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Starring an unbelievably stellar cast featuring Warren Oates and Ben Johnson (Lyle and Tector Gorch in THE WILD BUNCH), Harry Dean Stanton (REPO MAN), John Ryan (IT'S ALIVE), Richard (JAWS) Dreyfuss as a psychotic "Baby Face" Nelson and Michelle Phillips of THE MAMAS AND THE PAPPAS just to name a few, DILLINGER is an incredible look at how the FBI hunted down and brutally executed the Robin Hood of the Depression-era United States and his gang of misfits. John Dillinger has always been a fabled character in the history of US crime and a much loved film biography was released in 1945 starring the great Lawrence Tierney. While that film was an above average b/w programmer elevated by Tierney's commanding presence, this version ups the ante by showing the violent bloodshed in full color and pulling no punches. On orders from FBI head honcho and noted cross-dresser J. Edgar Hoover, Melvin Purvis and his agents methodically tracked the Dillinger gang and killed them one by one until the infamous showdown at the Biograph Theatre where "The Lady In Red", a Madame at the brothel Dillinger was using as a hide-out, sold Dillinger out to Purvis.
The directorial debut of renowned screenwriter John Milius (APOCALYPSE NOW, CONAN THE BARBARIAN), the film moves at a brisk pace and satisfies on many levels. Milius gets some fantastic performances out of his actors. Even though the bigger than life roles are expertly handled by Oates as Dillinger and Johnson as Purvis (who also serves as narrator), the actors with smaller roles still shine, especially Stanton as Homer Van Meter and Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont. While Purvis and his men are depicted as tough as nails G-Men with a job to do, Dillinger and his gang (with the exception of kill-happy Nelson) show many sides to their personalities besides brutality. One great sequence shows Pierpont risking his life to rescue one of his comrades who was shot during a heist only to put him out of his misery when the Feds close in later at their hideout. Dillinger blackens the eyes of his girl Billie Frechette in one scene and is then shown laughing and joking with her in a tender moment when he considers taking a bundle and heading to Mexico to retire. Everything works in this film from the period setting, the breathtaking cinematography by Jules Brenner and the music score by Barry De Vorzon.
This Blu-ray/DVD set is an outstanding release that fans will drool over. The transfer looks great and the sound is bombastic during the shootouts and sweet to the ear when the music is playing. In addition to outstanding mini-documentaries on producer Lawrence Gordon, cinematographer Jules Brenner and composer Barry De Vorzon, there is the exciting trailer and isolated tracks with De Vorzon's incredible soundtrack and the film's sound effects.