Dillinger

Released by: Arrow Video
Released on: April 26th, 2016.
Director: John Milius
Cast: Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Richard Dreyfuss, Michelle Phillips, Cloris Leachman
Year: 1973
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The Movie:

The first feature film to be directed by John Milius would be 1974's Dillinger, a film based on the exploits of real-life gangster John Dillinger produced to cash-in on the box office gold that was struck earlier by Warner Brothers' hit Bonnie And Clyde. The end result is not a perfect film, but it is a damn good one that proves to be interesting to look back on while still putting entertainment value front and center.

The titular lead in the film is played by Warren Oates - who really is a great choice. We meet up with him in 1933 after a deadly fire fight in Kansas City that leaves a quintet of Feds lying dead. Despite the fact that Dillinger wasn't involved, he's now become the target of F.B.I Bureau Chief Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson). And with that, we're off.

The film then follows Dillinger as the feds close in on him. He goes on a bank robbing spree with help from his crew: Homer Van Meter (Harry Dean Stanton), Harry Pierpont (Geoffrey Lewis), Eddie Martin (John Martino) and Charles Mackley (John P. Ryan). They cross state lines and by doing so, create a bit of a panic across the mid-western United States. While this is going on, Purvis and his team lay waste to anyone and everyone they can track down that may have been involved in the earlier massacre. Dillinger slows down just long enough to get romantically involved with a beautiful hooker named Billie Frechette (Michelle Phillips). Eventually he's locked up, but not for long, and one daring escape later, he's teamed up with equally notorious hoods Pretty Boy Floyd (Steve Kanaly) and Lester 'Baby Face' Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) for yet more bank-robbing mayhem. But Purvis? He's bound and determined to shoot Dillinger down... and anyone even remotely familiar with the story knows how this has to end.

This might not be particularly factual, but history be damned, Dillinger is a very entertaining period gangster picture and first time director Milius (working off of his own script here) runs with it. Yeah, fine, more attention to the actual events that inspired all of this probably could have made for more serious viewing, that's a very fair complaint and for that reason the film works better as pop art than a serious cinematic treatment of a very violent time in American history. Having said that, when you've got Warren Oates with his hair all slicked back looking ever-so-dapper in his double breasted suit brandishing all manner of firearms, well, you're already half way there, right? Oates shines here. Granted, he shines in pretty much everything he ever appeared in but as John Dillinger he's slick, charming and devilishly dangerous. He completely owns the role and even if everyone else in the film were horrible, this would still be worth seeing simply because his work here is so fun to watch.

Thankfully, that's not the case. Harry Dean Stanton is just as good as Oates, and that's high praise indeed, while Geoffrey Lewis, John Martino and John P. Ryan all give their supporting parts plenty of character. Steve Kanaly is pretty solid as Pretty Boy Floyd and while Richard Dreyfuss is an… odd casting choice for Baby Face Nelson he's also a lot of fun in the part, if not always completely believable. On top of that you get a ridiculously gorgeous Michelle Phillips as the love interest and hey, check out Cloris Leachman Anna Sage, the infamous 'Woman In Red.' Like Dreyfuss, she's an unconventional casting choice but she too is fun to watch. And Ben Johnson as the guy chasing all of these crooks across the flatlands? He's great! He's obsessive, maybe even a little insane, but he makes for a great foil to Oates' lead and it's a treat seeing two veterans of The Wild Bunch back in action together a few years after Bloody Sam used them so well.

Fast paced, filled with plenty of period detail and plenty violent (the shoot outs happen often and they are pretty damn bloody), Dillinger makes for fine, gritty, gangster-laden entertainment. It might not be realistic or particularly factual but hey, this is the movies, not a history lesson. Enjoy it for what it is - a larger than life portrayal of a legendary criminal done with plenty of style and polish.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Arrow brings Dillinger to Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 taken from a “Brand new 2K restoration of the film from original film materials.” The movie looks, in a word, excellent. There's an impressive level of detail in pretty much every shot and loads of texture and depth to the image. Grain is present, as it should be, but there isn't really any actual print damage to complain about. Colors look great, nice and accurate, while flesh tones are warm and natural looking without coming across as too pink. The disc is free of compression artifacts, edge enhancement and any obvious noise reduction - this is pleasingly film like in every way you'd hope it would be.

The English language LPCM Mono track is also of very good quality if louder than you might expect it to be. Dialogue is clean, clear and easy to follow and the score has nice depth and range. Hiss and distortion are never an issue and the levels are properly balanced throughout. When those machine guns go off, you'll get quite a jolt. Optional English subtitles are provided.

Extras start off with a fact-filled audio commentary from Stephen Prince, the man who wrote Savage Cinema and Screening Violence. He's clearly a fan of the film as he goes into quite a bit of detail about its background, noting how and why Milius was the man who wound up directing the film. He also offers up some pretty interesting insight into what makes Warren Oates the right man to bring the character to life the way that he does in the film while going on to provide plenty of background information on the other cast and crew members, the locations and the actual historical events that are portrayed in the film.

The disc also includes three newly shot interviews, the first of which is a ten minute piece with the film's producer, Lawrence Gordon. He alludes to the fact that Milius might have been a little tough to work with but doesn't really give us much detail as to why. He also gives us a quick look at how he got into film and his thoughts on Dillinger and those he worked with on the project. Director Of Photography Jules Brenner gets twelve minutes in front of the camera to talk about shooting the film. Here he notes how Milius' inexperience behind the camera led to his helping the director with more than just camerawork. The third and final interview gets composer Barry De Vorzon in front of the camera for twelve minutes to share some stories about how he got into composing for film before going on to discuss his work on Dillinger specifically. All three are pretty interesting and do a fine job of shedding some light on the good and the bad that happened on set while this film was being made.

Rounding out the extras on the disc are an extensive still gallery, the film's original theatrical trailer, menus and chapter selection.

In addition to what's included on the Blu-ray disc, Dillinger also comes packaged with a DVD version of the movie inside the clear Blu-ray case. We also get a slick reversible sleeve featuring original poster art on one side and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips on the reverse side. Also tucked inside the case is a full color booklet that contains some writing on the film from Kim along with a set report that contains an interview with Milius and a nice selection of stills and accompanying images/artwork.

The Final Word:

Dillinger takes plenty of liberties and leaves out just as many admittedly very important details but it doesn't matter. This is slick, fast paced and good God almighty, that cast? Amazing! Arrow have done right by John Milius' criminally underrated directorial debut and given the picture a gorgeous Blu-ray debut loaded with extras. Don't miss this one - highly recommended!

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!