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Visitors Review

bob the moo 2012-05-24 20:09:25

Tough crime drama that benefits from a tight running time

When Dillinger is sent to prison as a young man for a small scale robbery hewinds up sharing a cell with Specs. Specs introduces Dillinger to his gangand he joins them. On his release Dillinger breaks the gang out of jail andthey set out on a spree of well planned robberies. With tensions risingbetween the clinical Specs and the violent risk-taking Dillinger the mood inthe gang become tense. Dillinger eventually takes over the gang leadingthem into increasingly dangerous jobs risking capture anddeath.One of the many filmed versions of this gangster's life and death. It mayalso be one of the shortest, but by having a tight basic plot and goodscript it doesn't feel too short. The story is stripped down to key momentsand events in Dillinger's life as told by his father, however this makes thefilm more urgent and tense compared to more rambling versions. However Isuppose as a life story that's not really what you want, but here it worksbecause it's a crime thriller rather than a biopic.Lawrence Tierney was a bit of a hellraiser in his day and he brings amenacing streak to the role. Of those who don't watch films made before1990 it may be a surprise to realise that this young man is the same asplayed Joe in Reservoir Dogs. The whole gang gives strong supportespecially Edmund Lowe as the harassed Specs, it's also always good to seeElisha Cook Jr, here playing Kirk.Overall a taught little crime thriller that benefits from a tough cast and ashort tense running time.

2012-05-24 13:15:42

true gem B-movie

By no means true t the actual story of famed bank-robber JohnDillinger, but may be true to the personality of the man. Tierney playsDillinger unromantically as an unredeemable sociopath completelyobsessed with getting money on his own terms. His depiction ofDillinger's transformation from punk wannabe to actual cold-heartedthug is completely believable. The supporting cast is all tops,especially Lowe and Elisha Cook Jr. in his best bad-guy performance.The cheap sets, integration of stock-footage, location shooting are allsurprisingly effective - only some of the back-screen effects are weak.The script is demandingly tight but both the cast and the director areup for it - despite the fact that the story spreads across some 15years, it moves right along, intent only on depiction of thehigh-points of its theme. It's an intentional throw-back to the WarnerBros. gangster films of the early thirties, which makes ittop-of-the-line of a wave of crime B-mellers in the late '40s (alsodominated by Warner Bros., which studio apparently insisted on thisfilm losing the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, and which, withfurther irony, now owns its rights). And its hard to imagine a filmthat makes so much use of violence without any graphic depiction of it.A true gem of American B-movie history.

2012-05-23 03:09:03

John Dillinger's Deadly Game..

This review is from: Dillinger [VHS] (VHS Tape) Lawrence Tierney is convincing as John Dillinger in this 1945 gangster film "Dillinger", based on truth and fictional events. The film starts with Dillinger as a small time hood who is put away behind bars for a robbery, building up to his public enemy #1 status. John Dillinger becomes the country's most wanted outlaw. The film doesn't waste any time getting to the point, running a short seventy eight minutes. The story covers important exploits of the notorious gangster,although the film also portrays a couple murders that Dillinger never actually committed. Lawrence Tierney does his part, but not the same impact of Warren Oates in his career best performance as the outlaw - "Dillinger" is an interesting look about a man who lived dangerously and drove down the fast lane to the fatal end,accompanied by the lady in red,(Anne Jeffreys). Twentieth Century Fox VHS - good transfer, b&w. Johnny Depp as Dillinger?

ftm68_99 2012-05-22 12:53:29

Terrific

I continue to be amazed at the ratings some movies get here. I just sawthis snappy little movie and thought sure it would get a higher ratingthat6.3. I agree with the another viewer's description of it being a "lean,mean, cheapo." A cheapo yes, but one where not a penny is spent onextraneous scenes. A nice antidote to higher-budgeted (and more highlyrated) movies where we're made to spend hours watching actors doingvirtually nothing in never-ending, story-killing close-ups. I'd watch thisone again in a heartbeat.

ccthemovieman-1 2012-05-22 02:49:30

Fast-Moving, With A Real Thug Playing A Famous Thug!

