Public Enemies
Encyclopedia
Public Enemies is a 2009 American crime
drama film
directed by Michael Mann and written by Mann, Ronan Bennett
and Ann Biderman
. It is an adaptation
of Bryan Burrough
's non-fiction
book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. Set during the Great Depression
, the film chronicles the final years of the notorious bank robber John Dillinger
(Johnny Depp
) as he is pursued by Federal Bureau of Investigation
agent Melvin Purvis
(Christian Bale
), and his relationship with Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard
), as well as Purvis' pursuit of Dillinger associates and fellow criminals Homer Van Meter
(Stephen Dorff
) and Baby Face Nelson
(Stephen Graham
).
Burrough originally intended to make a television miniseries
about the Depression-era crime wave in the United States, but he decided to write a book on the subject instead. Mann developed the project and some scenes were filmed on location where certain events depicted in the film occurred, though the film is not entirely historically accurate.
(Channing Tatum
), Federal Bureau of Investigation
agent Melvin H. Purvis
(Christian Bale
) is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover
(Billy Crudup
) to lead the hunt for John Dillinger (Johnny Depp
), declaring the first national "War on Crime". Purvis shares Hoover's belief in using scientific methods to battle crime, ranging from cataloging fingerprints to tapping telephone lines.
In between a series of bank robberies, Dillinger meets Billie Frechette
(Marion Cotillard
) at a restaurant and woos her by buying her a fur coat. Frechette falls for Dillinger even after he reveals his identity, and the two become inseparable.
Purvis leads a failed ambush at a hotel where he believes Dillinger is staying; an agent is killed by Baby Face Nelson
(Stephen Graham
), who escapes with Tommy Carroll
(Spencer Garrett
). Purvis requests that Hoover bring in professional lawmen who know how to catch criminals dead or alive, including Texas "cowboy" Charles Winstead
(Stephen Lang
).
Police find Dillinger and arrest him and his gang in Tucson, Arizona
, after a fire breaks out at the Hotel Congress. Purvis arrives that evening and talks with Dillinger, who is extradited to the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, where he is locked up by Sheriff Lillian Holley (Lili Taylor
) pending trial. Dillinger and other inmates use a fake gun to escape the jail. Dillinger is unable to see Frechette, who is under tight surveillance. Dillinger learns that Frank Nitti
's (Bill Camp) Chicago Outfit
associates are unwilling to help him because Dillinger's crimes are motivating the federal government to prosecute interstate
crime, which imperils Nitti's bookmaking racket
.
Carroll goads Dillinger into a bank robbery in Sioux Falls with Baby Face Nelson. Despite thinking Nelson hasn't the discipline for his style of robbery, Dillinger participates. As feared, Nelson fires on those in the bank; during their escape, both Dillinger and Carroll are shot, the latter fatally, and they have to leave him behind. The group retreat to the Little Bohemia Lodge
in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
, and realize their haul is significantly less than Nelson said it would be. Dillinger hopes he can free the rest of his gang from prison, including Pierpont and Makley, but "Red" Hamilton (Jason Clarke
) convinces him this is unlikely.
Purvis and his men apprehend Carroll and torture
him to learn the gang's location. Purvis organizes an ambush at Little Bohemia. Dillinger and Hamilton escape separately from Nelson and the rest of the gang. Agents Winstead and Hurt (Don Frye
) pursue Dillinger and Hamilton through the woods, engaging them in a gunfight in which Hamilton is fatally wounded. Trying to escape along the road, Nelson, Shouse and Van Meter hijack a Bureau car, killing Purvis's partner Carter Baum (Rory Cochrane
) in the process. After a car chase, Purvis and his men kill Nelson and the rest of the gang. Hamilton dies that night and Dillinger buries his body.
Dillinger meets Frechette, telling her he plans to commit one more robbery that will pay enough for them to escape together. When Dillinger drops her off at a tavern he thinks is safe, she is captured by law enforcement. Frechette is beaten during an unsupervised interrogation to learn Dillinger's whereabouts, which she does not reveal; Purvis and Winstead eventually arrive and intervene on her behalf. Dillinger meets with Alvin Karpis
(Giovanni Ribisi
), who tries to recruit Dillinger in a train robbery with the Barker Gang. Dillinger agrees to participate, intending to flee the country the next day. He receives a note from Billie through her lawyer, Louis Piquett (Peter Gerety
), telling him not to try to break her out of jail, but to wait until she is released to start a new life together.
Through Zarkovich, Purvis enlists the help of madam
and Dillinger acquaintance Anna Sage
(Branka Katić
), threatening her with deportation
if she does not cooperate and uses her as his spy. She agrees to set up Dillinger, who she believes will come to hide out with her. Dillinger and Sage see Manhattan Melodrama
at the Biograph Theater
. After the film, Purvis signals other agents upon seeing them leave. Dillinger spots the police but is shot multiple times before he can draw his gun. Winstead, who shot Dillinger through the head, listens to Dillinger's last words. Purvis departs to inform Hoover of Dillinger's death.
Winstead tells Frechette, still incarcerated, that he thinks Dillinger's dying words were, "Tell Billie for me, 'Bye bye Blackbird. The closing text reveals that Melvin Purvis quit the Federal Bureau of Investigation
in 1935 and died by his own hand in 1960, and that Billie lived out of the rest of her life in Wisconsin
following her release in 1936.
Stephen Graham
plays Baby Face Nelson
and Channing Tatum
makes a cameo as Pretty Boy Floyd
. Dillinger's gang include Jason Clarke
as Red Hamilton
, David Wenham
as Pete Pierpont
, Spencer Garrett
as Tommy Carroll
, Christian Stolte
as Charles Makley
, James Russo
as Walter Dietrich, and Michael Vieau as Ed Shouse, Jr. Other criminals featured in the film include Giovanni Ribisi
as Alvin Karpis
, John Ortiz
as Phil D'Andrea, Domenick Lombardozzi
as Gilbert Catena, Bill Camp as Frank Nitti
, and Michael Bentt
as Herbert Youngblood, who helped Dillinger in his Crown Point jailbreak. Ortiz said in a January 2008 MTV interview that he had been cast as Nitti.
The film also cast Rory Cochrane
as Agent Carter Baum, Carey Mulligan
as Carol Slayman, John Michael Bolger
as Martin Zarkovich, Branka Katić
as Anna Sage
, Emilie de Ravin
as Barbara Patzke, Shawn Hatosy
as Agent John Madala, Don Frye
as Clarence Hurt, Matt Craven
as Gerry Campbell, Lili Taylor
as Sheriff Lillian Holley, David Warshofsky
as Warden Baker, Peter Gerety
as Louis Piquett, and Leelee Sobieski
as Polly Hamilton. Jazz musician Diana Krall
makes a cameo appearance singing "Bye Bye Blackbird
" as Dillinger and Frechette dance together for the first time.
_1.jpg)
Public Enemies is based on Bryan Burrough
's 2004
non-fiction
book, Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. Burrough had originally begun researching the subject with the aim of creating a miniseries
. The idea was accepted by HBO and Burrough was made an executive producer, along with Robert De Niro
's Tribeca Productions
, and was asked to write the screenplay. However, Burrough had no experience in screenwriting, and says his drafts were probably "very, very bad. Ishtar
bad." He began simultaneously writing a non-fiction book, which he found easier, spending two years working on it while the interest in the miniseries disappeared. Burrough's book was set to be published in the summer of 2004 and he asked HBO to return the movie rights. They agreed and after the book was released, the rights were re-sold to production companies representing Michael Mann and Leonardo DiCaprio
, the latter of whom was interested in playing John Dillinger. Burrough met with a representative and then heard nothing for three years. The actor eventually left the project to appear in Martin Scorsese
's Shutter Island.
