Public Enemies

Public Enemies

Director: Michael Mann
Release Date: July 1, 2009
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum
Language: English
Country: United States

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Public Enemies is a 2009 film adaptation of Bryan Burrough’s book Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34 directed by Michael Mann. Based on a book by Bryan Burrough, Enemies is a cat-and-mouse thriller about the early days of the FBI, and one agent’s pursuit of the Depression-era bank robber whose dizzy reign of stickups and near escapes ended in a hail of bullets outside of Chicago’s Biograph Theater in 1934. Dillinger lived fast, died young, and left not only a handsome corpse but a legacy as one of the most notorious criminals of the 20th century.

The crime drama is set during the Great Depression with the focus on the FBI agent Melvin Purvis’ attempt to stop criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd. Christian Bale will play FBI agent Purvis, Johnny Depp will play Dillinger, and Marion Cotillard will play Dillinger’s girlfriend Billie Frechette.

Principal photography began in Columbus, Wisconsin on March 17, 2008 and wrapped in Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and several other places in Wisconsin the end of June 2008, including the famous 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.

In the action-thriller Public Enemies, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard in the incredible and true story of legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger (Depp)the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J. Edgar Hoovers fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public. No one could stop Dillinger. No jail could hold him.

His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyonefrom his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger’s ganglater including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham)thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaw’s capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI. He made Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number One.

Hoover sent in Purvis, the dashing “Clark Gable of the FBI”. However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis’ men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents) who were real gunfighters and orchestrating epic betrayals from the infamous “Lady in Red” to the Chicago crime boss Frank Nittiwere Purvis and the FBI able to close in on Dillinger.

Cast:

  • Johnny Depp as John Dillinger: An American bank robber whose exploits dominated the press during what is sometimes referred to as the public enemy era, between 1931 and 1935.
  • Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis: An FBI agent chosen by J. Edgar Hoover to lead a manhunt to catch Dillinger.
  • Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette: Dillinger’s torch singer girlfriend.
  • Channing Tatum as Pretty Boy Floyd: An American bank robber and alleged killer.
  • Giovanni Ribisi as Alvin Karpis: A noted criminal in the United States known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last “Public Enemy” to be captured.
  • Stephen Dorff as Homer Van Meter: A criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson.
  • Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover: The first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States.
  • Leelee Sobieski as Polly Hamilton: Dillinger’s final girlfriend, ignorant of his true identity.
  • Jason Clarke as John “Red” Hamilton: A Canadian criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of Dillinger.
  • John Ortiz as Frank Nitti: Al Capone’s right-hand man and Underboss in the Chicago Outfit.
  • David Wenham as Harry Pierpont: A member of Dillinger’s crew.
  • Stephen Graham as Baby Face Nelson: He was a bank robber who acquired his moniker, Baby Face Nelson due to his youthful appearance and small stature. After Dillinger’s death in July 1934, Nelson became Public Enemy Number One.
  • Richard Short as Samuel P. Cowley: He was the FBI agent who brought down Baby Face Nelson but was mortally wounded in the gunbattle in Barrington, Illinois.
  • Christian Stolte as Charles Makley: A known associate of Dillinger’s and who broke him out of prison in 1933. By the end of that year, Makley ranked fourth on Illinois’ list of “public enemies”, behind Dillinger, Pierpont, and Hamilton.
  • Stephen Lang as Charles Winstead: He is the leader of the Texas Rangers who join the manhunt for Dillinger and his gang.
  • Shawn Hatosy as John Madala: An FBI agent who helped capture Ma Barker.
  • Branka Katic as Anna Sage: the infamous “Lady in Red” who was romantically involved with Dillinger at the time of his murder.
  • Emilie de Ravin as Anna Patzke: a bank teller who was taken hostage by Dillinger and later released.
  • James Russo as Walter Dietrich: a man who Dillinger met while in the Michigan City penitentiary. He taught Dillinger and others “the methods of Herman ‘Baron’ K. Lamm, a Prussian army officer turned highly successful bank robber”.
  • Lili Taylor as Sheriff Lillian Holley: Sheriff of Lake County Jail, Crown Point, Indiana, where Dillinger was incarcerated

Public Enemies is based on Brian Burrough’s non-fiction book, Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. He originally pitched the idea as a miniseries to HBO and was made an executive producer, along with Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Films.

Burrough was also asked to write the screenplay. However, he felt more comfortable writing it as a non-fiction book and spent 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 who 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 Ashecliffe.

In 2007, Mann renewed interest in the project with Universal Pictures backing it. He wrote the screenplay with Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman and will also direct. Johnny Depp will play Dillinger in the film. Burrough has read the film’s screenplay and 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”.

The decision to shoot parts of the film in Wisconsin came about because of the number of high quality historic buildings. Mann scouted locations in Baraboo and Columbus as well as looking at 1930s-era cars from collectors in the Madison area. In addition, the film will be shot on actual historical sites, including the famous Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, where Dillinger’s most famous gunfight with the F.B.I. occurred, and the old Lake County jail in Crown Point, Indiana, where Dillinger staged his most famous escape when he fooled jail guards with a wooden gun and escaped in the sheriff’s car.

Scenes will be shot at places that he frequented in Oshkosh. The courthouse in Darlington, Wisconsin is the location for the courthouse scenes. The courthouse is the oldest courthouse in the United States still in use.[citation needed] A bank robbery scene will be 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 film was shot in downtown Oshkosh. Later that month, filming started at the Little Bohemia Lodge, the actual location of a 1934 gun fight between Dillinger and the FBI. In April and May 2008, film crews shot on the grounds of Ishnala, a historic restaurant in the Wisconsin Dells area.

Mann also brought composer Elliot Goldenthal on board to score the film; Goldenthal also scored Mann’s 1995 film “Heat” to critical acclaim. Public Enemies has received an MPAA rating of R for gangster violence and some language. A preview of Public Enemies was seen at the end of the 81st Academy Awards.

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