Dillinger (1973) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Dillinger
Year: 1973
Director: John Milius
Country: US
Language: English

Hollywood has always had an obsession with gunslingers and outlaws. During the Great Depression itself, a handful of lawless men and women dared to defy a rocky government, only to be idolized onscreen by a few of contemporary cinema's biggest leading players. Decades later, during the revolutionary movements of the 1960's, the anti-hero would take centre stage, only this time with much more violence. The success of Bonnie and Clyde (1967)  pretty much guaranteed that the outlaw Dillinger would have his day again.

John Dillinger (Warren Oates) and his gang go on a bank robbing spree across the midwest, but one G-Man is determined to bring him down. 

Dillinger is one of American International Picture's most profitable films. It featured the directorial debut of prolific screenwriter John Milius. Completely detached from the class of Golden Hollywood, Dillinger replaced character development with violence, bloody violence. The writer holds no punches, it's shocking and almost exploitative in its use of realistic fury. The sound editors and stunt doubles had their work cut out for them. 

Far more brutal than Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde, Milius makes a picture that doesn't glamorize the criminal, but rather shows events seemingly objectively. Though Warren Oates is a rather charismatic actor, we don't instinctively side with his outlaw. Nor do we necessarily join in on Melvin Purvis' manhunt for the criminal. Unfortunately, because the budget was very small for this feature, much of the cinematography, photography and set design is lacking in areas. We are not always fully immersed in the 1930's setting. 

I'm on the fence about this film. One one hand, I would have liked Dillinger to be more of a character study. As the movie ended I didn't know much about the man and his goons, other than the fact that money was tight and he needed to rob. It was also too violent for my taste, though after seeing countless gangster movies from the 1930's having no blood at all, perhaps this was refreshingly different. I can certainly see how this would have appealed to folks in the 70's.