Visitors Review

anton-6 (2012-05-26 16:52)

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

mark.waltz (2012-05-26 01:50)

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.

Ham_and_Egger (2012-05-22 04:01)

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.

(2012-05-21 10:36)

Fast paced action, but the DVD quality was sub par

This review is for the 2005 Warner Brothers DVD.This film is about the real life bank robber John Dillinger who is arguably the most notorious robber in the history of American and earned the nickname "Public Enemy #1". From my brief research on the internet, the movie appears to be relatively true to form. From the early `30s until his death in 1934, Dillinger wreaked havoc across America with his brutal bank robberies and daring prison escapes.The film itself moves fast, but is only 70 minutes long. There is little character development and the action is continuous and rarely dull. Lawrence Tierney stars as John Dillinger. This was his screen acting debut and he does little to set the acting world on fire. Even in scenes of major confrontation, Tierney seems expressionless and lacks emotional body language. Perhaps this was by design by the director. But if you are fan of vintage gangster films, I'm confident that you will be entertained and pleased with action and drama.The DVD was remastered but not restored and unfortunately there was a significant amount of film damage. There were five or six scenes with at least 3 or 4 seconds of severely damaged footage. The remastering helped make the picture look sharp but tiny specs of deterioration were still prevalent throughout the film, but that wasn't a major deal compared to the noticeably larger scratches. Warner has historically been one of the better studios for film restoration and they obviously decided to not fix up this film. Due to the limited market of a DVD like this, I'm sure the payoff wasn't there to restore an entire movie, but if they would have at least fixed the severely damaged frames, that would have been sufficient for me.PLEASE NOTE: Before buying this DVD, consider buying the Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 2 which contains this movie plus four other highly recommended movies at a very reasonable price.Movie: B-DVD Quality: C

(2012-05-18 14:41)

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.

sachin (2012-05-18 09:29)

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!!

(2012-05-17 15:23)

Holy Guacamole!!

Lawrence Tierney is one bad dude. This is an excellent crime-noir, introducing Lawrence Tierney and unleashing him on the unsuspecting public. Mr Tierney stars as John Dillinger in this film of his rise and fall. Dillinger starts on his life of crime at the hands of a b-girl. He gets sent up the river where he falls in with a group of professional bank thieves. The leader, "Specs", disrespects our Man, and you know where that leads. Be afraid! There is a lot of implied violence which is very chillingly portrayed. The movie is beautiful to look at and Mr Tierney is all cold nasty, sexy rage. Recommended.

ccthemovieman-1 (2012-05-17 12:28)

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.

bkoganbing (2012-05-16 03:28)

The Baddest Bandit Of The Twentieth Century

It's too bad that the first film tribute to the baddest bandit of thelast century was done by Poverty Row Monogram Pictures. And whileLawrence Tierney is certainly brutal enough to portray that aspect ofJohn Dillinger's personality, the charm that was also part of Dillingerwas left out. It's possible a good deal was left on the cutting roomfloor of Monogram.Both Johnny Depp's Public Enemies and even more so the film Dillingerthat starred Warren Oates in the title role were far closer to thetruth than this was. To be sure Dillinger's legendary escape from anIndiana jail with a fake wooden gun and the matter of his demise wereincluded if not completely accurately. You couldn't have a film aboutDillinger without them.No deep psychological insights into John Dillinger here. He was just amean anti-social individual who took to a life of crime. In most othertimes he would have not been glamorized. But this was The GreatDepression and bankers were not popular back in those days. They wereforeclosing left and right and when they weren't doing that they werefailing, robbing people of life savings. So if Dillinger and his kindwere taking out withdrawals their way, who really cared?Dillinger while in prison for a two bit convenience store stickup meetsup with old time bank robber Edmund Lowe and the rest of the gang whichconsists of Eduardo Ciannelli, Elisha Cook, and Marc Lawrence. Tierneyas Dillinger bust them out of the joint after he's finished hissentence and takes over the mob from Lowe. He also meets up with AnneJeffreys who becomes the infamous lady in red.Certainly Depp and Oates got more out of the Dillinger role thanTierney did. But what Tierney got was a career and in a limited way hedid capture part of the Dillinger mystique. Sad this film was not doneat a major studio though.

JohnRouseMerriottChard (2012-05-15 16:24)

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

(2012-05-15 09:24)

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?