This movie has several big things going for it: its short, fast-movingand just plain entertaining. How much more do you want? Also, LawrenceTierney was made for gangster/film noir movies. He looks the part, actsthe part, and was a thug in real life, too. Who better than to portrayfamous criminal John Dillinger as a cold-blooded killer? This was Tierney's starring debut and it was a good vehicle for him. Ialso enjoyed Edmund Lowe as the gang boss prior to Tierney taking over.I enjoyed the supporting cast, too: Anne Jeffreys, Elisha Cook Jr.,Eduardo Cianelli and Marc Lawrence. All of them add to this film.I was glad they concentrated on the crime part of the film and didn'tgo crazy with a sappy romance. However, I am sorry Jeffreys wasn't onscreen more often. She had the '40s look, if I ever saw it.

2012-05-21 11:56:47

Lawrence Tierney Rules!!!

Yes, this film feels like a diatribe. It's probably less factual than the film version of John Dillinger's exploits that director John Milius made in the seventies. So why do I recommend this film over Milius' more polished account? Well, this film in a campy, over-the-top way is just so entertaining. Secondly, Lawrence Tierney in the title role is such a magnetic screen presence. His tough ferocity keeps the film's campier elements in check and grounds it in some semblance of reality. There's also a good supporting cast here with gangster veterans Marc Lawrence and Elisha Cook Jr. (seems like he's in all these noir-gangster flicks) on hand. The story is told here crisply and in an economical 70 minutes so if you have an hour plus to kill there's worse ways to do it. Oh, John, if only you had the two bucks to pay for the drinks!

2012-05-21 13:35:49

Inaccurate and simplistic, but who cares when you've got Lawrence Tierney!

Max Nosseck, one of the lesser-known German emigrees to Hollywood during the golden age (this is far and away his best-known film, and it's got under 600 votes on IMDb) directs this first telling of the Dillinger story with flare and simplicity, making for a reasonably exciting and watchable, compact noirish gangster story that has very little to do with real events. Given that William Castle was an uncredited screenwriter (along with the credited Philip Yordan, one of the ace film noir writers) and that this was made for c-grade Monogram, I guess that's not surprising, though you'd think that, being made less than a dozen years after the real John Dillinger was gunned down outside of the Biograph in Chicago (yes, they do get this part sort-of right) there'd be some concern that the public would resent the obvious distortions. Oh well, I guess not.The film has a rather interesting opening, with an audience watching a newsreel on Dillinger, after which a man comes out who purports to be Dillinger's father and who then introduces the story we see. This is a completely ruthless, cold and pretty nearly inhuman portrait, played by steely-eyed Lawrence Tierney in his first significant role; there's no subtlety here, no real character development, no attempt to get into "why a man goes bad" or anything like that, apart from the critical (and rather silly) scene where the insulted, poor youn Dillinger gets mad and steals a few bucks from a shopkeeper in order to buy his girl a drink - one insult to his manly ego leads to a life of crime, I guess.But no matter, what it lacks in "realism" and accuracy, the film generally makes up for in the fluid storytelling and the general excellence of its cast, starting with the frightening Tierney but also including the relatively obscure Anne Jeffreys as his dame Helen Rogers, silent star-turned-character actor Edmund Lowe as his mentor/eventual rival Specs, and the great Elisha Cook Jr in a relatively low-key and thankless role as a henchman. Tierney went on to do BORN TO KILL a couple of years later, which really established him as one of the best of the cold-blooded noir anti-heros (or charismatic villains, take your pick), and his acting certainly improved over time - he gives some great late performances as crusty old mentors (usually of the gangster type) in films like TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE and RESERVOIR DOGS - but he's well worth watching in this debut. Not a great film by any means, but well worth a look for fans of noir or gangster films or any of the great cast.DVD NOTE: as a couple of others have mentioned, there are some slight issues with the transfer here - though it looks razor-sharp, there are a couple of noticeable drop-outs of a few seconds, and the sound doesn't always seem perfectly synched. Not a huge issue for me, but you should be aware. John Milius, who made his own DILLINGER 28 years later, provides a fairly entertaining commentary.

Michael Coy 2012-05-20 19:10:40

"Dillinger And His Big Plans!"