Mann had written a screenplay about Alvin Karpis in the 1980s which was never produced. After reading an excerpt from Burrough's book in Vanity Fair, he eventually worked to develop a film based on the book with producer Kevin Misher. Novelist and screenwriter Ronan Bennett
had written a screenplay about Che Guevara which Mann had intended to develop, but the project was shelved as Steven Soderbergh
was already working on his two-part biopic about Guevara
. Starting in 2006, Bennett worked for over 18 months on adapting Burrough's book, writing several drafts. Former NYPD Blue writer and Southland creator Ann Biderman
rewrote the screenplay with Mann, who polished it before shooting began. Of the screenplay, Burrough has said "it's not 100 percent historically accurate. But it's by far the closest thing to fact Hollywood has attempted, and for that I am both excited and quietly relieved."
on March 17, 2008 and continued in the Illinois cities of Chicago
, Aurora
, Joliet
and Lockport
; and the Wisconsin cities of Oshkosh
, Beaver Dam
, Milwaukee, Madison
and several other places in Wisconsin; including the Little Bohemia Lodge
in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
, the actual location of a 1934 gun fight between Dillinger and the FBI. Some parts of the film were shot in Crown Point, Indiana
, the town where Dillinger was imprisoned and subsequently escaped from jail. The actual 1932 Studebaker
used by Dillinger during a robbery in Greencastle, Indiana
was also used during filming in Columbus, borrowed from the nearby Historic Auto Attractions
museum.
The decision to shoot parts of the film in Wisconsin
came about because of the number of high quality historic buildings. Mann, who had been a student at University of Wisconsin–Madison, scouted locations in Baraboo
and Columbus
as well as looking at 1930s-era cars from collectors in the Madison
area. In addition, the film was shot on actual historical sites, including the Little Bohemia Lodge
, and the old Lake County
jail in Crown Point
, Indiana
, where Dillinger staged his most famous escape where legend has it he fooled jail officers with a wooden gun and escaped in the sheriff's car. Scenes were shot at places that he frequented in Oshkosh
. The courthouse in Darlington
is the location for the courthouse scenes. A bank robbery scene was shot inside the Milwaukee County Historical Society
, a former bank in Milwaukee that still has much of the original period architecture.
In late March 2008 portions of the film were shot at Libertyville High School
. Footage includes one of the school's science labs, an office, the school's front entrance, and the locker rooms.
In April 2008 the production filmed in Oshkosh. Filming occurred downtown and at Pioneer Airport, including scenes shot using a historic Ford Trimotor
airliner owned by the Experimental Aircraft Association
. Later that month, filming started at the Little Bohemia Lodge
. In April and May 2008, film crews shot on the grounds of Ishnala, a historic restaurant in the Wisconsin Dells
area.
The film became a flash point in the public debate about the "film tax credit
s" that are offered by many states. The state of Wisconsin gave NBC Universal $4.6 million in tax credits, while the film company spent just $5 million in Wisconsin during filming.
Michael Mann, the director, decided to shoot the movie in HD format instead of using the traditional 35 mm film.
composed the score of Public Enemies. Before Goldenthal wrote any music, he and Mann "sifted through tons and tons of American blues" as the director had talked about Billie Holliday's music "from the very beginning." Goldenthal said, "My job was chiefly composing dramatic music that didn't necessarily have to sound like it came from 1931 or 1933. It could be timeless." Goldenthal previously worked with Mann on Heat (1995). He commented that Mann "doesn't like too many twists and turns in the music's structure. He really responds to things that evolve very, very slowly. He wants music that the images, the edits, the dialogue can float above without it corresponding too much."
, with the first trailer
being released shortly after on March 5, 2009. Public Enemies had its world premiere in Chicago on June 19, 2009, and was screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival
on June 23, 2009. The film was given wide release in the United States on July 1.
and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
with $25,271,675. The following weekend it had a 45.5% drop to $13,794,240 for a total of $66,221,110. The next three weekends the movie would go on to have decent drops of 46% or less. As of January 18, 2010 the film grossed $97.1 million domestically with a worldwide gross of $214.1 million in revenue, more than twice its reported production budget.
Public Enemies was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United States December 8, 2009. The two-disc special edition features a commentary track by the director and featurettes about the making of the film and the historical figures depicted in the film. In promotion of the home media release, the multiplayer browser game Mafia Wars
featured collectible "loot" from characters in the film.
, out of 237 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. It currently holds a 70/100 from Metacritic
, which indicates "generally favorable reviews." Rob James from Total Film
gave the film 4/5 stars, stating: "This superstar crime thriller emerges as something surprising, fascinating and technically dazzling." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone
, who gave the film 3.5/4 stars, said "It's movie dynamite." Ross Miller of Movie World gave the film 4.5/5 stars, and called the film, "a competent, compelling accomplishment that rings true and feels real from start to finish."
Most critics reviewing the film praised individual performances, specifically Depp as Dillinger. Roger Ebert
, who gave it a 3.5/4 stars, claimed that "This Johnny Depp performance is something else. For once an actor playing a gangster does not seem to base his performance on movies he has seen. He starts cold. He plays Dillinger as a fact." Billy Crudup's performance was also praised, with his performance being described as "disarmingly good" by Variety
s Todd McCarthy.
Critics also gave praise to the film's cinematography and set pieces. Manohla Dargis
of The New York Times
stated that "Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" is a grave and beautiful work of art. Shot in high-definition
digital by a filmmaker who's helping change the way movies look, it revisits with meticulous detail and convulsions of violence a short, frantic period in the life and bank-robbing times of John Dillinger."
While most critics praised the film, others expressed displeasure. Critic Liam Lacey, of The Globe and Mail
, believed that the film was missing "any image of the economic misery that made Dillinger a folk hero" while also stating that "the most regrettable crime here is the way that Mann, trying to do too much, robs himself of a great opportunity." Similarly, Richard Corliss
of TIME magazine
claimed that the film's emphasis on docudrama
allowed for "precious little dramatic juice".
, the gunfight at the Little Bohemia Lodge
, and Dillinger's death near the Biograph Theater
in Chicago were all filmed where they actually happened. Burrough's non-fiction book on which the film is based details the demise of multiple infamous criminals in a 14-month period in 1933–34. In focusing on John Dillinger, Mann and co-writers Biderman and Bennett omitted Bonnie and Clyde
entirely, briefly included only one member of the Barker gang (Alvin Karpis
), and left out Pretty Boy Floyd except for his death.
In Public Enemies, Dillinger participates in a 1933 prison break from Indiana State Prison
and frees some of his associates in a shootout. In reality, Dillinger did help smuggle weapons into the prison for his associates, he was not there during the escape (as he was imprisoned in Lima, Ohio
at the time) and "few shots were fired" according to historian Elliott Gorn. Dillinger's preexisting friendship with those he helped break out, who had taught Dillinger how to rob banks while he was in prison with them previously, is not presented. Mann explained that "[Dillinger and his associates] employed techniques picked up from the military by a man [...] [who] mentored Walter Dietrich, the man who died at the beginning of the movie, who mentored Dillinger. So Dillinger's time in prison was really a post graduate course in robbing banks, but what really interested me was he doesn't so much get out of prison when he's released but he explodes out". Purvis is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover after personally killing Pretty Boy Floyd
in an apple orchard in the film. Floyd was actually killed four months after Dillinger's death, and Purvis was just one of several agents who fired on Floyd. He was also killed in an open field beside a barn, not in an apple orchard.
