Movie Review of Public Enemies. Review on Public Enemies Movie

Director- Michael Mann

Writers- Ronan Benett, Michael Mann, Ann Biderman and Bryan Burrough.

History

In the 1930's Chicago when USA was under Prohibition Rule and the era was known as Great Depression, 2 outlaws bagged the newspaper headlines more than anyone else. Bank Robber John Dillinger and Gangster Al Capone. The movie is about the tracking down of Dillinger by FBI agent Melvin Purvis. Public Enemies was a term coined by the FBI for the outlaws, George "Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger and Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd.

Plot

John Dillinger(Johnny Depp) is an obsessed bank robber and wants to live a high life. He falls in love with a small time hotel employee, Billie Frechette(Marion Cotillard) and the two become inseparable. FBI Agent, Melvin Purvis(Christian Bale) is determined to hunt down Dillinger after he has escaped Prison 2 times in a row. While Dillinger always manages to escape the deadliest of police encounters, Purvis decides to take services of routine police officers and street tactics to hunt down Dillinger. Like many cops and robbers movies, this one is a constant cat and mouse changse between Purvis and Dillinger.

Critic’s Comments

When you have a great Director, superb starcast and a good story based on real life incidents, it is natural that the expectations from the movie will be sky high. Public Enemies is a good movie with wonderful acting by the starcast(Johnny Depp is sure to get the best actor nomination for the Oscars to be held in 2010). However, when one comes out of the theatre, one seems a tad disappointed. The movie is not as intense as Mann's previous cop and robbers encounter Heat. But this is much better than the previous Farce, Miami Vice and Mann is back with a bang with the usual amazing fight scenes and superb camera work by Mann favourite, Dante Spinotto. The movie is long by Hollywood Standards but one doesnt feel bored due to good editing by Jeffrey Ford and Paul Rubell. All in all, with a drought of good movies, this one is a worth watch in a cinema hall.

Psst –

1) Leonardo Di Caprio was considered for the lead role when the movie was in the story board stage in 2004.

2) The Gunfight in the forest was shot in the actual location where the original encounter took place in 1934.

3) When Dillinger's body was lying in the street outside the Biograph theater, many by-standers dipped handkerchiefs in his blood to keep as a souvenir.

4) Dillinger's quote "we're here for the bank's money, not yours" is based on a real statement he made during the course of a bank robbery and can also be heard in Mann's Heat and Bonnie and Clyde.

5) The movie in the climax, Manhattan Melodrama was also about a bank robber and its French Title was "L'Ennemi public n°1."

6) Anna sage was eventually deported to Romania, 21 months after Dilinger died but she also got a$5000 reward.

7) Made on a budget of$100 million, the movie grossed that much world wide within a month of its release.

Quotes

1) " They ain't tough enough, smart enough or fast enough. I can hit any bank I want, any time. They got to be at every bank, all the time."

2) "The only way you're walking out of this jail cell is when we take you out to execute you; Well, we'll see about that."

3) "Bye bye, blackbird."

4) "What keeps you up nights, Mr. Dillinger? Coffee."

5) " I was raised on a farm in Morrisville, Indiana. My mama ran out on us when I was three, my daddy beat the hell out of me'cause he didn't know no better way to raise me. I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, whiskey, and you. What else you need to know?"

*Oops

*1) "In the scene where John Dillinger(Johnny Depp) is getting ready to leave for the Biograph Theatre, Dillinger checks his pocket watch. The time on the watch says 5:00. After a cut to a closer shot about a second later his watch says 6:30."

2) Baby Face nelson actually died much after Dillinger and not before as shown in the movie.

3) In the 1930's radios, took some time to warm up(Due to the vaccum tubes) and then it started. This didnt happpen when Dillinger is shown switching on the radio.

4) Melvin Purvis did not kill Prtty Boy floyd as depicted in the movie.

5) In the film, Dilinger is said to have been sentenced to Jail for a$50 robbery at a grocery store. In reality the robbery was for$120 and he was Dilinger was urged by his father to confess the crime. The judeg jailed him for assaulting the shop owner and wanted to set an example. He was, however, given parole after 7 years.