This lean, mean cheapo has all the virtues of economy. LawrenceTierney is great in his impressive debut, ideally cast as the cold,humourless psychopath. In a little over an hour we get the completebiography, with the bad guy hero gunned down with seven dollars and twentycents in his pocket, the exact amount with which he began his criminalspree. The scene transitions are tight and efficient, and the story-tellingterse and elliptical, giving us only the significant moments in this brief,violent life. No words are wasted when Pa Otto meets hisend. Dmitri Tiomkin provides his customarily excellent music. The lonewailing horn in the prison scenes captures superbly the despair of theinmates, as indeed does the unyielding regularity of the jailarchitecture. Verdict - Less is more in this commendably spare gangsterflick.

mark.waltz 2012-05-19 10:49:26

Powerful crime biography with film noir attributes.

You won't soon forget the violent atmosphere of "Dillinger", a 1945Monogram biography of the notorious bank robber of the late 1920's and30's. Lawrence Tierney blasts his way onto the screen in a performancethat reeks of pulp fiction, only with one difference-this is about areal person. Like two other outstanding cheapies of the times ("Detour"and "Decoy"), "Dillinger" does not stoop to the confines of theproduction code. It really crosses the line in its telling ofDillinger's story, from small-time crook (who robbed a conveniencestore so he could buy his girlfriend a drink) to the most wanted man ofthe gangster days. When he hooks up with blonde bombshell Anne Jeffreys(after robbing her while she counted the till at a movie ticketcounter), its like the sparks that started the Chicago fire. Like thelovers in "Detour" and the film noir masterpiece "Gun Crazy", they aredesperate, unapologetic for their breaking of the law, and doomed fromthe start.There are some wonderful touches in the film, particularly a jailsequence where Tierney makes a wooden gun to escape from prison, andthe revenge he takes on Edmund Lowe, his earlier crime boss. The scenewhere an old couple running the inn where the Dillinger gang is hidingout, are discovered calling the police, is heartbreaking, yetpoignantly romantic. And the final sequence, with Dillinger'swell-known demise after coming out of a movie theater (watching thegangster picture "Manhattan Melodrama"), is nothing short of classic.Everything about this movie is practically brilliant. The 1973 remakeis mediocre in comparison. Dark, gloomy film noir type photography andcrusty dialog are among the other highlights that make this a must.

2012-05-18 21:41:22

Mediocre bio pic

This is the first film about legendary bank robber John Dillinger. It stars Lawrence Tierney and Anne Jeffreys with a supporting cast that includes Edmund Lowe, Elisha Cook Jr., and Eduardo Cianelli.The film claims to "introduce" Lawrence Tierney (1919-2002), but in fact he had been in several films before this ("Back to Bataan", "Youth Runs Wild"). Tierney made a career out of B films, appearing in more than 50 between 1943 and 2000 ("Born to Kill", ) He is probably best known for his role as the boss in one of the best gangster films ever - "Reservoir Dogs" (1992). FWIW - he is the elder brother of Scott Brady and as they got older the were often mistaken for each other.Many actors have played Dillinger -Leo Gordon in "Baby Face Nelson" (1957), Robert Conrad in "The Lady in Red" (1979), Warren Oates in "Dillinger" ()and Johnny Depp in "Public Enemies" (2009). Tierney plays him as a brutish psychopath with no emotions. Oates was the only one who looked like Dillinger and his performance is clearly the best IMO. Anne Jeffreys(1923) plays Dillinger's love interest. She's best known from her TV series with husband Robert Sterling as the couple who are haunted by "Topper" (1953-5). She was nominated for a Golden Globe for "The Delphi Bureau" (1972) and played David Hasselhoff's mom on "Baywatch". This does a great job as the girl who is both fascinated and repelled by the brutish Dillinger.Edmund Lowe (1890-1971) plays the boss of the early Dillinger gang. He made more than 100 films from 1915 to 1960, often playing the lead role in B films, although he was a bigger star early in his career ("What Price Glory", 1926, "In Old Arizona", 1928). Lowe does his usual good supporting job. BTW - Lowe received top billing.Eduardo Cianelli (1889-1969) plays one of the gangsters. Ciannelli is best known for his performance in "Gunga Din" (1939) as one of the most evil characters in film history, the head of the Thuggee cult . Ciannelli made more than 150 films including "Strange Cargo" (1940), "Foreign Correspondent" (1940), "For Whom the Bell Tolls", and "Passage to Marseille" (1944). In 1961 he won the Tony for "The Devil's Advocate" (1961).Elisha Cook Jr. (1903-1995) is also part of the gang. Cook is best known as the "gunsel" from "The Maltese Falcon" (1941). He made nearly 200 films from 1930 to 1987.Both Cook and Cianelli do good jobs, but they don't have a lot of scenes.The film was considered brutal at the time it was released. In addition to the usual gun play, Dillinger kills a bartender with a broken glass, shoots an elderly couple, and uses a hatchet to dispatch a rival. For two years it was banned in Chicago.The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The writer, Phil Jordan (1914-2003)), was nominated two other times and won for "Broken Lance" (1954). He received a WGA nomination for "Detective Story" (1951).This was the 9th and most successful to date venture for the King Brothers and Monogram Pictures. They specialized in low budget films like "The Gangster" (1947) and "Gun Crazy" (1950).The film was produced in 1945 but it has the look and feel of a 30s film. Unfortunately it has none of the charisma of the 30s gangster film heroes. Tierney established a niche for himself as a brutal psychopath, but former gangster film heroes like Cagney, Robinson, and Bogart had something more, which Tierney clearly lacks.Bottom line - there are better films about Dillinger and better gangster films.

