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Wonderful character development!

A Masterpiece!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

..........so said Gramp Maple (character actor, Charley Grapwin in THE PETRIFIED FOREST. With that little bit of dialog, so skillfully delivered in dialect, the supporting player instantly divided the Crime Drama into two Sub Genres; those being the Organized "Mafia" type variety and the Stick-up Guys on the Run type. Obviously we know where this one lies.ONCE AGAIN, TO borrow from yet another film source and reference. we say: "Most of what follows is true." With our tip of the hat and sincerest thanks we owe a debt of gratitude to BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID's production team of William Goldman (writer), George Roy Hill (director) and John Foreman & Paul Monash (producers).BUT SO IT is that there is a basically true story being told, albeit one that was either cut down in some respects and yet at the same time, generously embellished in others. With a running time of about 1 hour and 10 minutes, it has a certain economy of story telling that wastes not any footage whatsoever. The on screen story moves and never bores.OF PARTICULAR INTEREST to any film buff who is worth his weight in salt is the assembled cast. The cast is composed of a large group of tried and true veterans of probably hundreds of movies. We have Edmund Lowe, former leading man from the last days of the Silents to the early Talkies, but still a a big enough name to draw attention. Next up as situated in the co-starring status is Anne Jeffreys, who had a long and productive career in film and television.FILLING OUT THE scorecard is a large contingent of guys who were no strangers to Crime Drama. And there certainly must have been a shuttle service operating between the multiple shooting locations and Warner Brothers' Studios. We say this because Marc Lawrence, Elisha Cook, Jr., Ludwig Stossel, Victor Killian and Dewey Robinson were frequent employees (though not exclusive) there.THEN WE HAVE the opening title card that declares "Introducing Lawrence Tierney". This was brief and to the point and certainly a model of brevity. It was also serving notice that his would be a very prolific and successful run in Tinsel Town. Perhaps his ascension to the level of "Star Status" was just a tad short; but he was around for some time, working right up to the year 2000.* ANOTHER INTERESTING OBSERVATION is how this film seemingly has influenced many other movies that followed. As evidence, we present: BONNIE & CLYDE, BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID and even WHITE HEAT. That's not to say that this King Brothers Production didn't borrow from others. Just one look at the extensive scenes portrayed as being in prison were carefully crafted after the close study of the best in the genre; that being at Warner Brothers.WELL JUST IMAGINE, all of this from 'Poverty Row' charter member, Monogram Studios! Ain't these Americans clever, Schultz!NOTE: * Mr. Tierney's resume included late career appearances as a regular on HILL STREET BLUES and as the California Angels Manager in THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD.

It's too bad that the first film tribute to the baddest bandit of the last century was done by Poverty Row Monogram Pictures. And while Lawrence Tierney is certainly brutal enough to portray that aspect of John Dillinger's personality, the charm that was also part of Dillinger was left out. It's possible a good deal was left on the cutting room floor of Monogram.Both Johnny Depp's Public Enemies and even more so the film Dillinger that starred Warren Oates in the title role were far closer to the truth than this was. To be sure Dillinger's legendary escape from an Indiana jail with a fake wooden gun and the matter of his demise were included if not completely accurately. You couldn't have a film about Dillinger without them.No deep psychological insights into John Dillinger here. He was just a mean anti-social individual who took to a life of crime. In most other times he would have not been glamorized. But this was The Great Depression and bankers were not popular back in those days. They were foreclosing left and right and when they weren't doing that they were failing, robbing people of life savings. So if Dillinger and his kind were taking out withdrawals their way, who really cared?Dillinger while in prison for a two bit convenience store stickup meets up with old time bank robber Edmund Lowe and the rest of the gang which consists of Eduardo Ciannelli, Elisha Cook, and Marc Lawrence. Tierney as Dillinger bust them out of the joint after he's finished his sentence and takes over the mob from Lowe. He also meets up with Anne Jeffreys who becomes the infamous lady in red.Certainly Depp and Oates got more out of the Dillinger role than Tierney did. But what Tierney got was a career and in a limited way he did capture part of the Dillinger mystique. Sad this film was not done at a major studio though.

Amazing that 60+ years ago the low-budget Monogram Pictures made this Dillinger movie 9 times better than Universal's 2009 sorry looking mess, "Public Enemies." This 1945 movie grabs you from the opening credits and keeps your interest for the entire 70 minutes. That's right, 70 minutes. There's no need to pad this story into a 2 hour + boring mess.To begin with, and all-important, it's true that Lawrence Tierney was born to play Dillinger. He's perfect. Johnny Depp maybe was born to play Jack Sparrow, but he stumbles around looking stupid in the 2009 film.Just everything about the 1945 clicks like clockwork. Just one example is the simple-but-effective shootout at the Biograph Theater. The 2009 film ought get special honors for incredible multiple layers of Bad Film-making 101. In the 1945 gut-level film we have a bored and broke Dillinger taking his girl to the neighborhood movie for a few laughs. In the old days people went in and out of movie theaters all day, not at starting time. Thus when Dillinger steps outside there are just two people leaving, not the 500 marching out in "Public Enemies." So the FBI can easily spray him with bullets without hitting other folks.This fine Monogram Picture can be found on Netflix and other places. No need to settle for today's silly trash.

A brief and pointed bio pic on a tight budget, which dictated a fast and efficient manner, but from a director who knew how to organize the story in an intriguing way where we see Dillinger (Lawrence Tierney) and his gang (Elisha Cook Jr. and Edmund Lowe, among others) both on the job robbing banks (above average scenes) and hiding out (way above average) thanks to the screenplay that captures the internal tension of a group constantly on the run. It's a stellar 40's version of a 30's gangster film, with double crossing and cheating lurking behind a lot of the action, and a couple of very well cast against type characters in Edmund Lowe as Specs and Anne Jeffries as Dillinger's wayward girlfriend.