{"id":2402,"date":"2016-05-09T20:17:40","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T01:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=2402"},"modified":"2024-02-14T11:22:40","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T17:22:40","slug":"made-in-oklahoma-dillinger-1973-catch-it-on-blue-ray-and-dont-make-it-your-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=2402","title":{"rendered":"Made in Oklahoma: DILLINGER (1973) Catch it on blue-ray and “don’t make it your last….”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"3757902\"<\/a>
Photo Still from Dillinger (1973)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n

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.\u00a0 Here is a story I wrote about this fine movie a few years ago.\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Dillinger-2-Disc-Special-Blu-ray-DVD\/dp\/B01AGR6RTE<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

It was the fall of 1972 and I\u00a0was on\u00a0my first movie set. \u00a0Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips, and Warren Oates, under the direction of John Milius, were shooting the climatic John Dillinger gun down\u00a0scene in the 1973 American International Pictures release\u00a0of Dillinger.\u00a0 Standing outside a building\u00a0next to the since torn down Midwest Theatre in downtown Oklahoma City, I was excited to be watching the filming\u00a0of the one of the first movies completely\u00a0shot in Oklahoma.\u00a0The Midwest\u00a0Theatre was transformed into the Biograph Theatre (Chicago) with the overhead billboard\u00a0telling us that Manhattan Melodrama was playing.\u00a0Point in fact:\u00a0John\u00a0Dillinger was killed on a summer night in Chicago, July 22, 1934.\u00a0 (I would be married\u00a044 years later to the day).\u00a0 I cannot say that the director tried to make the movie totally factual, but truth to be, the movie was described\u00a0as one that featured\u00a0“largely unromanticized depictions of the principal characters.”\u00a0 As gangster films go, Dillinger (1973) was true to the time.\u00a0 It looked like the Thirties depression and our State gave the film maker great locations to use.\u00a0 That is, a lot of Oklahoma looked like it did forty years in the past.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

Actor Ben Johnson was gracious that night as he chatted with the audience on the set.\u00a0\u00a0An 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\u00a0be the one that killed the bad guy).\u00a0 I remember his large cigar he was chomping on that night along with his long heavy coat and hat.
\n<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>Warren Oates didn’t come out of his trailer until the scene had been set up.\u00a0 He didn’t seem to want anything to do with us that night.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 He was so talented that director Richard Linklater said of the actor in giving reasons for viewing Oates greatest film Two-Lane Blacktop, “because<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>there was once a god who walked the Earth named Warren Oates.”<\/span>\u00a0 I give it up to Mr. Oates, even if he was not very accommodating that night.
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nI remember they shot the scene in regular time but watching the movie the scene is in slow motion.<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

I will never forget Director Milius having the woman who screams at the sight of a dead Dillinger in the ally to do it\u00a0again and\u00a0again,\u00a0as he wasn’t pleased with her voice.\u00a0 She must have screamed at least ten times to get it right.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>For a twenty year old as I was, Michelle Phillips was the real deal if you get the drift.<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

As for actors in this film, Oates leads a first rate big name cast:\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>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).<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"3166358_orig\"<\/a>
Waren Oates in the movie Dillinger. Shot taken in downtown Oklahoma City.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

This movie was considered an\u00a0epic for\u00a0 AIP and running just short of two hours I would agree.\u00a0 The best part of the movie is not the Oklahoma sets, the\u00a0action and violence\u00a0(outstanding on both accounts)\u00a0or the terrific\u00a0acting.\u00a0 The best part was the screenplay of Director Milius.\u00a0 Some of the greatest lines in\u00a0Gangster films come from this movie:<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

John<\/u><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>Dillinger<\/span><\/u><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nI rob banks for a living, what do you do?<\/span>
\n____________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

John\u00a0<\/span>
\nDillinger<\/u><\/strong><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nAll my life I wanted to be a bank robber. Carry a gun and wear a mask. Now that\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nit’s happened I guess I’m just about the best bank robber they ever had. And I\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nsure am happy.\u00a0<\/span>
\n____________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

John\u00a0<\/span>
\nDillinger<\/u><\/strong><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nYou have a nice smile, too, miss. I’d like to withdraw my entire account\u00a0<\/span>
\nBank\u00a0<\/span>
\nTeller<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nYour entire account?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>John Dillinger<\/u><\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s right… the whole thing\u00a0<\/span>
\nBank\u00a0<\/span>
\nTeller<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nAnd your name?\u00a0<\/span>
\nJohn Dillinger<\/u><\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nJohn. John Dillinger<\/span>.\u00a0[<\/span>pulls a pistol<\/em>]\u00a0<\/span>
\n______________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

[<\/span>Pretty Boy Floyd has been hiding with a farm family when he sees\u00a0<\/span>
\nthe FBI pull up<\/em>]\u00a0<\/span>
\nFarm\u00a0<\/span>
\nwoman<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nDo you need a Bible?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Pretty Boy Floyd<\/u><\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\n[<\/span>shakes his head ruefully<\/em>]\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nI admit, I have sinned; I have been a sinner, but I enjoyed it. I have killed\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nmen, but the dirty sons-of-bitches deserved it. The way I figure it, it’s too\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nlate for no Bible. Thanks just the same, Ma’am.\u00a0[leaves through the window<\/em>]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

______________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

Baby\u00a0<\/span>
\nFace Nelson<\/u><\/a><\/strong>: Will you shut him up!\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nHomer Van Meter<\/u><\/a><\/strong>: You\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\nbetter shut up yourself, ya little rat or I’ll blow the back of yer goddamned\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nhead off.<\/span><\/p>\n

_______________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

Melvin\u00a0<\/span>
\nPurvis<\/u><\/strong><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\n[<\/span>about his Monte Cristos<\/em>]\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nDo you know who gave me these cigars, Sam?\u00a0<\/span>
\nSamuel Cowley<\/u><\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nNo.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nMelvin Purvis<\/u><\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nRay Caffrey gave them to me right before he got his head blown off in Kansas\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nCity. They were for my birthday. And I intend to smoke one of these over each of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nthose men’s dead bodies<\/span><\/p>\n

________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

John Dillinger<\/u><\/strong><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nNow nobody get nervous, you ain’t got nothing to fear. You’re being robbed by\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nthe John Dillinger Gang, that’s the best there is! These few dollars you lose\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nhere today are going to buy you stories to tell your children and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\ngreat-grandchildren. This could be one of the big moments in your life; don’t\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nmake it your last!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n
The final\u00a0line says it all.\u00a0 This is the best there is!\u00a0 Go to the $5 bin at your local Wal-Mart or find it on Netflix.\u00a0 Or now, buy the blue-ray.\u00a0\u00a0This “is” the best Dillinger film by far.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"1973,<\/a>
1973, USA — Comparison of John Dillinger and Warren Oates — Image by \u00a9 Bettmann\/CORBIS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"673513_orig\"<\/a>
Richard Dreyfuss plays “Baby Face” Nelson in the movie Dillinger.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The gangster movie DILLINGER, shot entirely in the state of Oklahoma in the early 1970’s,…<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[401,157],"tags":[675,671,668,674,672,673,670,677,676,669],"class_list":["post-2402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freds-movie-first-take","category-from-the-past","tag-american-international-pictures-aip","tag-ben-johnson","tag-john-dillinger","tag-john-milius","tag-manhattan-melodrama","tag-melvin-purvis","tag-michelle-phillips","tag-richard-linklater","tag-two-lane-blacktop","tag-warren-oates"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":904,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2402"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10820,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions\/10820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}