 and Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” from two years later were just the legends-to-be for the coming trend of violence in films that took the silver screen by storm in the 1970s. This wasn’t your parents’ movie violence – it was much more real … and they didn’t have CGI to make it totally detailed such as in the film “Deadpool” (click here to read my review). That signature violence would Include serious crime films such as “The Godfather” in 1972 and its horse head-in-the-bed scene and throughout groundbreaking fare such as Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” from 1971 (click here to read my review). So, the early to mid-1970s saw an explosion in cinema that embraced violence. Today, I’m look at the rather forgettable “Dillinger” from 1973. It has the “action,” a paper-thin plot and continues many incorrect legends about the celebrated bank robber to make it almost memorable and the supporting cast has future A-listers who are fun to watch (especially Richard Dreyfuss as “George ‘Baby Face’ Nelson”).

‘DILLINGER’
(1973; rated R; 107 minutes; directed by John Milius and starring Warren Oates, Ben Johnson and Michelle Phillips)

’70s VIOLENCE AND A WINNING SUPPORTING CAST

(NOTE: I first expanded this review on Oct. 5, 2014. I expanded it again with additional opinion, more trivia and the updating of links on June 20, 2018. I again expanded the review on June 25, 2024.)

“Dillinger” was another in a line of films that kept your basic lowlife killer in the stratosphere of popular culture two generations after his death at the time of the film. John Dillinger became the criminal of the hour for newspapers and newsreels in the 1930s before being gunned down as celebrated federal agent Melvin Purvis and his team closed in on “Johnny” at the now-legendary Biograph Theater in Chicago in 1934.

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Like most films “based” on real events, “Dillinger” has inaccuracies galore, but in the end is very watchable, especially because of headliner Warren Oates’ portrayal of the title character. “Dillinger” is really nothing more than a poor man’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” the seminal film about those celebrated bank robbers that won a pair of Oscars and was nominated for eight more (including for all acting, the director and best film). “Bonnie and Clyde” set its own standard for big-screen violence two years before “The Wild Bunch” and “Dillinger” didn’t win any Oscars or even nominated and its thin veneer never put it in competition anyway (and it couldn’t even compare to “Bonnie and Clyde’s” own level of violence).

“Dillinger” is a romanticized account of the crook’s criminal life with a straightforward plot that doesn’t need much explanation. Also, at times I’ll put quote marks around the name of an actual person, but I want you to know that he or she is a character in the film, too. So, let me run through “Dillinger” by first looking at the work by the headliners:

  • Oates breezes through this lightweight effort as celebrity and criminal “John Dillinger.” He is very effective as the bank robber, but never appears to give it his all. Oates was a favorite of legendary filmmaker Sam Peckinpah and offers a delightfully diverse career with turns in Peckinpah’s violent fare “The Wild Bunch” and “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia” to being the tough-as-nails sergeant in the comedy classic “Stripes” and playing straight man in that one to Bill Murray. Oates’ rough-and-tumble exterior was perfect for all of these. He was prolific, too, with a total of five film credits in 1973 alone and 127 in his career spanning four decades from the first in 1956. He died young(er) at 53 in 1982 of a heart attack.
  • An Oscar winner (not for this one), Ben Johnson portrays the hard-nosed agent “Melvin Purvis” and executes his part to perfection. He’s all business with one focus: Reel in wanted bank robbers, especially Dillinger and the crew that killed some federal agents. Johnson became oily with aplomb as he tried to get information, but he’s got a very rigid core. It’s a type of role he reveled in from Sam Peckinpah’s “The Getaway” with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw the year before (click here to read my review) and Steven Spielberg’s “The Sugarland Express” with Goldie Hawn the next year. Johnson was also in “The Wild Bunch” as well as a minor horror cult classic: “Terror Train” with scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis (click here to read my review). He won his Oscar for Peter Bogdanovich’s tremendous “The Last Picture Show” from 1971. Johnson died of a heart attack at 77 in 1996.

However, the real fun of “Dillinger” is its supporting cast. Let me run through some of them:

