****SPOILERS**** With the movie over and lights on and curtain coming down we see this decrypted and grizzly looking old man step on the stage to give us the in-side info about the movie "Dillinger" that we just witnessed. The old guy turns out to be Pa Dillinger, Victor Kilon, the father of the person the movie is all about gangster John Dillinger,Lawrence Tierney, who gives us the audience the true story about his son John the most wanted man, by the police, in America in the mid-1930's who's still a legend in the world of crime today.A bit overdone in Dillinger murdering a number of people, in real life he only killed one, but still very accurate film about his exploits in crime committed with his forming the "Dillinger Gang" that terrorized the mid-west from 1933-34 robbing about a dozen banks as well as, I kid you not, two police stations. That's until it, the crime spree, finally came to an end in urban Chicago with Dillinger, the last surviving gang member, shot down by the FBI and local police leaving the Biograph Theater after watching the movie "Manhattan Melodrama". It turned out that the woman he took out for his last date the "Woman in Red", Ann Jeffrey, was the one who set Dillinger up for the kill.Were shown Dillinger's career in crime as a young man who first gets busted for a $7.20 stick up of a grocery store who later became involved with his cell mate Specs Green, Edmund Lowe, to form the notorious Spec Gang that terrorized mid-west banks and brokerage houses at the height of the great depression. Feeling that Spec is not tough enough like he is Dillinger later took over the gang-After dispatching Spec- and did things or robberies his way. Caught and later after escaping from prison with a hand made wooden gun Dillinger continued his reign of terror until the law caught up with him in Chicago where he was on the lamb from the law for some 10 months. And ironical it was Dillingers only weakness,a beautiful woman, that in the end ended up doing him.P.S According to the movie the only thing of value besides his .380 automatic the FBI & police found on the dead John John Dillinger was the $7.20 that he still had, as a memento I guess, in his pocket from his first robbery.

Made for a Couple Hundred Thousand this Movie Grossed Four Million Dollars for the Low-Rent Monogram Studios. The Philip Yordan Screenplay was Nominated for an Oscar, Unheard of for a Poverty Row Studio. The Movie made Real-Life Tough Guy Lawrence Tierney an On Screen Tough Guy Star.This B-Movie has Gained Exceptional Stature over the Years and is a Gangster-Noir of the First Order. The Film is Noted for its Violence and there is Plenty of it, but the Results of the Carnage are Always Off Screen. It is Still Riveting in its Implications like a Broken Beer Mug to the Face and the Gunning Down of an Elderly Couple In Cold Blood.The Scene where Dillinger is asked to Smile is Classic and there are Others that are Memorable, like the Creepy Sunglasses and Santa Claus as the Mood of the Movie goes from Action to Tragedy. These are just a Few of the Film's Memorable Moments.Forget the Historicity and Dillinger as Folk Hero, because All of that is Abandon for Code Friendly Bad Guys are Bad Guys Necessity.Note...A Film of the same name was released in 1974 Directed by John Milius and is an overlooked, underrated Working.

This film biography is an entertaining movie of a total thug who took what he wanted at the point of a gun. Dillinger was indeed a public enemy no. 1 who turned on friend and foe alike to suit his own twisted purposes. The mastermind of assorted criminal activities, Dillinger insisted on being the boss and demanded allegiance from each gang member, using an itchy trigger finger to make his point. The feature has a film noir look, and Anne Jeffreys is just right as a typical femme-fatale of this era. Jeffreys, a perfect clone of Virginia Mayo, is pleasing to the eye but doesn't really have much to do except suffer abuse from Dillinger, but evens the score in her own good time. Tierney is dashing and tragic as Dillinger but is overshadowed by Edmund Lowe's clever underplaying of Specs. Eduardo Ciannelli and Elisha Cook Jr. are also good. Marc Lawrence's natural menacing visage is a big plus but it's Ciannelli who makes the best impression as a grumpy, suspicious gunman.

This film bears about as close a relation to the facts of Dillinger's life as Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" did to that other set of outlaws. It's amazing that a film made about a decade after the historical events could play so loosely with the truth, when the audience would no doubt remember the real story.It's also a cheap production, with re-usable sets, bad rear projections, and the substitution of California scenery for the Midwest of the story. The acting isn't bad, but the script feels more like a set of snapshots being flipped as fast as a deck of cards.John Milius (who did his own Dillinger pic in the 70s) does a commentary on the DVD, which is interesting, but he's also unsure of many facts in the story. May I recommend the book "Dillinger's Wild Ride" if you'd like a historical, documented account.