This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

As primarily character actors, you don't get many chances to catch Warren Oates and Ben Johnson at the top of a bill, but they get the opportunity here in this Seventies gangster romp featuring many of the top hoodlum names of the era. My instincts tell me that most of this story was probably fictitious, and without the time or inclination to check out the details, I'll just say that it was an entertaining flick if you go for this kind of stuff.The film opens with an 'Introducing' Michelle Phillips credit, an early picture for the former Mamas and Papas singer. Though third billed right after the nominal stars of the picture, I didn't get a sense that she had a major impact on the story, even though she wound up as John Dillinger's (Oates) moll following his virtual kidnap of her in a run down barroom. She certainly didn't find herself in league with the era's infamous Bonnie and Clyde pair, though she did manage to squeeze off a few effective machine gun rounds in the latter part of the story.There's some interesting casting for Dillinger's associates, folks like Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter, Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont, and a young Richard Dreyfuss aptly chosen as Lester 'Baby Face' Nelson. That scene where Dillinger works over the fresh mouthed Nelson was one of those instances that didn't ring true to me. If it happened, I'm surprised Nelson would have stuck around.The coolest scene in my estimation took place right after Dillinger maneuvered his way out of the Lake County Jail, freeing Reed Youngblood (Frank McRae) and grabbing a guard and the warden for a brief period as hostages. As they make good their escape, Dillinger has his driver pull over so he can rob a bank! That I believe, is what they call chutzpah!

Dillinger is another example of great 70's American filmmaking. This is a well made pic and when you've got actors of great stature like Oates and Johnson, this somehow guarantees you're in for a great ride and the strong performances don't stop here. Even Dallas's Steven Kanaly as one of Dillinger's gang impresses in what is a very violent film, the likes of a similar film, Boxcar Bertha. Many films have been made of John Dillinger, this one the only one I've seen. Dillinger was one of the most feared bank robbers who just kept robbing. It was in his blood. No way in hell, could you make a guy like this stop. From the movie's start that has him robbing a teller, he pre warns the clerk, as not to get ideas, saying "This is the greatest moment in your life, don't make it your last". Oates depicts a range of emotions of the famous John Dillinger, his flaws, etc. He had a baby like nature, about him, someone who refused to grow up. The same could be said for Richard Dreyfuss who shines, in his much younger days as the smart alecky, cocky, Babyface Nelson, if stealing the scenes from the great Oates, who's performances are always of high accolade quality. Of course, it ends bloodily of course, with his execution out front of a cinema, in front of many shocked public. Dillinger openly admits how his mates wanting out careers, while he wanted to steal people's money, and here again is a prime example of how crime doesn't pay. Kanaly's running, slowly dying scene is memorable.

The 1973 film version of the (criminal) life of notorious bank robber John Dillinger, not really a remake of the 1945 film of the same title but a re-imagining of its eponymous character's career in crime, is hugely entertaining, featuring a star turn performance from Warren Oates that shows that the actor had major star potential, hampered, sadly, by his short stature, which doesn't really figure in the film as its director, John Milius, manages somehow to make Oates look taller than he was.Allegedly made on the cheap by American-International, it doesn't look cheap to me. It has, in its modest way, a kind of epic sweep, as we see Dillinger and his gang move through the Midwest like a tornado. The supporting roles are mostly played by young, at the time unknown players, one of which, Richard Dreyfuss, strangely well cast as Baby Face Nelson, went on to a starring career. As Dillinger's squeeze, Michelle Phillips is surprisingly effective and very sexy. There's good work, too, from Steve Kanaly and, especially, Harry Dean Stanton, who plays the most likable of the Dillinger gang.A problem I have with the film, and it's a fairly big one, is Ben Johnson's performance as FBI man Melvin Purvis. A former stunt man, Johnson became an accomplished player in western films, had a fine, mellow voice and a pleasing presence. He was not, however, a versatile actor, and this hurts Dillinger, as Johnson has the second biggest part in the film, and director Milius seems to favor him. Johnson looks his age, well past fifty at the time, and doesn't strike me as trim enough to be an FBI man. But if he was otherwise good casting this could be overlooked. Johnson simply lacks the authority, the heroic presence, to be Dillinger's nemesis, especially Dillinger as electrifying played by Warren Oates. Johnson was an actor who could steal scenes from major stars, hold his own with the best of them; and yet when "handed" scene after scene in Dillinger he just doesn't measure up. Worse, he often comes off as smug when what he should really be conveying is confidence, competence at what he does.With better casting in the Purvis role this Dillinger might have been a classic. As it is, it's excellent. The action scenes are done to perfection, nearly choreographed, I suspect, and yet they feel real none the less. There isn't a wasted moment in the film. Indeed, it could have been longer and worked just as well, maybe even better. The characters could have been more fleshed out; and some sections in the film, the one in the gang's Little Bohemia retreat in particular, could, with more time, greatly enhanced this already very well made film. John Milius was on a roll when he made this one, never fulfilled his potential. I wonder what went wrong.

Near the beginning, after it's been established that outlaw John Dillinger (Warren Oates), is an egomaniacal rapist, another bandit of the 1930s is cornered in a farm house and surrounded by the FBI. Second-in-command Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson), surveys the situations, sticks a lighted cigar in his mouth, picks up two loaded .45-caliber automatics, and stalks off into the distant house alone. Bang, bang, bang. Purvis emerges alone from the house, carrying the female hostage, the miscreant dead. All in long shot.If you're enthralled by stories like Red Riding Hood, this should have considerable appeal.Oh, it's as exciting as it is mindless. Pretty Boy Floyd meets his demise dramatically. Multiple violations of the civic code. Plenty of shoot outs with Tommy guns and pistols. Blood all over.As history, it stinks. Few remember Melvin Purvis as an FBI hero, partly, I would guess, because of his name. Melvin PURVIS? We all remember J. Edgar Hoover, who fired Melvin Purvis because he was a rival in the quest for public attention though.The picture was written and directed by John Milius. He's the guy who had it written into his contract that, should any animals be shot and killed in the course of one of his productions, he should be the designated shooter. Milius is the guy, a compleat gun freak, who had Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the Spanish-American war shouting quotations from Henry V -- "Saint Crispin's Day" and all that.Exciting, yes, and complete garbage. "I knew I'd never take him alive, and I didn't try too hard neither." That is, kill 'em all and let God sort them out.You'll just love it.