Dillinger, 1973.
Directed by John Milius.
Starring Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Michelle Phillips, Harry Dean Stanton, John Ryan, and Richard Dreyfuss.
SYNOPSIS:
John Milius’s Dillinger arrives in a new Blu-ray edition that lacks the bonus features found on the 2016 Arrow Video Blu-ray disc. That one sells for a lot these days, so I suppose this one will do if you’re like me and find this movie severely flawed. The picture quality is solid.
Movies are curious creatures. Most art forms can be accomplished solo, or with a small group of people, but movies require so many people and things to come together. And that’s just to get the damn thing made; quality is a whole other crapshoot.
Which brings me to John Milius’s flawed 1973 film Dillinger, a bio pic about the notorious bank robber and his gang. Warren Oates plays the title role with aplomb, capturing the nuances of a charismatic criminal who takes pleasure in his notoriety.
Opposing Dillinger and his gang — which we watch grow to include his new girlfriend, Billie Frechette (Michelle Phillips) and the well-known “Baby Face” Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) — is FBI field office chief Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson), who wants revenge against Dillinger and others responsible for the Kansas City Massacre of multiple police officers in 1933.
Awkward, and, frankly, unnecessary, voice-overs by Johnson take us through his character’s campaign against the criminals, during which he hopes for Dillinger to commit a federal crime so he can justify taking him down. And Purvis is willing to do so via any means necessary, given his disgust with the gang, who had become folk heroes to an American public disillusioned with banks and authority figures as the Great Depression took hold.
The cast comprising the rest of Dillinger’s gang, which includes Harry Dean Stanton, hit their marks too, except Dreyfuss, who I really couldn’t believe as a hardened criminal. I admit that could be because my first exposure to him was in movies like American Graffiti, Jaws, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Perhaps filmgoers in 1973 had an easier time of that.
Those issues distract me enough that I put Dillinger in the category of movies that could have been much better, and perhaps gained a greater standing in film history, if only different decisions had been made along the way. I wouldn’t be surprised if Milius had aimed for this one to be his Godfather; instead, it’s one of his lesser works, at least in my eyes.
I have to admit, though, that I enjoyed the closing statement from FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, who was adamantly against “any Hollywood glamorization of these vermin.” My understanding is that he was actually going to read those words for the production, but he died before he could do so, leaving voice actor Paul Frees to step in. I’m sure Milius got a kick out of Hoover’s condemnation of the film.
On the bonus features front, you’ll only find the theatrical trailer and a photo gallery with a few behind-the-scenes pictures. Arrow’s 2016 Blu-ray release of Dillinger, which now sells for exorbitant amounts on the secondary market, offers a commentary track by film scholar Steven Prince, along with a trio of featurettes. I don’t know why those extras didn’t make their way to this release, but if you’re a big fan of this film, you might want to track that one down.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