During a phone call with Hoover, Purvis requests assistance from experienced cops in the film, a decision that Hoover actually made on his own. In reference to Dillinger's escape from Crown Point, Mann said "[Dillinger] didn't take six or seven people hostage, he took 17 officers hostage with that wooden gun he had carved. It wouldn't be credible if you put it in a movie, so we had to tone it down." In the course of Dillinger's 1933–34 crime spree, he is depicted as killing multiple people; Gorn writes that Dillinger himself "probably murdered just one man," - a police officer who had been shot during a holdup in East Chicago, Indiana. Purvis was in charge of the Bureau of Investigation's office in Chicago as depicted in the film, but fellow agent Samuel Cowley lead the Dillinger investigation in its final months before Dillinger's death. Homer Van Meter
and Baby Face Nelson
are personally shot to death by Purvis after a vehicular pursuit from the Little Bohemia Lodge in the film, but both were actually killed by law enforcement officers in separate incidents one and four months, respectively, after Dillinger died.
In Public Enemies, Dillinger and Purvis have a brief conversation in person while Dillinger is incarcerated. In reality, they came close to seeing each other, but never actually exchanged words. In the film, Dillinger walks into the detective bureau of a Chicago police station unrecognized and asks an officer for the score of a baseball game being broadcast on the radio, something he actually did according to Mann and Depp, however the game being broadcasted is anachronistic for the time period. Additionally, Winstead hears Dillinger's last words – "Bye, bye, blackbird" – and later relays them to Frechette in the film. Burrough wrote that Dillinger's lips were reportedly moving just after he fell from being shot outside the Biograph Theater and that "Winstead was the first to reach him", but what he might have said is unknown (not to mention that his speech may have been slurred due to his injuries).
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Michael Mann and written by Mann, Ronan Bennett
Ronan Bennett
Ronan Bennett is a Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family headed by William H. and Geraldine Bennett at 420 Merville Garden Village in the Whitehouse area of Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. Since its development in the late-1940s, Merville has...
and Ann Biderman
Ann Biderman
Ann Biderman is an American film and television writer. She is the creator and executive producer of the critically acclaimed NBC/TNT series Southland, and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Drama Series for an episode of NYPD Blue.-Career:In the 2008 to 2009...
. It is an adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of Bryan Burrough
Bryan Burrough
Bryan Burrough is an American author and correspondent for Vanity Fair. He has written five books: Barbarians at the Gate , Vendetta: American Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra , Dragonfly , Public Enemies and The Big Rich...
's non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. Set during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, the film chronicles the final years of the notorious bank robber John Dillinger
John Dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...
(Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
) as he is pursued by Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
agent Melvin Purvis
Melvin Purvis
Melvin Horace Purvis, Jr. was an American law enforcement official and Federal Bureau of Investigation agent. He was given the nickname "Little Mel" because of his short stature...
(Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....
), and his relationship with Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard
Marion Cotillard
Marion Cotillard is a French actress and singer. She garnered critical acclaim for her roles in films such as La Vie en Rose, My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument, Taxi, Furia and Jeux d'enfants...
), as well as Purvis' pursuit of Dillinger associates and fellow criminals Homer Van Meter
Homer Van Meter
Homer "Wayne" Van Meter was an American criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson.-Early life:...
(Stephen Dorff
Stephen Dorff
Stephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
) and Baby Face Nelson
Baby Face Nelson
Lester Joseph Gillis , known under the pseudonym George Nelson, was a bank robber and murderer in the 1930s. Gillis was known as Baby Face Nelson, a name given to him due to his youthful appearance and small stature...
(Stephen Graham
Stephen Graham (actor)
Stephen Graham is an English actor from Kirkby, Liverpool. He is best known for his roles as Tommy in the movie Snatch, Combo in This Is England and its four-part television sequel This Is England '86, Danny Ferguson in Occupation, Billy Bremner in The Damned United, notorious bank robber Baby...
).
Burrough originally intended to make a television miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
about the Depression-era crime wave in the United States, but he decided to write a book on the subject instead. Mann developed the project and some scenes were filmed on location where certain events depicted in the film occurred, though the film is not entirely historically accurate.
Plot
After killing Pretty Boy FloydPretty Boy Floyd
Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was an American bank robber. He operated in the West South Central States, and his criminal exploits gained heavy press coverage in the 1930s. Like most other prominent outlaws of that era, he was killed by law enforcement officers...
(Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum
Channing Matthew Tatum is an American actor and film producer. He began his career as a fashion model and appearing in television commercials for Pepsi and Mountain Dew before turning to film roles...
), Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
agent Melvin H. Purvis
Melvin Purvis
Melvin Horace Purvis, Jr. was an American law enforcement official and Federal Bureau of Investigation agent. He was given the nickname "Little Mel" because of his short stature...
(Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....
) is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
(Billy Crudup
Billy Crudup
William Gaither "Billy" Crudup is an American actor of film and stage. He is well known for his roles as guitarist Russell Hammond in Almost Famous, Will Bloom in Big Fish, and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. He also starred in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dedication, alongside Mandy Moore...
) to lead the hunt for John Dillinger (Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
), declaring the first national "War on Crime". Purvis shares Hoover's belief in using scientific methods to battle crime, ranging from cataloging fingerprints to tapping telephone lines.
In between a series of bank robberies, Dillinger meets Billie Frechette
Evelyn Frechette
Mary Evelyn "Billie" Frechette was an American singer, waitress, convict, and lecturer known for her personal relationship with the bank robber John Dillinger in the early 1930s....
(Marion Cotillard
Marion Cotillard
Marion Cotillard is a French actress and singer. She garnered critical acclaim for her roles in films such as La Vie en Rose, My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument, Taxi, Furia and Jeux d'enfants...
) at a restaurant and woos her by buying her a fur coat. Frechette falls for Dillinger even after he reveals his identity, and the two become inseparable.
Purvis leads a failed ambush at a hotel where he believes Dillinger is staying; an agent is killed by Baby Face Nelson
Baby Face Nelson
Lester Joseph Gillis , known under the pseudonym George Nelson, was a bank robber and murderer in the 1930s. Gillis was known as Baby Face Nelson, a name given to him due to his youthful appearance and small stature...
(Stephen Graham
Stephen Graham (actor)
Stephen Graham is an English actor from Kirkby, Liverpool. He is best known for his roles as Tommy in the movie Snatch, Combo in This Is England and its four-part television sequel This Is England '86, Danny Ferguson in Occupation, Billy Bremner in The Damned United, notorious bank robber Baby...
), who escapes with Tommy Carroll
Tommy Carroll (criminal)
Thomas Leonard "Tommy" Carroll was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. A boxer-turned-criminal, he committed numerous robberies during the 1920s and 30s as well as being a longtime member of the Dillinger gang....
(Spencer Garrett
Spencer Garrett
Spencer Garrett is an American actor who has appeared in television programs, television films, films, and a few blockbuster productions like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Public Enemies, and Air Force One....
). Purvis requests that Hoover bring in professional lawmen who know how to catch criminals dead or alive, including Texas "cowboy" Charles Winstead
Charles Winstead
Charles Winstead was an FBI Agent in the 1930s-40s, famous for being one of the agents who shot and killed John Dillinger on July 22, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois....
