I posted this at the old, Nerve-affiliated site during the lead-up to Michael Mann’s new gangster classic “Public Enemies”–it’s almost as if I had a premonition that I might not have the chance to do it, and get paid for it, if I waited until the movie actually opened. Now it has opened, and rocks, in my estimation, although not everyone agrees. So I’d like to call your attention to this piece again, for anyone else who feels compelled to spend the Fourth of July weekend seeking their ideal movie Dillinger elsewhere.
–Phil Nugent
Bonnie and Clyde had their doomed-love thing; Baby Face Nelson, who played super-villain team-up with Dillinger for a while, was a genuinely scary thug; Machine Gun Kelly was a hype. But Dillinger, conscious of the good it did him to keep world opinion on his side, actively courted the public with his dimples and courtly manners, so that even his hostages came out talking to reporters about what splendid company he’d been. He tried to avoid the use of violence, pulled off dazzling escapes, and stuck to robbing banks, at a time when nobody had a good word for those financial institutions. It was partly in response to Dillinger’s popularity that Hollywood created the movie image of the endearing gangster, and Dillinger himself was not immune to the charms of that image: the movie he was exiting when he was shot down by Purvis’s men was Manhattan Melodrama, a juicy ear of corn in which Clark Gable played a lovable rapscallion named Blackie whose best boyhood pal (William Powell) grew up to be District Attorney. When Blackie rubs out a nogoodnik who was threatening to spread some damaging slander about his buddy, who’s getting ready to run for Governor, Powell is forced to prosecute Blackie for murder, while Blackie sits through the trial grinning in pleasure at his pal’s sturdy principles and courtroom flair. Blackie’s last act is to warn Powell, who’s now Governor, not to even think about commuting his death sentence, before heading to the electric chair with a smile on his face and a swagger in his walk, still cocky and loyal as all the bedamned. Presumably Dillinger spent his last minutes in the theater feeling suitably flattered.
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