Director: John Milius
Notable Cast: Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips,
Harry Dean Stanton, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Dreyfuss, Steve Kanaly, John P.
Ryan, Frank McRae, Cloris Leachman
While there have been a handful of occasions where John
Dillinger has been the focus of a film, whether it’s a fictionalized tale,
documentary, TV movie, or the like, the 1973 film Dillinger from John Milius tends to be regarded as one of the best.
This is my first time seeing the film personally and I was very excited going
into it as I love the 1930s era gangster films. Tommy guns, fedoras, a general
lack of regard for anything, but yourself. This era makes for great dramatic
and action packed films. Dillinger does not disappoint in this regard. The film
is remarkably artful in many regards, crafting a character from the historical
bank robber that’s enigmatic and building a world around him that’s often as superfluous
as his own personality is, and yet the film never actually strays from the
formulaic main beats of the dramatic action film that the 70s really started to
embrace in the wake of Bonnie and Clyde.
Dillinger is an entertaining gangster,
but it has a heart to it that beats in some unique ways.