Dillinger

Summary

“I’d like to withdraw my entire account.”

John Milius was a pretty hot screenwriter in 1972. He had worked on Dirty Harry (without credit,) and written the screenplays for The Life and Time of Judge Roy Bean, Magnum Force, and Jeremiah Johnson. He was able to leverage this success and take a reduced fee to be allowed to direct his screenplay Dillinger for Samuel Arkoff’s American International Pictures. The resulting picture is a violent and rambunctious cops and robbers film that plays fast and loose with facts. MGM has given the picture a Blu-ray release that utilizes the same 2K transfer as Arrow Video’s 2016 release. I had missed that release so I was happy to check out MGM’s Blu-ray.

In Indiana in 1933, John Dillinger (Warren Oates) robs a bank explaining that they have the honor of being robbed by the John Dillinger Gang. In Kansas City, during the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, G-Man Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson) had lost five good men while they were escorting bank robber Frank Nash. J. Edgar Hoover had entrusted him to track down and capture or kill six wanted men – Babyface Nelson, Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, Wilbur Mad Dog Underholl, Handsome Jack Klutas, and John Dillinger. He plans to smoke a cigar over their dead bodies. Dillinger meets Billie Frechette at a bar that he robs. Despite a rough beginning to their relationship, she becomes his lover and goes with him and his gang as they rob banks. The film tracks the numerous crimes of Dillinger while also showing the numerous showdowns between Purvis’s men and the most wanted.

Dillinger honestly might have been better named Dillinger and Purvis because it spends nearly equal screentime following the criminal as on the pursuit of Dillinger and others by Purvis. The script by Milius did not adhere to the exact facts of the shootouts, showdowns, and robberies, instead choosing to write the film as more of an American folk tale. Ben Johnson was maybe twice as old as the actual Purvis had been when the events took place, but in a film like this, who cares? The joy of the picture is watching great character actor Warren Oates take center stage as a notorious Robin Hood style bank robber. Having Ben Johnson hot on his trail just makes too much sense to worry about factual accuracy. Milius fills the picture with violent shootouts and tough guy dialogue. As many have mentioned, Milius is a gun collector and received a rare gun as part of his payment for making the film. The movie fetishizes gunplay, but never fails to entertain. In many ways, Dillinger anticipates the amped up violence that would be more widespread in action films of the Eighties or in Tarantino style crime pictures. The film is helped along by a bevy of great supporting actors – Harry Dean Stanton, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Dreyfuss, and more. The picture was made fairly inexpensively, but cinematographer Jules Brenner does fine work within the confines of the budget. Overall, I had a fun time watching this film that should appeal to folks who enjoyed The Wild Bunch.

Video

Dillinger was given a Blu-Ray release in 2016 by Arrow Video. This release utilizes the same transfer as that release, which should be welcome news for fans of the picture. Here is how Arrow described their restoration:

“Dillinger has been exclusively restored in 2K resolution for this release by Arrow Films and is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound. The original 35mm interpositive was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin registered 4K Northlight scanner and picture grading was completed on a DaVinci Resolve. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and light scratches were removed using PF Clean software. Overall image stability and instances of density fluctuation were also improved. Scanning was done at DeLuxe Burbank and all grading and restoration was completed at Pinewood Studios.”

Presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in 1080p, the transfer looks pretty good. This film was made fairly inexpensively and Milius did not seem to be pushing to make a particularly “pretty” film. The resulting picture is rough and tough like the action onscreen. I think that fans of the film should be pretty happy with how things look while also understanding that a new color grade and HDR could still only go so far if a 4K was ever prepared.

Audio

The LPCM 2.0 Mono track replicates the original sound design of the film. The picture has a lot of gunfire in it so you can expect the film to be pretty loud. The dialogue is clear. 

Supplements:

• Theatrical Trailer
• Picture Gallery

Overall Scores:

Video: 3.75/5

Audio: 4/5

Supplements: .5/5

Overall – 4/5

Dillinger is a rowdy biographical picture that doesn’t let the facts get in the way of telling a good story. John Milius was ahead of his time in terms of violent darkly comic storytelling and you can see his influence in later directors who took note. The reason to watch the film is to see the great Warren Oates in the lead role. Oates is one of my favorite character actors, so it would be impossible for me to dislike this picture. He is paired with similarly great supporting actors Ben Johnson, Geoffrey Lewis, Harry Dean Stanton, Richard Dreyfuss, and more. Fans of Sixties and Seventies cinema probably will want to see the film based on those names. I had a good time watching the picture. MGM has given the film a re-release that utilizes the same transfer as the 2016 Blu-ray release from Arrow Video. The Blu-ray features pretty good technical specs that should please fans unless some boutique label decides to give the picture a new 4K release. Unfortunately, MGM has not ported over the supplements from the Arrow release, so fans who love the film may still need to seek out that out of print and expensive disc. Overall, I was happy to add this release to my collection.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.