(Stephen Lang
Stephen Lang (actor)
Stephen Lang is an American actor and playwright. He started in theatre on Broadway but is well known for his film portrayals of Stonewall Jackson in Gods and Generals and George Pickett in Gettysburg , as well as for his 2009 roles as Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar and as Texan lawman Charles...
).
Police find Dillinger and arrest him and his gang in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, after a fire breaks out at the Hotel Congress. Purvis arrives that evening and talks with Dillinger, who is extradited to the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, where he is locked up by Sheriff Lillian Holley (Lili Taylor
Lili Taylor
Lili Anne Taylor is an American actress notable for her appearances in such award-winning indie films as Mystic Pizza, Say Anything..., Short Cuts and I Shot Andy Warhol, and the acclaimed TV show Six Feet Under....
) pending trial. Dillinger and other inmates use a fake gun to escape the jail. Dillinger is unable to see Frechette, who is under tight surveillance. Dillinger learns that Frank Nitti
Frank Nitti
Francesco Raffaele Nitto , also known as Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti, was an Italian American gangster. One of Al Capone's top henchmen, Nitti was in charge of all strong-arm and 'muscle' operations...
's (Bill Camp) Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
associates are unwilling to help him because Dillinger's crimes are motivating the federal government to prosecute interstate
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
crime, which imperils Nitti's bookmaking racket
Racket (crime)
A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes...
.
Carroll goads Dillinger into a bank robbery in Sioux Falls with Baby Face Nelson. Despite thinking Nelson hasn't the discipline for his style of robbery, Dillinger participates. As feared, Nelson fires on those in the bank; during their escape, both Dillinger and Carroll are shot, the latter fatally, and they have to leave him behind. The group retreat to the Little Bohemia Lodge
Little Bohemia Lodge
The Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin was the site of the 1934 gun battle between John Dillinger and his gang, and Melvin Purvis and the FBI. The Lodge was built in 1927, suffered a fire in 1928, and was rebuilt in 1930...
in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
Manitowish Waters is a town in Vilas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 646 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of Manitowish Waters is located in the town.-Tourism:The town is best known for its chain of lakes...
, and realize their haul is significantly less than Nelson said it would be. Dillinger hopes he can free the rest of his gang from prison, including Pierpont and Makley, but "Red" Hamilton (Jason Clarke
Jason Clarke (actor)
Jason Clarke is an Australian actor.-Life and career:Clarke has made many television appearances, including Murder Call, Wildside, Home and Away, Blue Heelers, All Saints, Farscape, White Collar Blue and Stingers...
) convinces him this is unlikely.
Purvis and his men apprehend Carroll and torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
him to learn the gang's location. Purvis organizes an ambush at Little Bohemia. Dillinger and Hamilton escape separately from Nelson and the rest of the gang. Agents Winstead and Hurt (Don Frye
Don Frye
Donald Frye is a retired American mixed martial artist, actor, and professional wrestler. Frye rose to fame fighting in early Ultimate Fighting Championship events, winning the UFC 8 and Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournaments...
) pursue Dillinger and Hamilton through the woods, engaging them in a gunfight in which Hamilton is fatally wounded. Trying to escape along the road, Nelson, Shouse and Van Meter hijack a Bureau car, killing Purvis's partner Carter Baum (Rory Cochrane
Rory Cochrane
Rory Cochrane is an American actor. He is known for playing Ron Slater in Dazed and Confused, Lucas in Empire Records, and Tim Speedle in CSI: Miami.-Early life:...
) in the process. After a car chase, Purvis and his men kill Nelson and the rest of the gang. Hamilton dies that night and Dillinger buries his body.
Dillinger meets Frechette, telling her he plans to commit one more robbery that will pay enough for them to escape together. When Dillinger drops her off at a tavern he thinks is safe, she is captured by law enforcement. Frechette is beaten during an unsupervised interrogation to learn Dillinger's whereabouts, which she does not reveal; Purvis and Winstead eventually arrive and intervene on her behalf. Dillinger meets with Alvin Karpis
Alvin Karpis
Alvin Francis Karpis , nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile, was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last "public enemy" to be taken.-Early life:Karpis was born to Lithuanian immigrants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Topeka,...
(Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi is an American actor. His film credits include Gone in 60 Seconds, Boiler Room, Saving Private Ryan, The Mod Squad, The Gift, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Lost in Translation and more recently, Public Enemies and Avatar...
), who tries to recruit Dillinger in a train robbery with the Barker Gang. Dillinger agrees to participate, intending to flee the country the next day. He receives a note from Billie through her lawyer, Louis Piquett (Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety is an American actor.Gerety began acting while a student at Boston University, participating in productions at the Charles Playhouse. In 1965, he joined the Trinity Square Repertory Company, a resident theater company in Providence, Rhode Island where he appeared in over 125...
), telling him not to try to break her out of jail, but to wait until she is released to start a new life together.
Through Zarkovich, Purvis enlists the help of madam
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
and Dillinger acquaintance Anna Sage
Ana Cumpanas
Ana Cumpănaş or Anna Sage, nicknamed Woman in Red , was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian prostitute and brothel owner in the American cities of Chicago and Gary...
(Branka Katić
Branka Katic
Branka Katić is a Serbian actress known for appearing in the movies Black Cat, White Cat and Public Enemies, and in the TV series Big Love.-Career:...
), threatening her with deportation
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
if she does not cooperate and uses her as his spy. She agrees to set up Dillinger, who she believes will come to hide out with her. Dillinger and Sage see Manhattan Melodrama
Manhattan Melodrama
Manhattan Melodrama is a 1934 crime melodrama film, produced by MGM, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and starring Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy...
at the Biograph Theater
Biograph Theater
The Biograph Theater, at 2433 North Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois, was originally a movie theater but now presents live productions. It is notable as the location where bank robber John Dillinger was shot by FBI agents after watching a gangster movie on July 22, 1934...
. After the film, Purvis signals other agents upon seeing them leave. Dillinger spots the police but is shot multiple times before he can draw his gun. Winstead, who shot Dillinger through the head, listens to Dillinger's last words. Purvis departs to inform Hoover of Dillinger's death.
Winstead tells Frechette, still incarcerated, that he thinks Dillinger's dying words were, "Tell Billie for me, 'Bye bye Blackbird. The closing text reveals that Melvin Purvis quit the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
in 1935 and died by his own hand in 1960, and that Billie lived out of the rest of her life in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
following her release in 1936.
Cast
- Johnny DeppJohnny DeppJohn Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
as John DillingerJohn DillingerJohn Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...
. Depp was involved in a film adaptation of ShantaramShantaram (novel)Shantaram is a 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts, in which a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escaped from Pentridge Prison flees to India where he lives for 10 years...
which was postponed in late 2007, allowing him to star in Public Enemies. He was officially cast that December. Depp described Dillinger as "that era's rock and roll star. He was a very charismatic man and he lived the way he wanted to and didn't compromise." He felt "some kind of inherent connection" to Dillinger through one of his grandfathers, who ran moonshine, and his stepfather, who committed burglaries and robberies and spent time in the same prison Dillinger helped his associates escape from. Depp could not find a recording of Dillinger's own voice, but did find recordings of Dillinger's father. He said when he heard Dillinger's father's voice, "I started to do the math and think, 'Well, he was raised basically a farm boy in southern Indiana.' [...] I was born and raised in Owensboro, Kentucky, which is about 70 miles from where Dillinger was born and that's when it all clicked for me. I knew how he moved. I knew how he talked." - Christian BaleChristian BaleChristian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....
as Melvin PurvisMelvin PurvisMelvin Horace Purvis, Jr. was an American law enforcement official and Federal Bureau of Investigation agent. He was given the nickname "Little Mel" because of his short stature...
