#PUBLIC ENEMIES CAST MOVIE#

When he was four, his mother passed away. In other words, as coined by a Bryan Burrough from LA Times: “Yes, there is fictionalization in this movie, including some to the timeline, but that’s Hollywood if it was 100% accurate, you would call it a documentary.” Who Was John Dillinger? Photo Credits: Federal Bureau of Investigationīorn on June 22, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indiana, Dillinger’s childhood was not all sunshine and rainbows. Even so, the inaccuracy of the film lies in its details. Case in point: Chicago’s Lincoln Avenue, where John Dillinger died, was very well restored in context with real events, and even his infamous Crown Point Indiana jailbreak has been traversed quite well to the screen. So, in conclusion, on the surface, the film’s portrayal of cars, locations, and the overall period setting are very close to reality.

#PUBLIC ENEMIES CAST MOVIE#

This, in itself, gave the creators of the movie enough freedom to imagine portions of the gangster’s life. Although several accounts of his crimes are backed up with meticulous historical research, his escapes, robberies, FBI evasions, and most of all, his motives abound several conspiracy theories. More so, some still believe that he is still alive even though the FBI claimed that he was shot dead in Chicago. Many aspects of John Dillinger’s life still remain unknown. And though it is, to an extent, true to the gangster’s life, it takes several historical liberties of its own. ‘Public Enemies’ comes with the “BASED ON A TRUE STORY” intertitle pretty much like every other gangster movie out there.

For the most part, the movie works closely with all the events mentioned in Bryan Burrough’s book Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI 1933-1934. As mentioned before, it depicts the life of gangster John Dillinger and the struggles faced by the FBI to bring him down. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents) and orchestrating epic betrayals-from the infamous 'Lady in Red' to the Chicago crime boss Frank Nitti-were Purvis, the FBI and their new crew of gunfighters able to close in on Dillinger.Yes, ‘Public Enemies’ is based on a true story. However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis' men in wild chases and shootouts. He made Dillinger America's first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Purvis, the dashing 'Clark Gable of the FBI.' His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone-from his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression.īut while the adventures of Dillinger's gang-later including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi)-thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaw's capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI. No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. Edgar Hoover's fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public. In the action-thriller 'Public Enemies,' acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard in the story of legendary Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger (Depp)-the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J.

Public enemies cast