telegonus 2012-05-18 00:44:14

Tierney's the Man

There are tough guys and there are tough guys, but Brooklyn-bornLawrence Tierney was the real deal off and on screen. His casting inthe 1945 Dillinger was fortuitous, as the film was the sleeper of theyear, and made Tierney briefly an overnight star. He soon becameHollywood's bad boy, getting into scrapes with the law and in generalraising hell, which doubtless explains his relatively brief starringcareer. In Dillinger he is excellent in the lead role, and while hedoes not much resemble the real Dillinger he is right for the movie.His face and especially eyes, tough and sad at the same time, make himperfect casting whatever his other deficiencies. There is some prettyoutdoor photography in the film, which is at times rather arty, butsuccessfully so. The acting is generally quite good, and the moodoffbeat and foreboding, and quite different from the typical gangsterpicture from the thirties. It started a new trend in more realistic,psychological, less city-bound crime pictures with 'dangerous' leadingcharacters, such as the Walsh-Cagney White Heat.

Ham_and_Egger 2012-05-17 11:57:24

The meanest eyes in Hollywood.

*** Slight spoiler in fourth paragraph. *** A poverty-row gangsterflick that, for much of its 70 minutes, rivals the best Warner Bros.had to offer. The movie plays fast and loose with history, mixing factand fiction at will, but almost to be expected when dealing withDillinger and at least this film doesn't masquerade as a documentarylike so much of the infotainment on TV these days.Blessed with matinée idol's looks and an ex-con's temperament LawrenceTierney was the perfect actor to play Dillinger. I'd seen a couple ofhis other, lesser, films before checking this one out and I honestlydidn't think much of him as an actor. He has screen presence and shootsa furious glance like nobody's business, but beyond that he'd alwaysseemed limited to me. In Dillinger he proved me wrong, obviously hisswagger was just right for the character, but he really does give asuperb performance. At times he brings to mind James Cagney as CodyJarrett in White Heat (which wouldn't be made until 1949).The rest of the cast is good as well, it's tempting to call thefamiliar Elisha Cook, Jr. the stand-out but really the members of thegang all fill their roles admirably. Anne Jeffreys plays Dillinger'sfictional moll Helen Rogers, unfortunately her character is really justa sketch. If this had been an "A picture" she surely would have gottenmore screen-time.*** Spoiler? *** Is it really a spoiler to say that John Dillinger wasshot to death by FBI agents in an alley behind Chicago's BiographTheater on July 22, 1934? I found the end quite disappointing, itbuilds to a false climax and then maunders for about ten minutes beforeunceremoniously disposing of the "hero" at the correct time and place.Of course just about everyone knows it's coming, but in my opinion theeditor could have added a little more tension. I suppose in '45 theywere still worried about glamourizing Dillinger, but these qualmsdidn't seem to slow them throughout the rest of the picture.All in all, a tremendous B-movie that hints at what Lawrence Tierneycould have been if his many mis-steps hadn't gotten in the way.