. Bale was not familiar with who Purvis was before making the film. Bale "spent a great deal of time" with Purvis' son Alston and met other family and friends of Purvis, who died in 1960. Bale said he "never viewed Purvis as having a real personal zeal for taking down Dillinger. I think that he was somebody who was very understanding in acknowledging why the public felt Dillinger to be almost a hero. He wasn't unaware of the problems of the day and the terrible deprivation of the majority of the population." He thought Purvis' "driving motivation was that he truly believed in Hoover and had a great desire to realize Hoover's brilliant vision. That's really what I played with in my mind throughout this movie was the conflict between wanting to achieve that vision but recognizing Hoover's own compromises which Purvis wasn't entirely happy with making. In fact, very unhappy with making." - Marion CotillardMarion CotillardMarion Cotillard is a French actress and singer. She garnered critical acclaim for her roles in films such as La Vie en Rose, My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument, Taxi, Furia and Jeux d'enfants...
as Billie FrechetteEvelyn FrechetteMary Evelyn "Billie" Frechette was an American singer, waitress, convict, and lecturer known for her personal relationship with the bank robber John Dillinger in the early 1930s....
. Cotillard was cast after NineNine (film)Nine is a 2009 musical-romantic film directed and produced by Rob Marshall. The screenplay, written by Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella, is based on Arthur Kopit's book for the 1982 musical of the same name, which was itself suggested by Federico Fellini's semi-autobiographical film 8½...
(2009) was postponed. Multiple American actresses also wanted the part; Mann found Cotillard "focused and artistically ambitious". She trained herself to speak in a French-Canadian-MenomineeMenomineeSome placenames use other spellings, see also Menomonee and Menomonie.The Menominee are a nation of Native Americans living in Wisconsin. The Menominee, along with the Ho-Chunk, are the only tribes that are indigenous to what is now Wisconsin...
-Wisconsin-Chicago accent and only spoke English for three months during filming. Cotillard "really wanted to know about [Frechette's] childhood" and met with relatives of Frechette in northern Wisconsin. "At a young age, she was sent to a boarding school, and it was a very difficult place where they tried to erase everything that was Indian in her. And I think that she encountered there a great injustice, and she shared with Dillinger a suspicion of authority. I think the two of them saw that in each other and they fell in love immediately, and there was a very strong connection between them", Cotillard said.
- Billy CrudupBilly CrudupWilliam Gaither "Billy" Crudup is an American actor of film and stage. He is well known for his roles as guitarist Russell Hammond in Almost Famous, Will Bloom in Big Fish, and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. He also starred in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dedication, alongside Mandy Moore...
as J. Edgar HooverJ. Edgar HooverJohn Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
. Crudup was cast as the future director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by April 2008.
- Stephen DorffStephen DorffStephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
as Homer Van MeterHomer Van MeterHomer "Wayne" Van Meter was an American criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson.-Early life:...
, one of Dillinger's associates and a fellow bank robber.
- Stephen LangStephen Lang (actor)Stephen Lang is an American actor and playwright. He started in theatre on Broadway but is well known for his film portrayals of Stonewall Jackson in Gods and Generals and George Pickett in Gettysburg , as well as for his 2009 roles as Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar and as Texan lawman Charles...
as Texas lawman Charles WinsteadCharles WinsteadCharles Winstead was an FBI Agent in the 1930s-40s, famous for being one of the agents who shot and killed John Dillinger on July 22, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois....
, one of the men who shot Dillinger.
Stephen Graham
Stephen Graham (actor)
Stephen Graham is an English actor from Kirkby, Liverpool. He is best known for his roles as Tommy in the movie Snatch, Combo in This Is England and its four-part television sequel This Is England '86, Danny Ferguson in Occupation, Billy Bremner in The Damned United, notorious bank robber Baby...
plays Baby Face Nelson
Baby Face Nelson
Lester Joseph Gillis , known under the pseudonym George Nelson, was a bank robber and murderer in the 1930s. Gillis was known as Baby Face Nelson, a name given to him due to his youthful appearance and small stature...
and Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum
Channing Matthew Tatum is an American actor and film producer. He began his career as a fashion model and appearing in television commercials for Pepsi and Mountain Dew before turning to film roles...
makes a cameo as Pretty Boy Floyd
Pretty Boy Floyd
Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was an American bank robber. He operated in the West South Central States, and his criminal exploits gained heavy press coverage in the 1930s. Like most other prominent outlaws of that era, he was killed by law enforcement officers...
. Dillinger's gang include Jason Clarke
Jason Clarke (actor)
Jason Clarke is an Australian actor.-Life and career:Clarke has made many television appearances, including Murder Call, Wildside, Home and Away, Blue Heelers, All Saints, Farscape, White Collar Blue and Stingers...
as Red Hamilton
John Hamilton (gangster)
John "Red" Hamilton was a Canadian criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger.-Prison break:...
, David Wenham
David Wenham
David Wenham is an Australian actor who has appeared in movies, television series and theatre productions. He is known in Hollywood for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Carl in Van Helsing and Dilios in 300 and Neil Fletcher in Australia...
as Pete Pierpont
Harry Pierpont
Harry Pierpont was a Prohibition era gangster. He is perhaps most noted for being a friend and mentor of John Dillinger....
, Spencer Garrett
Spencer Garrett
Spencer Garrett is an American actor who has appeared in television programs, television films, films, and a few blockbuster productions like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Public Enemies, and Air Force One....
as Tommy Carroll
Tommy Carroll (criminal)
Thomas Leonard "Tommy" Carroll was an American bank robber and Depression-era outlaw. A boxer-turned-criminal, he committed numerous robberies during the 1920s and 30s as well as being a longtime member of the Dillinger gang....
, Christian Stolte
Christian Stolte
Christian Stolte is an American actor. He played corrections officer Keith Stolte on the show Prison Break and Charles Makley on Public Enemies. He also plays Clarence Darby in the movie Law Abiding Citizen.-External links:...
as Charles Makley
Charles Makley
Charles Makley , also known as Charles McGray and Fat Charles, was an American criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger....
, James Russo
James Russo
James Vincent Russo is an American film and television actor. He has starred in over 90 films in three decades.-Early life:...
as Walter Dietrich, and Michael Vieau as Ed Shouse, Jr. Other criminals featured in the film include Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi is an American actor. His film credits include Gone in 60 Seconds, Boiler Room, Saving Private Ryan, The Mod Squad, The Gift, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Lost in Translation and more recently, Public Enemies and Avatar...
as Alvin Karpis
Alvin Karpis
Alvin Francis Karpis , nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile, was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last "public enemy" to be taken.-Early life:Karpis was born to Lithuanian immigrants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Topeka,...
, John Ortiz
John Ortiz
John Ortiz is an American actor and Artistic Director/Co-Founder of LAByrinth Theater Company.-Career:In 1993, John made his film debut as Al Pacino’s young cousin ‘Guajiro’ in Carlito’s Way. He went on to appear in over 30 films including El Cantante, Take the Lead, Before Night Falls, Amistad,...
as Phil D'Andrea, Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenico "Domenick" Lombardozzi is an American actor best known for his role as Thomas "Herc" Hauk on The Wire. Lombardozzi was inspired to act by the film State of Grace.-Filmography:...
as Gilbert Catena, Bill Camp as Frank Nitti
Frank Nitti
Francesco Raffaele Nitto , also known as Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti, was an Italian American gangster. One of Al Capone's top henchmen, Nitti was in charge of all strong-arm and 'muscle' operations...
