Dillinger (1945)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Max Nosseck

Writer:

Philip Yordan (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 March 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Film-Noir

Tagline:

SHOCK-BY-SHOCK STORY OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS BANDIT OF OUR TIMES!! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

The rise of John Dillinger from petty criminal (including, unforgiveably, holding up a cinema) via prison...

Plot Keywords:

Bank Robbery | Prison | Organ Grinder | Bank Robber | Whittling

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Edmund Lowe	...	Specs Green
Anne Jeffreys	...	Helen Rogers
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Marco Minelli (as Eduardo Cianelli)
Marc Lawrence	...	Doc Madison
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Kirk Otto
Ralph Lewis	...	Tony
Elsa Janssen	...	Mrs. Otto (as Else Jannsen)
Ludwig Stössel	...	Mr. Otto (as Ludwig Stossel)
Constance Worth	...	Blonde
Lawrence Tierney	...	John Dillinger

Also Known As:

John Dillinger, Killer (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #10511) | West Germany:16 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

King Brothers Productions

Trivia:

Many conservative social and religious groups demanded that the film be withdrawn or banned outright because of what they considered its "brutal and sensational" subject matter. The Chicago Censorship Board banned the film from being shown in Chicago for two years.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Dillinger and his girlfriend sit in the Biograph theatre at the end of the picture, there is a lady in the row behind them, always seen between their heads. First it is one with a fair hat, then another one with black hair and glittering stuff in it, then again the one with the fair hat.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Reservoir Dogs (1992)

"Dillinger And His Big Plans!"

This lean, mean cheapo has all the virtues of economy. Lawrence Tierney is great in his impressive debut, ideally cast as the cold, humourless psychopath. In a little over an hour we get the complete biography, with the bad guy hero gunned down with seven dollars and twenty cents in his pocket, the exact amount with which he began his criminal spree.

The scene transitions are tight and efficient, and the story-telling terse and elliptical, giving us only the significant moments in this brief, violent life. No words are wasted when Pa Otto meets his end.

Dmitri Tiomkin provides his customarily excellent music. The lone wailing horn in the prison scenes captures superbly the despair of the inmates, as indeed does the unyielding regularity of the jail architecture.

Verdict - Less is more in this commendably spare gangster flick.