J. Spurlin

(2012-04-30 14:30:16)

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.

(2012-04-30 06:56:04)

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.

(2012-04-29 11:15:03)

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

anton-6

(2012-04-29 05:39:02)

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

(2012-04-28 00:10:09)

Dull and dated

Monogram's 1945 Dillinger is a dreary little B-movie that ignores not just period detail but also anything and everything even remotely interesting about the real-life Public Enemy No. 1 in favor of tired fictional clichГѓВ©s and plenty of stock footage from Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (which completely stumps John Milius on the audio commentary: unaware of their provenance, he seems to think they're sequences they ran out of money to finish). It does offer a chance to see a young Lawrence Tierney when he still had a full head of hair, but despite some interesting credits (music by Dimitri Tiomkin, an inexplicably Oscar-nominated screenplay by Philip Yordan) that's pretty much all you can say for it.

bullterrier100

(2012-04-27 14:22:38)

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'.

(2012-04-26 16:10:04)

Dillinger

Poverty Row Monogram's biggest hit dealing with subject matter the major studios agreed not to touch. The budget was so small they had to lift the big heist scene from Fritz Lang's YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, but the taut little script is well cast. Tierney radiates menace and Edmund Lowe as his jailhouse mentor does a nice deterioration from commanding to sniveling. Nice bits of jarring violence, even if off-screen: a face-mauling w/ a broken beer mug, a gunning down of a sweet old couple, and an ax murder. Good, clean fun. 7/10

mgrindberg

(2012-04-26 06:58:49)

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.

sachin

(2012-04-26 18:38:40)

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!!

Michael_Elliott

(2012-04-26 00:45:28)

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.

whpratt1

(2012-04-20 23:01:23)

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!

bkoganbing

(2012-04-20 13:50:48)

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.

Michael O'Keefe

(2012-04-10 19:30:21)

From street punk to Public Enemy #1.

Low budget, high quality B-film depicting the life of gangster JohnDillinger. Seventy minutes of beautiful black & white action. Forentertainment's sake I'm certain there is latitude given in the telling.Lawrence Tierney early in his career gives the performance for which he ismost remembered...Public Enemy Number One. Rounding out the cast of thislittle gem are:Anne Jeffreys, Edmund Lowe and Elisha Cook Jr. Kudos toDimitri Tiomkin for original music.Note:In real life Tierney would be arrested more times thanDillinger.

telegonus

(2012-04-10 01:08:18)

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.

(2012-04-02 03:56:07)

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.

(2012-04-01 21:09:04)

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?

mark.waltz

(2012-03-19 07:51:57)

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.

MARIO GAUCI

(2012-03-18 19:18:10)

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!

(2012-03-11 13:44:26)

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.

(2012-03-10 16:03:44)

Lawrence Tierney becomes a star in vintage crime drama

This is definitely one of Hollywood's first (if not the very first) movies about the notorious gangster, John Dillinger. Lawrence Tierney plays him to perfection as he guns down his victims while his cold, emotionless face shows no remorse. One of the most brutal scenes of all the gangster classics is when Tierney discovers an elderly couple about to phone the police & turn him in, & promptly guns them down. While this isn't a very accurate account of Dillinger's life, the main elements are there, especially the mysterious "lady in red" who betrays Dillinger to the police. Unfortunately, little time is spent on the details of his many bank robberies, but after all, this is a crime drama, not a documentary. Although largely forgotten today, this was a big success back in 1945, making Lawrence Tierney a star. His acclaimed performance in this classic led to starring roles in some great film noirs & gangster dramas: "Born to Kill"-1947, "The Devil Thumbs a Ride"-1947, "Bodyguard"-1948, "Shakedown"-1950, "The Hoodlum"-1951. If you like an entertaining gangster flick & aren't too picky about getting the facts right then this one's for you.