, and Michael Bentt
Michael Bentt
Michael A. Bentt is a film and television actor and retired heavyweight boxer. Of Jamaican lineage, he was born in East Dulwich, London, but raised in the Cambria Heights section of Queens in New York City...
as Herbert Youngblood, who helped Dillinger in his Crown Point jailbreak. Ortiz said in a January 2008 MTV interview that he had been cast as Nitti.
The film also cast Rory Cochrane
Rory Cochrane
Rory Cochrane is an American actor. He is known for playing Ron Slater in Dazed and Confused, Lucas in Empire Records, and Tim Speedle in CSI: Miami.-Early life:...
as Agent Carter Baum, Carey Mulligan
Carey Mulligan
Carey Hannah Mulligan is an English actress. She made her film debut as Kitty Bennet in Pride & Prejudice . She had roles in numerous British programmes and, in 2007, made her Broadway debut in The Seagull to critical acclaim....
as Carol Slayman, John Michael Bolger
John Michael Bolger
John Michael Bolger is an American actor who resides in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan's Westside.Bolger can be seen in the 2009 summer release of Michael Mann's Public Enemies, portraying 1930s East Chicago, Indiana Detective Martin Zarkovich. Public Enemies stars Johnny Depp, Christian...
as Martin Zarkovich, Branka Katić
Branka Katic
Branka Katić is a Serbian actress known for appearing in the movies Black Cat, White Cat and Public Enemies, and in the TV series Big Love.-Career:...
as Anna Sage
Ana Cumpanas
Ana Cumpănaş or Anna Sage, nicknamed Woman in Red , was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian prostitute and brothel owner in the American cities of Chicago and Gary...
, Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin born 27 December 1981)is an Australian actress. She is commonly associated with her roles as Tess Harding on Roswell and Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost....
as Barbara Patzke, Shawn Hatosy
Shawn Hatosy
Shawn Wayne Hatosy is an actor with over 40 film and television credits to his name.-Personal life:Hatosy was born in Frederick, Maryland, the son of Carol , a loan officer, and Wayne Hatosy, a graphic designer and event planning director...
as Agent John Madala, Don Frye
Don Frye
Donald Frye is a retired American mixed martial artist, actor, and professional wrestler. Frye rose to fame fighting in early Ultimate Fighting Championship events, winning the UFC 8 and Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournaments...
as Clarence Hurt, Matt Craven
Matt Craven
-Life and career:Craven was born Matthew John Crnkovich in Port Colborne, Ontario, the son of Joanne Leslie, a hairdresser, and Nick Crnkovich. He has an older sister, Deborah...
as Gerry Campbell, Lili Taylor
Lili Taylor
Lili Anne Taylor is an American actress notable for her appearances in such award-winning indie films as Mystic Pizza, Say Anything..., Short Cuts and I Shot Andy Warhol, and the acclaimed TV show Six Feet Under....
as Sheriff Lillian Holley, David Warshofsky
David Warshofsky
David Warshofsky is an American film and television actor.-Life and career:Warshofsky was born in Saratoga, California. There is some dispute about this. Other sources, some self-contradictory, have listed his place and date of birth as San Francisco in 1961 or 1959, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and...
as Warden Baker, Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety is an American actor.Gerety began acting while a student at Boston University, participating in productions at the Charles Playhouse. In 1965, he joined the Trinity Square Repertory Company, a resident theater company in Providence, Rhode Island where he appeared in over 125...
as Louis Piquett, and Leelee Sobieski
Leelee Sobieski
Liliane Rudabet Gloria Elsveta Sobieski , known professionally as Leelee Sobieski, is an American actress. Sobieski achieved recognition in her mid-teens for her performance in the 1998 film Deep Impact...
as Polly Hamilton. Jazz musician Diana Krall
Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...
makes a cameo appearance singing "Bye Bye Blackbird
Bye Bye Blackbird
"Bye, Bye, Blackbird" is a song published in 1926 by the American composer Ray Henderson and lyricist Mort Dixon. It is considered a popular standard and was first recorded by Gene Austin in 1926.- Song information :...
" as Dillinger and Frechette dance together for the first time.
Development
Bryan Burrough
Bryan Burrough is an American author and correspondent for Vanity Fair. He has written five books: Barbarians at the Gate , Vendetta: American Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra , Dragonfly , Public Enemies and The Big Rich...
's 2004
2004 in literature
The year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....
non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book, Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. Burrough had originally begun researching the subject with the aim of creating a miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
. The idea was accepted by HBO and Burrough was made an executive producer, along with Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
's Tribeca Productions
TriBeCa Productions
Tribeca Productions, a film and television production company, was co-founded in 1989 by actor Robert De Niro and producer Jane Rosenthal in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of TriBeCa...
, and was asked to write the screenplay. However, Burrough had no experience in screenwriting, and says his drafts were probably "very, very bad. Ishtar
Ishtar (film)
Ishtar is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Elaine May and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as "Rogers and Clarke" – a duo of incredibly untalented lounge singers who travel to Morocco looking for work, and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff.It also starred Isabelle Adjani...
bad." He began simultaneously writing a non-fiction book, which he found easier, spending two years working on it while the interest in the miniseries disappeared. Burrough's book was set to be published in the summer of 2004 and he asked HBO to return the movie rights. They agreed and after the book was released, the rights were re-sold to production companies representing Michael Mann and Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
, the latter of whom was interested in playing John Dillinger. Burrough met with a representative and then heard nothing for three years. The actor eventually left the project to appear in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's Shutter Island.
Mann had written a screenplay about Alvin Karpis in the 1980s which was never produced. After reading an excerpt from Burrough's book in Vanity Fair, he eventually worked to develop a film based on the book with producer Kevin Misher. Novelist and screenwriter Ronan Bennett
Ronan Bennett
Ronan Bennett is a Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family headed by William H. and Geraldine Bennett at 420 Merville Garden Village in the Whitehouse area of Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. Since its development in the late-1940s, Merville has...
had written a screenplay about Che Guevara which Mann had intended to develop, but the project was shelved as Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
was already working on his two-part biopic about Guevara
Che (film)
Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline...
. Starting in 2006, Bennett worked for over 18 months on adapting Burrough's book, writing several drafts. Former NYPD Blue writer and Southland creator Ann Biderman
Ann Biderman
Ann Biderman is an American film and television writer. She is the creator and executive producer of the critically acclaimed NBC/TNT series Southland, and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Drama Series for an episode of NYPD Blue.-Career:In the 2008 to 2009...
rewrote the screenplay with Mann, who polished it before shooting began. Of the screenplay, Burrough has said "it's not 100 percent historically accurate. But it's by far the closest thing to fact Hollywood has attempted, and for that I am both excited and quietly relieved."
Filming
Principal photography began in Columbus, WisconsinColumbus, Wisconsin
Columbus is a city in Columbia and Dodge Counties in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 4,991 at the 2010 census. Columbus is located about northeast of Madison on the Crawfish River. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area...
on March 17, 2008 and continued in the Illinois cities of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Aurora
Aurora, Illinois
Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...
