The gangster movie DILLINGER, shot entirely in the state of Oklahoma in the early 1970’s, has been released a few days ago in blue-ray DVD. Here is a story I wrote about this fine movie a few years ago. http://www.amazon.com/Dillinger-2-Disc-Special-Blu-ray-DVD/dp/B01AGR6RTE
It was the fall of 1972 and I was on my first movie set. Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips, and Warren Oates, under the direction of John Milius, were shooting the climatic John Dillinger gun down scene in the 1973 American International Pictures release of Dillinger. Standing outside a building next to the since torn down Midwest Theatre in downtown Oklahoma City, I was excited to be watching the filming of the one of the first movies completely shot in Oklahoma. The Midwest Theatre was transformed into the Biograph Theatre (Chicago) with the overhead billboard telling us that Manhattan Melodrama was playing. Point in fact: John Dillinger was killed on a summer night in Chicago, July 22, 1934. (I would be married 44 years later to the day). I cannot say that the director tried to make the movie totally factual, but truth to be, the movie was described as one that featured “largely unromanticized depictions of the principal characters.” As gangster films go, Dillinger (1973) was true to the time. It looked like the Thirties depression and our State gave the film maker great locations to use. That is, a lot of Oklahoma looked like it did forty years in the past.
Actor Ben Johnson was gracious that night as he chatted with the audience on the set. An Academy Award winner from Oklahoma, Mr. Johnson played G-Man Melvin Purvis, who in the movie, shot Dillinger (a fabrication- G-Man, Charles Winsted bullet is believed to be the one that killed the bad guy). I remember his large cigar he was chomping on that night along with his long heavy coat and hat.
Warren Oates didn’t come out of his trailer until the scene had been set up. He didn’t seem to want anything to do with us that night. With that, I have always considered Mr. Oates as one of the most under-rated actors and one of the greatest character actors of the time. He was so talented that director Richard Linklater said of the actor in giving reasons for viewing Oates greatest film Two-Lane Blacktop, “because there was once a god who walked the Earth named Warren Oates.” I give it up to Mr. Oates, even if he was not very accommodating that night.
I remember they shot the scene in regular time but watching the movie the scene is in slow motion.
I will never forget Director Milius having the woman who screams at the sight of a dead Dillinger in the ally to do it again and again, as he wasn’t pleased with her voice. She must have screamed at least ten times to get it right.
We were given passes to attend the World Premiere of the movie at the Plaza Theatre (now the Lyric) at 16th and Indiana in Oklahoma City. Held the following summer, Director Milius, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips (first movie role for the Mama’s and Papa’s singer) and a variety of local Oklahoma actors were introduced just before the viewing. For a twenty year old as I was, Michelle Phillips was the real deal if you get the drift.
As for actors in this film, Oates leads a first rate big name cast: Ben Johnson, co-stars as his adversary, Melvin Purvis. Along for the ride are future “Dallas” star Steve Kanaly (as Pretty Boy Floyd); Richard Dreyfuss (as Baby Face Nelson); Geoffrey Lewis (as Harry Pierpont); Cloris Leachman (as the Lady In Red); Michelle Phillips, of the Mamas and the Papas (as Billy Frechette); and Harry Dean Stanton (as Homer Van Meter).
This movie was considered an epic for AIP and running just short of two hours I would agree. The best part of the movie is not the Oklahoma sets, the action and violence (outstanding on both accounts) or the terrific acting. The best part was the screenplay of Director Milius. Some of the greatest lines in Gangster films come from this movie:
John
Dillinger:
I rob banks for a living, what do you do?
____________________________________
John
Dillinger:
All my life I wanted to be a bank robber. Carry a gun and wear a mask. Now that
it’s happened I guess I’m just about the best bank robber they ever had. And I
sure am happy.
____________________________________
John
Dillinger:
You have a nice smile, too, miss. I’d like to withdraw my entire account
Bank
Teller:
Your entire account? John Dillinger:
That’s right… the whole thing
Bank
Teller:
And your name?
John Dillinger:
John. John Dillinger. [pulls a pistol]
______________________________________
[Pretty Boy Floyd has been hiding with a farm family when he sees
the FBI pull up]
Farm
woman:
Do you need a Bible? Pretty Boy Floyd:
[shakes his head ruefully]
I admit, I have sinned; I have been a sinner, but I enjoyed it. I have killed
men, but the dirty sons-of-bitches deserved it. The way I figure it, it’s too
late for no Bible. Thanks just the same, Ma’am. [leaves through the window]
______________________________________
Baby
Face Nelson: Will you shut him up!
Homer Van Meter: You
better shut up yourself, ya little rat or I’ll blow the back of yer goddamned
head off.
_______________________________________
Melvin
Purvis:
[about his Monte Cristos]
Do you know who gave me these cigars, Sam?
Samuel Cowley:
No.
Melvin Purvis:
Ray Caffrey gave them to me right before he got his head blown off in Kansas
City. They were for my birthday. And I intend to smoke one of these over each of
those men’s dead bodies
________________________________________
John Dillinger:
Now nobody get nervous, you ain’t got nothing to fear. You’re being robbed by
the John Dillinger Gang, that’s the best there is! These few dollars you lose
here today are going to buy you stories to tell your children and
great-grandchildren. This could be one of the big moments in your life; don’t
make it your last!
The final line says it all. This is the best there is! Go to the $5 bin at your local Wal-Mart or find it on Netflix. Or now, buy the blue-ray. This “is” the best Dillinger film by far.