MARIO GAUCI 2012-05-16 17:56:24

Dillinger (1945) ***

Although it would have been much more appropriate as part of asubsequent Gangster DVD Collection from Warners (rather than the FilmNoir in which it was included), DILLINGER is a solid B flick buoyed bya fast pace, a bevy of familiar character actors (Edmund Lowe, EduardoCianelli, Marc Lawrence, Elisha Cook Jr.) and a terrific turn byLawrence Tierney in the title role. Although John Milius' 1973 remakeis much more factual and despite an over-reliance on stock footage frombigger-budgeted films - like Fritz Lang's YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (1937) -the film is also notable for an unusual narrative structure for thistype of film in that the events are "told" to a theater audience byJohn Dillinger's father as a warning against the perils of living lifeon the wrong side of the tracks! This film also proved to be Monogram'smost prestigious production as Philip Yordan received an Academy Awardnomination for Best Original Screenplay!

2012-05-16 03:02:37

Excellent Poverty Row Gangster Flick!

"Dillinger" was made by poverty row studio Monogram Pictures as a "B"picture programmer however, it turned out to be much better thaneveryone had anticipated. Although it takes liberties with actualfacts, it is nonetheless a dark and brooding little film noire.The producers lucked in when Lawrence Tierney was cast in the leadrole. He plays John Dillinger as a cold blooded non-repentant killer.The real Dillinger was apparently nothing like Tierney's interpretationbut was more of a Robin Hood type character who was only a bank robberand not the cold blooded killer depicted in this film.The story follows Dillinger from a small time hood to his first prisonterm where he meets future members of his gang. Specs Green (EdmundLowe) is the planner and three of the most recognizable faces ingangster pictures round out the gang. First there is Marco (EduardoCiannelli), then Doc (Marc Lawrence) and finally Kirk Otto (Elisha CookJr.).Along the way Dillinger meets his "femme fatale", Helen Rogers (AnneJeffreys). After Dillinger springs the gang from prison they go on abank robbing spree. Dillinger takes over the gang from Specs and runsthings his way. Eventually the gang members are either caught or killedand Dillinger goes to hide out in Chicago. After several months inhiding he and Helen go to a movie at the Biograph theater. Helen isdressed in red and well you know the rest.Tierney should have risen to major stardom after this film but due tohis personal problems, he never really did. He reportedly had a hairtrigger temper and often got into bar room brawls, Naturally producersbegan to shy away from. His career is not unlike another actor whoalmost made it, Tom Neal.After starring roles in a few films, notably "Born To Kill" (1947), hedrifted into smaller and smaller roles. He did find work well into the1990s but never did achieve stardom. But his work in this film is whathas elevated it to the cult status it enjoys today. The gunning down ofthe elderly Ottos (Elsa Janssen, Ludwig Stessel) and the maiming of abar waiter are particularly chilling.Edmund Lowe had been a star in silent films. By this time his careerwas winding down. Ciannelli, Lawrence and Cook were staples in gangsterroles for decades thereafter.John Milius who made the 1973 "Dillinger" (closer to the facts)provides some interesting insights and commentary on the DVD release.

bullterrier100 2012-05-13 15:30:21

Inaccurate and clumsy, yes, but entertaining

I was aware of Tierney from Reservoir Dogs and "Seinfeld", but not hisearly career until I saw Dillinger and Born to Kill. He is one of thegreat, largely unrediscovered actors of postwar, tough guy films --with a fascinating way of switching from menacing psycho to hurt littleboy and back again, all within seconds. Hopefully, more of his movieswill be released on DVD.In Dillinger, when Tierney first meets Anne Jeffreys, the clock in backof her box office booth clearly says Gruen (the manufacturer) on itsface. But when Tierney goes in to see the movie, there's a dissolve towhat is obviously supposed to be the same clock, indicating passage oftime. In the second clock shot,however, there is no Gruen label.The movie makes a point of telling us most of the action takes place inthe Midwest, specifically Indiana -- with the help of at least fournewspaper mockups: the Indiana Journal, the Evansville Courier, theIndianapolis World and the South Bend Daily Press. But when a"be-on-the-lookout", all-points bulletin is issued for Dillinger, amontage of the dragnet features a city map clearly labeled as LosAngeles and showing the Southern Calfornia cities of Inglewood and ElSegundo.Check out Anne Jeffreys going into the Biograph with Tierney near theend. Shot from the rear, the only word to describe her is'steatopygous'.

sachin 2012-05-13 05:58:32

bankrobber's saga!

knwing that it got oscar for best screenplay, may be at that time this was a new story! well, screenplay sure had a good pace. This is definitely worth the watch!!