, Joliet
Joliet, Illinois
Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...
and Lockport
Lockport, Illinois
Lockport is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States, that incorporated in 1853. Lockport is located in northeastern Illinois, 30 miles southwest of Chicago, and north of Joliet, at locks connecting Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with the Des Plaines River via the Lockport...
; and the Wisconsin cities of Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...
, Beaver Dam
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
Beaver Dam is a city in Dodge County, Wisconsin, United States, along Beaver Dam Lake and the Beaver Dam River. The population was 16,243 at the 2010 census, making it the second largest city in Dodge County, and the largest city fully located within the county. It is the principal city of the...
, Milwaukee, Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
and several other places in Wisconsin; including the Little Bohemia Lodge
Little Bohemia Lodge
The Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin was the site of the 1934 gun battle between John Dillinger and his gang, and Melvin Purvis and the FBI. The Lodge was built in 1927, suffered a fire in 1928, and was rebuilt in 1930...
in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin
Manitowish Waters is a town in Vilas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 646 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of Manitowish Waters is located in the town.-Tourism:The town is best known for its chain of lakes...
, the actual location of a 1934 gun fight between Dillinger and the FBI. Some parts of the film were shot in Crown Point, Indiana
Crown Point, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 27,317 people and 10,976 households in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 88.20% White, 6.30% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.80% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 1.90% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races...
, the town where Dillinger was imprisoned and subsequently escaped from jail. The actual 1932 Studebaker
Studebaker
Studebaker Corporation was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the...
used by Dillinger during a robbery in Greencastle, Indiana
Greencastle, Indiana
Greencastle is a city in Greencastle Township, Putnam County, Indiana, United States, and the county seat of Putnam County. It was founded in 1821 by Scots-Irish American Ephraim Dukes on a land grant. He named the settlement for his hometown of Greencastle, Pennsylvania...
was also used during filming in Columbus, borrowed from the nearby Historic Auto Attractions
Historic auto attractions
Historic Auto Attractions is an automobile, history and pop culture museum in Roscoe, Illinois, most known for its large collection of artifacts associated with the John F. Kennedy assassination...
museum.
The decision to shoot parts of the film in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
came about because of the number of high quality historic buildings. Mann, who had been a student at University of Wisconsin–Madison, scouted locations in Baraboo
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Baraboo is the largest city in, and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, USA. It is situated on the Baraboo River. Its 2010 population was 12,048 according to the US Census Bureau...
and Columbus
Columbus, Wisconsin
Columbus is a city in Columbia and Dodge Counties in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 4,991 at the 2010 census. Columbus is located about northeast of Madison on the Crawfish River. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area...
as well as looking at 1930s-era cars from collectors in the Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
area. In addition, the film was shot on actual historical sites, including the Little Bohemia Lodge
Little Bohemia Lodge
The Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin was the site of the 1934 gun battle between John Dillinger and his gang, and Melvin Purvis and the FBI. The Lodge was built in 1927, suffered a fire in 1928, and was rebuilt in 1930...
, and the old Lake County
Lake County, Indiana
Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 2010, its population was 496,005, making it Indiana's second-most populous county. The county seat is Crown Point. This county is part of Northwest Indiana and the Chicago metropolitan area. The county contains a mix of urban,...
jail in Crown Point
Crown Point, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 27,317 people and 10,976 households in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 88.20% White, 6.30% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.80% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 1.90% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, where Dillinger staged his most famous escape where legend has it he fooled jail officers with a wooden gun and escaped in the sheriff's car. Scenes were shot at places that he frequented in Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...
. The courthouse in Darlington
Darlington, Wisconsin
Darlington is a city in and the county seat of Lafayette County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 2,451 at the 2010 census. The city is surrounded by the Town of Darlington.-History:...
is the location for the courthouse scenes. A bank robbery scene was shot inside the Milwaukee County Historical Society
Milwaukee County Historical Society
The Milwaukee County Historical is the largest of a network of local historical societies in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1935 and is located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a former bank building that was deeded to the county in the 1960s...
, a former bank in Milwaukee that still has much of the original period architecture.
In late March 2008 portions of the film were shot at Libertyville High School
Libertyville High School
Libertyville High School, or LHS, is a public four-year high school located in Libertyville, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...
. Footage includes one of the school's science labs, an office, the school's front entrance, and the locker rooms.
In April 2008 the production filmed in Oshkosh. Filming occurred downtown and at Pioneer Airport, including scenes shot using a historic Ford Trimotor
Ford Trimotor
The Ford Trimotor was an American three-engined transport plane that was first produced in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and that continued to be produced until June 7, 1933. Throughout its time in production, a total of 199 Ford Trimotors were produced...
airliner owned by the Experimental Aircraft Association
Experimental Aircraft Association
The Experimental Aircraft Association is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Since its inception it has grown internationally with over 160,000 members and about 1,000 chapters worldwide....
. Later that month, filming started at the Little Bohemia Lodge
Little Bohemia Lodge
The Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin was the site of the 1934 gun battle between John Dillinger and his gang, and Melvin Purvis and the FBI. The Lodge was built in 1927, suffered a fire in 1928, and was rebuilt in 1930...
. In April and May 2008, film crews shot on the grounds of Ishnala, a historic restaurant in the Wisconsin Dells
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Dells is a city in south-central Wisconsin, with a population of 2,418 as of the 2000 census. It straddles four counties: Adams, Columbia, Juneau, and Sauk. The city takes its name from the dells of the Wisconsin River, a scenic, glacially formed gorge that features striking sandstone...
area.
The film became a flash point in the public debate about the "film tax credit
Tax credit
A tax credit is a sum deducted from the total amount a taxpayer owes to the state. A tax credit may be granted for various types of taxes, such as an income tax, property tax, or VAT. It may be granted in recognition of taxes already paid, as a subsidy, or to encourage investment or other behaviors...
s" that are offered by many states. The state of Wisconsin gave NBC Universal $4.6 million in tax credits, while the film company spent just $5 million in Wisconsin during filming.
Michael Mann, the director, decided to shoot the movie in HD format instead of using the traditional 35 mm film.
Post-production
Elliot GoldenthalElliot Goldenthal
Elliot Goldenthal is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, and is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original and inventive ways...
composed the score of Public Enemies. Before Goldenthal wrote any music, he and Mann "sifted through tons and tons of American blues" as the director had talked about Billie Holliday's music "from the very beginning." Goldenthal said, "My job was chiefly composing dramatic music that didn't necessarily have to sound like it came from 1931 or 1933. It could be timeless." Goldenthal previously worked with Mann on Heat (1995). He commented that Mann "doesn't like too many twists and turns in the music's structure. He really responds to things that evolve very, very slowly. He wants music that the images, the edits, the dialogue can float above without it corresponding too much."
Release
A preview of Public Enemies was seen at the end of the 81st Academy Awards81st Academy Awards
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2008 and took place February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST...
, with the first trailer
Trailer (film)
A trailer or preview is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the...
being released shortly after on March 5, 2009. Public Enemies had its world premiere in Chicago on June 19, 2009, and was screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...
on June 23, 2009. The film was given wide release in the United States on July 1.
Box office and home media
Public Enemies opened at number three behind Transformers: Revenge of the FallenTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a 2009 American science fiction-action film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is the sequel to the 2007 film Transformers and the second installment in the live-action Transformers series...
and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, also known as Ice Age 3, is a 2009 3-D computer animated film. It is the third installment of the Ice Age series, produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox...
with $25,271,675. The following weekend it had a 45.5% drop to $13,794,240 for a total of $66,221,110. The next three weekends the movie would go on to have decent drops of 46% or less. As of January 18, 2010 the film grossed $97.1 million domestically with a worldwide gross of $214.1 million in revenue, more than twice its reported production budget.
