Main Cast: Edmund Lowe, Anne Jeffreys, Lawrence Tierney, Marc Lawrence
Release Year: 1945
Country: US
Run Time: 70 minutes
Plot
Dillinger, the was the ninth effort from the enterprising King Brothers, and their most financially successful film to date. Lawrence Tierney became an overnight cult favorite with his gritty portrayal of maverick bank robber John Dillinger, though top billing is bestowed upon Edmund Lowe as gang chieftain Specs. The film traces Dillinger's criminal career from his first petty theft to his spectacular 1934 demise outside Chicago's Biograph Theater (incidentally, this film was banned in Chicago for several years). Anne Jeffreys plays Dillinger's fictional moll Helen, while Elisha Cook Jr., Marc Lawrence, and Eduardo Ciannelli go through their usual crime-flick paces. The film's set piece is an elaborate armored-car holdup, lifted in its entirety from footage originally shot for Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (1937). Screenwriter Philip Yordan, fresh from his Broadway triumph Anna Lucasta, earned an Academy Award nomination for Dillinger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Max Nosseck's Dillinger (1945) was made on a shoestring budget, far lower than the money allocated for John Milius' 1973 remake, yet it still retains a high reputation, mostly thanks to its noir-ish elements and the intensity of Lawrence Tierney's performance in the title role. Tierney is a dominating presence in this movie and pretty well carries the film, overcoming some obvious gaps in the budget and holes in the script; his eyes have a scary look, and his sheer attractiveness makes him a scary, savage presence. The rest of the movie works mostly because of its threadbare nature; if the director hadn't been hemmed in by a low budget, he might well have tried to elaborate scenes that work all the better because they're made of quick cuts and have minimal (or no) dialogue. Coupled with a frantic pacing -- the picture covers Dillinger's whole criminal career in 70 minutes -- the result is a kind of hybrid film noir, a gangster movie that only works because of its need for a doom-laden visual shorthand, and to keep the story moving, lest anyone realize how cheaply it was being made. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Max Nosseck - Director, Otho Lovering - Editor, Edward Mann - Editor, Dimitri Tiomkin - Composer (Music Score), Jackson Rose - Cinematographer, Frank King - Producer, Maurice King - Producer, Robert Clark - Special Effects, Leon Charles - Screenwriter, Philip Yordan - Screenwriter