Bucs1960 2012-05-11 13:49:45

"B" Movie That Rivals an "A" Product

This taut little crime noir is worth watching a couple of times. It hasa short running time which was typical of "B" films and it packs a lotof action into a little over 60 minutes.What a cast this film boasts!!......Edmund Lowe, a former screen idolof the silents and early talkies; Marc Lawrence and Eduardo Cianelliwho could never shake their bad guy images; the greatest of allcharacter actors, Elisha Cook Jr. whose career spanned in excess of 50years; and Lawrence Tierney, born to portray a criminal. Tierney, whowas a bad boy in real life (which sank his career for many years beforehe made a comeback in the 1980s)is the epitome of a cold eyed, hardenedgangster who lives for today and the hell with tomorrow. Tierney, whosebrother Scott Brady was a recurring presence in films of the 50s, willalways be recognized for this part alone and it could have shot him tostardom but his personal life got in the way.......too bad. This filmis a standout in the realm of "B" movies and is worthy of it'sreputation.

Pleasehelpmejesus 2012-05-11 06:32:00

None

If anyone knows who played the Black prisoner in the cell next toTierney's Dillinger and the waiter Dillinger attacks with the beerstein I would appreciate their posting it. Also wanted to note that theonly other comment I've seen posted does a good job on this film andmentions Tierney's brother, actor Scott Brady, but doesn't mention hismore famous sister, the beautiful Gene Tierney. I suppose it was his rather prickly personality that prevented Tierneyfrom attaining the legendary status of some of his contemporaries but alook at "Dillinger" will make you wonder what would have been had hehad the career his talent and charisma merits.If anyone plans to watch this on DVD I must say that John Milius'commentary is one of the worst and most superfluous I've ever heard.Not the least reason being that one has to turn the volume way up tohear it and then lower it fast during passages of film dialogue becauseit's turned up so high for the commentary. It's not a very informativeone either. It doesn't even contain the interesting tidbit that theactor who played Mr. Otto (the lodge owner)Ludwig Stossel went on tokitsch fame as The Little Old Wine Maker for Italian Swiss Colony's TVcommercials.Despite this gangster film and film noir fans will really enjoy thisone. Tierney's performance really shines and makes up for some scriplapses and budget shortcuts. Look for the scene in which "Specs" tellshim to 'smile'. Perfect.

anton-6 2012-05-07 01:23:08

Pretty good B-film but too SHORT!!!!!

A pretty good B-film about the rise of John Dillinger.Very short(about one hour)so it only show the most importantthingsbut I think it could have been about 1 hour and 30 minutes.Rating:3/5

JohnRouseMerriottChard 2012-05-06 10:58:18

Remember me?

John Dillinger {Lawrence Tierney} was an Indiana farm boy who had athirst for cash, once realising where the cash was, Dillinger rose tobecome the 1930s public enemy number 1. This portrayal of a man who notonly terrified the public, but also captivated them wholesale, benefitsfrom an excellent screenplay courtesy of Philip Yordan. The picturesstrength is not in purely aiming for entertainment values in guns androbbery rampage, it begs the questions of what made Dillinger the manhe was, was it an early stint in the big house that marked his life outfor him?, was his unison with Specs Green merely igniting a murderousrage within?, or was Dillinger just a greedy bastard who was rotten tothe core?.Running at only 70 minutes, and filmed on a B movie budget, Dillingercomes out as something of a triumph within the gangster genre. Posingquestions and providing moments of genuine unease, it may just be oneof the best gangster films not staring Cagney, Bogart or Eddy G.Stirring stuff from a vengeful return to a bar, to it's ripper of afinale, Dillinger is to me holding up considerably well in this day andage of pictures overkilling violence for violence sake. 7/10