Gangster Movies: (ca. 1974) Director John Milius masterfully assembles all the right elements in this uncommonly good gangster movie, based on the true events and final demise of notorious bank robbing anti-heroes John Dillinger, “Baby Face” Nelson and “Pretty Boy” Floyd.

Like his predecessor in this role (Lawrence Tierney), this John Dillinger (played by Warren Oates) looks and sounds the part. Oates is a rough and tumble bad ass and very convincing as the relentless, hard edged Dillinger.

Ben Johnson also does a fine job of delivering the goods as Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent in charge who tracks down and kills the infamous Public Enemy Number One.

Cloris Leachman gets third billing, but only has a small role at the end of the film as the famous “Lady In Red.” Michelle Phillips, who most will recognize from the Mamas and Papas, appears here in one of her earliest roles.

J. Edgar Hoover protested this film being made and demanded that changes be made to the script to depict the FBI in a better light (see below). Shortly before his death he recorded a disclaimer to the film; it can be heard after the closing credits. The film depicts John Dillinger being shot outside the Biograph after he pulls his gun; in fact, Dillinger never pulled a gun that night. The FBI decided they were going to kill Dillinger rather than attempt to take him alive; they announced their presence, he turned to run, and was shot six times in the back.

The real Biograph Theater in Chicago, where 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.

To date, Warren Oates is the only actor ever to play John Dillinger who actually looked like the notorious gangster.

When Dillinger talks to reporters while being escorted through the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, he shakes the hand of an “anonymous” woman and talks about how he likes the chief of police and the warden. In real life, the woman was Sheriff Lillian Holley who was the the chief of police and the warden of the prison from which Dillinger made his famous “wooden gun” escape.

The film depicts Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson) as being responsible for the capture or kills of “Machine Gun” Kelly, Wilbur Underhill, “Handsome Jack” Klutis, John Dillinger, and “Pretty Boy” Floyd. In reality, Purivs was only responsible for getting Dillinger and Floyd.

“Baby Face” Nelson is identified by Melvin Purvis in the opening narration as “Lester ‘Baby Face’ Nelson”. This is a combination of the outlaw’s real name and alias. He was born Lester Gillis but often used “George Nelson”. He was commonly called by his alias by both his friends and the media. The “Baby Face” moniker was an inside joke in the underworld about the youthful hoodlum which was picked up by the media.

The newsreel footage showing Dillinger being extradited from Tuscon back to Indiana is actually a combination of the real news footage of Dillinger’s transfer and that of the FBI transporting George “Machine Gun” Kelly (The footage of a ladder being rolled up to an American Airways plane and the wide shot of men gathered around cars).

The idea of “Pretty Boy” Floyd being a part of the Dillinger gang is based on a still debated theory among historians and Dillinger biographers that Floyd participated in Dillinger’s last bank robbery in South Bend, Indiana in June of 1934. While no witnesses at the scene of the robbery were certain it was Floyd, Joesph “Fatso” Negri, an associate of “Baby Face” Nelson, always claimed it was Floyd. Some believe Negri lied to cover up the fact it was he who was involved in the robbery.

Although the film accurately portrays “Baby Face” Nelson as a kill-crazy gangster, contrary to what the film shows in his introductory scene, where Dillinger fights Nelson, the two outlaws got along well together in real life.

Though not credited as such, Michelle Phillips, who plays Billie Frechette, also plays Polly Hamilton, the girl Dillinger was with at the Biograph theater (along with Anna Sage). Though Polly is seen mostly in shadow (to cover up the fact Phillips is playing her part), there are some indications that it is in fact Phillips: 1. There are two brief occasions where her face is seen. First when the trio is underneath the awning of the theater and then when she’s lighting a cigarette. 2. After Melvin Purvis shoots Dillinger, Polly begins screaming hysterically. Comparing her screams to those by Billie earlier in the film, both are screams by Michelle Phillips. 3. There may be an additional reason not mentioned as to why Phillips plays both parts: In real life many people believe that Dillinger dated Polly Hamilton because of her strong resemblance to Billie Frechette, whom had been captured by the FBI.

While drinking in the bar, Billie comments that Dillinger looks like Douglas Fairbanks. While Dillinger looks nothing like Fairbanks, it is a reference to Dillinger’s admiration of Fairbanks. In real life, Dillinger, a movie buff, loved Fairbanks in the Zorro movies. In the films one of Fairbank’ s stunts was to leap over mesa walls. Dillinger supposedly loved the stunt so much that in early robberies, Dillinger used to vault over teller cages, imitating Fairbank’ s moves from the movies.

After escaping from the Crown Point jail, Dillinger robs the local bank. While he did not rob this bank in real life, according to Ed Saager, the garage mechanic Dillinger forced to drive the getaway car, as they were passing by the bank, John Dillinger did jokingly comment, “Geez, I wish I wasn’t in such a hurry to get outta here…I’d love to stop by that bank.”

At the Little Bohemia lodge, when Dillinger is introduced to “Pretty Boy” Floyd and “Baby Face” Nelson, Floyd calls himself “Choc” Floyd when introduced. In real life, one of Floyd’ s early nicknames, predominately used by family and friends, was “Choc” in reference to Floyd’ s taste for Choctaw Beer. The real Floyd preferred to be called by this nickname rather than his more famous one.

After Melvin Purvis shoots down “Pretty Boy” Floyd, he goes up to the fallen outlaw and asks “Are you ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd?” to which Floyd responds “I’m Charles Arthur Floyd.” That was the real exchange between the outlaw and the G-Man when Floyd was brought down on October 22nd, 1934. Like “Baby Face” Nelson, “Bugsy” Siegel, and “Scarface” Al Capone, Floyd hated his famous nickname and would never acknowledge it. So when Purvis kept asking him if he was “Pretty Boy”, he kept responding with his full name until he was nearly dead and Floyd finally acknowledged the nickname to Purvis before dying.

On the MGM DVD version of this film, watch the movie all the way through the end credits. After the credits, a voice-over sound-alike of J. Edgar Hoover recites the real FBI Director’s objection to the theatrical release of this film.

Ben Johnson (Melvin Purvis) was 54 when shooting this film, almost twice the age the real Purvis was when Dillinger was killed – 30 years old.

The Dillinger Gang’s getaway driver, Eddie Martin (John Martino), is based on Eddie Shouse, an early gang member who was thrown out of the gang prior to Dillinger’s capture in Tucson for trying to make a pass at Billie and trying to instigate a mutiny within the gang. There was another gang member named Eddie, his name was Eddie Green. But he had a more prominent position in the gang as a scout looking for banks to rob.

For narrative purposes, the structure and membership of the Dillinger Gang is simplified as there were many peripheral members of the gang or as members were captured or killed. Harry Pierpont (Geoffrey Lewis) and Homer Van Meter (Harry Dean Stanton) were not in the gang at the same time as they hated each other intensely (Even though they both served prison time together with Dillinger). Pierpont was apart of the “1st Dillinger Gang”. Van Meter joined the gang after Dillinger’s Crown Point escape (In reality, Pierpont was also captured in Tucson). Reed Youngblood (Frank McRae) never joined the gang after the jailbreak. The “2nd Dillinger Gang” (post Crown Point escape) was actually “Baby Face” Nelson’s gang which Dillinger teamed up with.