  • An Oscar winner and nominee (not for this one), Richard Dreyfuss, who has a short stint (no pun intended for the 5-foot-5 actor) as “George ‘Baby Face’ Nelson.” Dreyfuss just oozes energy in his limited screen time and you can easily see him looking for any excuse to burst out in this tiny role. Dreyfuss has also been in and won his Oscar for “The Goodbye Girl” and was equally great, if not better, in the classics “American Graffiti” and “Jaws.” He was nominated for the simply awful “ Holland’s Opus.” On the Golden Globes front, he won for “The Goodbye Girl” and was nominated for three others including “American Graffiti.”
  • An Oscar winner and Golden Globe winner and three-time nominee (not for this one), Cloris Leachman does a good job with her accent as “Anna Sage,” the infamous “Lady in Red” who betrays Dillinger. Again, here’s a role without much meat on it, but she manages to serve up a steak dinner of an effort. Leachman, most recognized from TV’s “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has also been in “Young Frankenstein” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Like Johnson, she won her Oscar for “The Last Picture Show.” She was nominated for a Globe for that one, as well as “Young Frankenstein” and won her Globe for her TV show “Phyllis.” She won a Primetime Emmy as well as nabbing four nominations. Leachman died at 94 of a stroke with complications from COVID in 2021.
  • “Dillinger” brought Michelle “The Mamas and the Papas” Phillips her only Golden Globe nomination – for best promising newcomer (female). She plays “Billie Frenchette” and is Oates’ girlfriend here. It’s not a very big part, but she does a workmanlike job of being the moth that ultimately draws him to the flame of death. She has also been in “Forrest Gump” and a string of TV roles, including 88 episodes of “Knot’s Landing.”
  • Veteran supporting actor Harry Dean Stanton plays gang member “Homer Van Meter” and he, too, shows his considerable talent in this basically unremarkable film. He has a little more screen time than other supporting cast members and does a solid job. Stanton was also in “Pretty in Pink” as well as one of my personal favorites: “Kelly’s Heroes” (click here to read my review) and I enjoyed his small role in the naval comedy “Down Periscope” (click here to read my review). Further, he was “Brain” in John Carpenter’s cult favorite “Escape from New York” (click here to read my review). Stanton died at 91 in 2017 after 208 acting credits across seven decades from the first in 1954.
  • A Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Geoffrey Lewis also does good work as gang member “Harry Pierpont” and he has been in several Clint Eastwood flicks including “Every Which Way But Loose” (click here to read my review) as well as a string of TV roles and the really excellent TV movie “Salem’s Lot” about vampires (click here to read my review of that one). He earned his nomination for one of the 29 episodes he was in on the TV series “Flo.” Although his career was a decade shorter than Stanton’s, Lewis notched more acting credits (223) than the prolific Stanton and he was 79 in 2015 when he died of a heart attack.
  • Steve Kanaly, who would soon be the supporting cast star on TV’s megahit “Dallas,” plays the affable and considerate “Charles Arthur ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd.” You could probably dismiss his character’s murderous ways if you just judged him by Kanaly’s effort here. He was also in “The Sugarland Express” as well as a number of TV episodes. I liked that Kanaly went on “The Love Boat” (click here for my look at the kitschy TV series) and he did everything on TV from a soap to episodes on many iconic series in the late 1960s and 1970s. Like a number of actors in the big cast, Kanaly was OK in the war flick “Midway” (click here to read my review) and had the relatively sparse career of only 57 acting credits in a career spanning five decades since the first in 1972.
  • Frank McRae plays “Reed Youngblood” and is the only bit of diversity to this film. McRae has also been in “48 Hrs.” and “Rocky II.” He was especially funny in “Used Cars” with Kurt Russell (click here to read my review) and had a small role as a doomed teacher in the original “Red Dawn” (click here to read my review). McRae had a brief career in the NFL as a defensive lineman and died at 80 of a heart attack in 2021.

It would have been nice to see a bit more time devoted to the scene where Johnson and Leachman talk as she betrays the notorious Dillinger, but deep characterizations will never be cited as a bright spot in this offering. As happens many times with the supporting cast, Stanton has the signature line of the film: “Things ain’t workin’ out for me today!”

“Dillinger” is rated R for violence less than a PG-13 film today; for cursing less than a VH1 production today; and, by golly, they smoke and drink (but don’t take drugs since only big-city musicians did at the time). Yawn on the rating.

I didn’t spend much time trying to research where “Dillinger” landed for rankings at the box office in 1973. It wasn’t anywhere near the top 10 and its Wiki references only $2 million made on U.S. and Canadian video rentals from its $1 million budget. Oh, well. It was a great year for film in 1973 with “The Sting” at No. 1 for the Redford-Newman duo ($156 million) and you’d also have seen just about every other one in the Top 10 – except maybe a Barbara Streisand stinker that no on should have seen. At No. 2 was that most iconic horror flick “The Exorcist” ($128 million) and at No. 3 the simply most pitch-perfect teen movie of all time, “American Graffiti” ($96.3 million). Here are the films from that year that I’ve reviewed:

Additional cast notes (via IMDb.com and history from the Wiki listing about Dillinger):

  • “Reed Youngblood” is a character’s name in the film, but there was a real Youngblood involved with Dillinger. From the Dillinger page on Wiki: “On March 16, (1934), Herbert Youngblood, who escaped from Crown Point alongside Dillinger, was shot dead by police in Port Huron, Michigan. Deputy Sheriff Charles Cavanaugh was mortally wounded in the gunfight and later died.”
  • Anna Sage’s real name was Ana Cumpanas and she was from Romania.
  • With this cast, you’ve got several who did work on episodes of “The Love Boat” (click here to read my look at the series … and I say this is actually praise, not a criticism, since I enjoy the show). Here are the actors from the primary cast who appeared in episodes: Phillips (5), Leachman (3) and Kanaly (3).
  • The film has a body count of 63 – I didn’t count. By today’s standard, that’s just one scene.
  • “Baby Face” Nelson’s real name was Lester Joseph Gillis and he was better known by the alias George Nelson and started his criminal career by serving a year in reform school at age seven after accidentally shooting a friend on a playground. I guess things were tough and violent back then, too.
  • Dillinger loved the Chicago Cubs and while hiding out in June and July of 1934 attended games at Wrigley Field.
  • Dillinger was shot six times in the back by three different agents (he did not draw his gun as the film depicts) but later the same Wiki story says that he was hit four times.
  • Finally, from IMDb.com: “The real Biograph Theater in Chicago, where John Dillinger was killed, was one of the longest-serving movie theaters in America. Built in 1914, it finally stopped showing movies in July 2004, when it was closed for renovation to a stage theater.”

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