Public Enemies was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United States December 8, 2009. The two-disc special edition features a commentary track by the director and featurettes about the making of the film and the historical figures depicted in the film. In promotion of the home media release, the multiplayer browser game Mafia Wars
Mafia Wars
Mafia Wars is a multiplayer Social network game created by Zynga.In Mafia Wars the gamers play as gangsters building their own mafia. The players fight other players online and complete tasks to gain rewards and strength in the game. The game is a freemium game, meaning it is free to play normally...
featured collectible "loot" from characters in the film.
Critical response
The film received fairly positive reviews from critics. As of December 5, 2009, the film holds a 67% "Fresh" rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, out of 237 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. It currently holds a 70/100 from Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which indicates "generally favorable reviews." Rob James from Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
gave the film 4/5 stars, stating: "This superstar crime thriller emerges as something surprising, fascinating and technically dazzling." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, who gave the film 3.5/4 stars, said "It's movie dynamite." Ross Miller of Movie World gave the film 4.5/5 stars, and called the film, "a competent, compelling accomplishment that rings true and feels real from start to finish."
Most critics reviewing the film praised individual performances, specifically Depp as Dillinger. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, who gave it a 3.5/4 stars, claimed that "This Johnny Depp performance is something else. For once an actor playing a gangster does not seem to base his performance on movies he has seen. He starts cold. He plays Dillinger as a fact." Billy Crudup's performance was also praised, with his performance being described as "disarmingly good" by Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
s Todd McCarthy.
Critics also gave praise to the film's cinematography and set pieces. Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
stated that "Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" is a grave and beautiful work of art. Shot in high-definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
digital by a filmmaker who's helping change the way movies look, it revisits with meticulous detail and convulsions of violence a short, frantic period in the life and bank-robbing times of John Dillinger."
While most critics praised the film, others expressed displeasure. Critic Liam Lacey, of The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, believed that the film was missing "any image of the economic misery that made Dillinger a folk hero" while also stating that "the most regrettable crime here is the way that Mann, trying to do too much, robs himself of a great opportunity." Similarly, Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
of TIME magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
claimed that the film's emphasis on docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
allowed for "precious little dramatic juice".
Historical accuracy
Shortly before the theatrical release of Public Enemies, Burrough wrote that director Michael Mann "impressed [him] as a real stickler for historical accuracy. 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." Dillinger's jailbreak from Crown Point, IndianaCrown Point, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 27,317 people and 10,976 households in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 88.20% White, 6.30% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.80% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 1.90% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races...
, the gunfight at the Little Bohemia Lodge
Little Bohemia Lodge
The Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin was the site of the 1934 gun battle between John Dillinger and his gang, and Melvin Purvis and the FBI. The Lodge was built in 1927, suffered a fire in 1928, and was rebuilt in 1930...
, and Dillinger's death near the Biograph Theater
Biograph Theater
The Biograph Theater, at 2433 North Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois, was originally a movie theater but now presents live productions. It is notable as the location where bank robber John Dillinger was shot by FBI agents after watching a gangster movie on July 22, 1934...
in Chicago were all filmed where they actually happened. Burrough's non-fiction book on which the film is based details the demise of multiple infamous criminals in a 14-month period in 1933–34. In focusing on John Dillinger, Mann and co-writers Biderman and Bennett omitted Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were well-known outlaws, robbers, and criminals who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934...
entirely, briefly included only one member of the Barker gang (Alvin Karpis
Alvin Karpis
Alvin Francis Karpis , nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile, was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last "public enemy" to be taken.-Early life:Karpis was born to Lithuanian immigrants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Topeka,...
), and left out Pretty Boy Floyd except for his death.
In Public Enemies, Dillinger participates in a 1933 prison break from Indiana State Prison
Indiana State Prison
The Indiana State Prison is a maximum security Indiana Department of Corrections prison for adult males; however, minimum security housing also exists on the confines. It is located in Michigan City, Indiana, about east of Chicago. The average daily inmate population in November 2006 was 2,200. ...
and frees some of his associates in a shootout. In reality, Dillinger did help smuggle weapons into the prison for his associates, he was not there during the escape (as he was imprisoned in Lima, Ohio
Lima, Ohio
Lima is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwestern Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton and south-southwest of Toledo....
at the time) and "few shots were fired" according to historian Elliott Gorn. Dillinger's preexisting friendship with those he helped break out, who had taught Dillinger how to rob banks while he was in prison with them previously, is not presented. Mann explained that "[Dillinger and his associates] employed techniques picked up from the military by a man [...] [who] mentored Walter Dietrich, the man who died at the beginning of the movie, who mentored Dillinger. So Dillinger's time in prison was really a post graduate course in robbing banks, but what really interested me was he doesn't so much get out of prison when he's released but he explodes out". Purvis is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover after personally killing Pretty Boy Floyd
Pretty Boy Floyd
Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was an American bank robber. He operated in the West South Central States, and his criminal exploits gained heavy press coverage in the 1930s. Like most other prominent outlaws of that era, he was killed by law enforcement officers...
in an apple orchard in the film. Floyd was actually killed four months after Dillinger's death, and Purvis was just one of several agents who fired on Floyd. He was also killed in an open field beside a barn, not in an apple orchard.
During a phone call with Hoover, Purvis requests assistance from experienced cops in the film, a decision that Hoover actually made on his own. In reference to Dillinger's escape from Crown Point, Mann said "[Dillinger] didn't take six or seven people hostage, he took 17 officers hostage with that wooden gun he had carved. It wouldn't be credible if you put it in a movie, so we had to tone it down." In the course of Dillinger's 1933–34 crime spree, he is depicted as killing multiple people; Gorn writes that Dillinger himself "probably murdered just one man," - a police officer who had been shot during a holdup in East Chicago, Indiana. Purvis was in charge of the Bureau of Investigation's office in Chicago as depicted in the film, but fellow agent Samuel Cowley lead the Dillinger investigation in its final months before Dillinger's death. Homer Van Meter
Homer Van Meter
Homer "Wayne" Van Meter was an American criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson.-Early life:...
and Baby Face Nelson
Baby Face Nelson
Lester Joseph Gillis , known under the pseudonym George Nelson, was a bank robber and murderer in the 1930s. Gillis was known as Baby Face Nelson, a name given to him due to his youthful appearance and small stature...
are personally shot to death by Purvis after a vehicular pursuit from the Little Bohemia Lodge in the film, but both were actually killed by law enforcement officers in separate incidents one and four months, respectively, after Dillinger died.
In Public Enemies, Dillinger and Purvis have a brief conversation in person while Dillinger is incarcerated. In reality, they came close to seeing each other, but never actually exchanged words. In the film, Dillinger walks into the detective bureau of a Chicago police station unrecognized and asks an officer for the score of a baseball game being broadcast on the radio, something he actually did according to Mann and Depp, however the game being broadcasted is anachronistic for the time period. Additionally, Winstead hears Dillinger's last words – "Bye, bye, blackbird" – and later relays them to Frechette in the film. Burrough wrote that Dillinger's lips were reportedly moving just after he fell from being shot outside the Biograph Theater and that "Winstead was the first to reach him", but what he might have said is unknown (not to mention that his speech may have been slurred due to his injuries).