NewEnglandPat (2012-05-15 02:38)

Rough-edged drama packs a wallop

This film biography is an entertaining movie of a total thug who tookwhat he wanted at the point of a gun. Dillinger was indeed a publicenemy no. 1 who turned on friend and foe alike to suit his own twistedpurposes. The mastermind of assorted criminal activities, Dillingerinsisted on being the boss and demanded allegiance from each gangmember, using an itchy trigger finger to make his point. The featurehas a film noir look, and Anne Jeffreys is just right as a typicalfemme-fatale of this era. Jeffreys, a perfect clone of Virginia Mayo,is pleasing to the eye but doesn't really have much to do except sufferabuse from Dillinger, but evens the score in her own good time. Tierneyis dashing and tragic as Dillinger but is overshadowed by Edmund Lowe'sclever underplaying of Specs. Eduardo Ciannelli and Elisha Cook Jr. arealso good. Marc Lawrence's natural menacing visage is a big plus butit's Ciannelli who makes the best impression as a grumpy, suspiciousgunman.

ftm68_99 (2012-05-11 18:53)

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.

Michael_Elliott (2012-05-11 04:16)

Good

Dillinger (1945) *** (out of 4) Incredibly fast moving Monogram flick tells the story of John Dillinger(Lawrence Tierney) who rises to the top only to fall to the bottomagain. The main thing here is the performance from Tierney who reallycaptures that bad guy image. He doesn't play it as one of those funnyguy roles but instead he plays it for a mean s.o.b. and he nails everysingle second of the film. The direction is nice throughout and there'ssome good style even with the low budget. Low budget filmmakers shouldcertainly watch this just to see what you can do with a small budget.The final ten minutes really don't work too well but everything else ispretty good.

LCShackley (2012-05-09 05:20)

Almost completely fictional account of Dillinger's life

This film bears about as close a relation to the facts of Dillinger'slife as Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" did to that other set ofoutlaws. It's amazing that a film made about a decade after thehistorical events could play so loosely with the truth, when theaudience would no doubt remember the real story.It's also a cheap production, with re-usable sets, bad rearprojections, and the substitution of California scenery for the Midwestof the story. The acting isn't bad, but the script feels more like aset of snapshots being flipped as fast as a deck of cards.John Milius (who did his own Dillinger pic in the 70s) does acommentary on the DVD, which is interesting, but he's also unsure ofmany facts in the story. May I recommend the book "Dillinger's WildRide" if you'd like a historical, documented account.

mgrindberg (2012-05-08 15:07)

box office melodrama

A brief and pointed bio pic on a tight budget, which dictated a fastand efficient manner, but from a director who knew how to organize thestory in an intriguing way where we see Dillinger (Lawrence Tierney)and his gang (Elisha Cook Jr. and Edmund Lowe, among others) both onthe job robbing banks (above average scenes) and hiding out (way aboveaverage) thanks to the screenplay that captures the internal tension ofa group constantly on the run. It's a stellar 40's version of a 30'sgangster film, with double crossing and cheating lurking behind a lotof the action, and a couple of very well cast against type charactersin Edmund Lowe as Specs and Anne Jeffries as Dillinger's waywardgirlfriend.

Pleasehelpmejesus (2012-05-06 18:15)

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.

bullterrier100 (2012-05-05 23:21)

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'.

whpratt1 (2012-05-01 01:40)

GREATEST CAST OF FILM ACTORS !

Always enjoy viewing this picture with all the Classicactors, namely:- Edmund Lowe (Specs Green) "Front Page Detective"TV Series'51; Eduardo Ciannelli (Marco Minelli) "Staccato" '59 TV series; MarcLawrence (Doc Madison) "Charlie Chan in Honolulu"'38; Elisha Cook Jr.,(KirkOtto) "I Wake Up Screaming" '42 and last but not least, Lawrence Tierney(John Dillinger) "Reservoir Dogs" '92. This film was truly the greatestDillinger film ever produced because of these great actors, who were thebest gangster actors in the 1930's and 40's in Hollywood. However, LawrenceTierney really was the Star of this film, with his hateful cold blooded eyesof death, his eyes of evil and hatred over powered his audiences and showedhow the real Dillinger's mind actually worked. This film will alwaysportray the true story of JOHN DILLINGER!

J. Spurlin (2012-04-30 09:49)

Monogram Pictures manages to crank out a tough, exciting action picture which strains at its tiny budget but provides good entertainment

The bargain-basement movie studio, Monogram Pictures, managed to crankout a tough, exciting action picture based (very loosely) on the lifeof John Dillinger and made a sensation out of its star, LaurenceTierney, who at one point turns to the audience and fires his gun(shades of the 1903 shocker, "The Great Train Robbery"). Looking intoTierney's cold, cruel eyes, we don't doubt he could have done it to usfor real. "Dillinger" strains hard against its tiny budget, taking alot of obvious short-cuts, including the liberal use of stock footage,but we nevertheless get a well-told story with plenty of action andviolence. 1945 movies couldn't be as explicit as today's, but lots ofhorrible things take place just off camera. Meanwhile, good things takeplace on camera. Anne Jeffreys, as the blonde femme fatale, did a lotof low-budget stuff, but she's very good. Dillinger's gang includes thetop-notch character actors, Edmund Lowe, Elisha Cook Jr., EduardoCiannelli and Marc Lawrence.