Dillinger

Dillinger is a 1973 American crime drama set during the Great Depression. After a shoot-out in Kansas City leaves five FBI agents dead, the Bureau identifies bank robber John Dillinger as a priority target. As agents work their way through other gangsters while waiting for him to cross federal law, Dillinger's string of armed robberies across the Midwest turns him into a popular figure in the press, with many ordinary Americans sympathizing with a man who strikes at the banks they blame for their hardship. His escapes and his growing notoriety eventually make him Public Enemy Number One, with Melvin Purvis leading the pursuit.

John Milius wrote the screenplay and made his directorial debut with this film, the first in a career that continued with The Wind and the Lion, Big Wednesday, Conan the Barbarian, Red Dawn, Flight of the Intruder and Motorcycle Gang. Warren Oates plays Dillinger, with Ben Johnson as Purvis, Michelle Phillips as Billie Frechette, Cloris Leachman as Anna Sage, Harry Dean Stanton as Homer Van Meter and Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont. Buzz Feitshans produced the picture for American International Pictures.

Made for about 1 million dollars, the film earned roughly twice that at the worldwide box office. Its scores sit in similar territory across audiences and critics: on IMDb it holds 6.9 from around 6,400 votes and on TMDB 6.6 from about 123 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 6.7 from 15 reviews.