Re: Crime on film and the Criminals that inspired the writing.
Posted: October 30th, 2012, 10:37 am
Thank you, Alison, for starting this thread (partly based, as you say, on my book "Dustbowl Desperados"). Glad to see you've elicited a favorable response.
I for one have long been fascinated with gangsters and the underworld- from a young age, which often left my parents and relatives wondering how I developed such an interest. Spent a lifetime researching the topic and was fortunate to have had an uncle and two aunts who lived in Chicago during the Roaring 20s, who shared with me their own stories of the era. Spent my own time in Chicago during the early 70s and can't explain the thrill I got visiting some of the historic landmarks that still survived (the Biograph Theater) and seeing spots where famous underworld incidents occurred (such as the location where once stood the garage at 2122 North Clark Street).
Love the history, love the movies. As to some of those biopics already mentioned, I'd have to say I'm still hoping for the "real deal". I suppose my favorite and the one that (kinda) sticks closest to the facts both in historical significance and character is Warren Oates' "Dillinger". The timeline gets a little wacky, with Baby Face Nelson and Homer Van Meter getting killed before Dillinger, among other discrepancies, but I think Oates pretty much captures the essence of Dillinger, based on what people have said about the outlaw. Female bank employees called him a gentleman. Heck, even some agents of the FBI admitted to having a grudging respect for Dillinger (as did Bill Roemer for his target, Chicago mob boss Tony Accardo).
Lawrence Tierney was too brutal - psychotic, in fact; Mark Harmon . . . well, 'nuff said. Johnny Depp was okay but personally I could not warm to "Public Enemies". Actually found it boring and that final scene of the dying Dillinger whispering in Melvin Purvis's ear . . . well . . . right. First of all, it is still my belief that it was not John Dillinger killed that night. Gotten a lot of flack for that but I stand by it.
As for other 30s bandit movies: "Baby Face Nelson" with Mickey Rooney is quite good. Again, strays somewhat from the facts, especially the ending, but it certainly is entertaining. And Leo Gordon makes a pretty good Dillinger. "The Bonnie Parker Story" is interesting as there is no Clyde Barrow mentioned in the movie! "Machine Gun Kelly" and "Pretty Boy Floyd" (with John Erickson) are virtually total fiction. Actually, the movies about The Mob often had more fact surrounding them: "The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond", "Al Capone", "Murder, Inc." "Portrait of a Mobster" (the Dutch Schultz story) again, unnecessarily, veers off too much into the world of fiction, though Vic Morrow is good as Schultz.
Find it interesting how screenwriters and producers have to embellish the facts when the histories themselves should more than suffice.
Bonnie & Clyde, albeit fictionalized, were the first real-life criminals to be recreated onscreen: in "Persons in Hiding" (1939), portrayed by J. Carrol Naish and Patricia Morison. Ma Barker was re-christened Ma Webster, played by Blanche Yurka, in "Queen of the Mob", released the following year. Dillinger remained a hands-off subject until 1945, although Warner Brothers in the late 30s announced a film to be called "John Dillinger - Outlaw", which was to star Cagney as Melvin Purvis and either Bogart or George Raft as Public Enemy Number 1. The film, of course, was never made and I've often wondered if the topic was still too hot and maybe Mr. Hoover had put some pressure on J.L. to forego the project.
My problem with the Beatty/Dunaway version of "Bonnie and Clyde" is that they were too romanticized. The real outlaw pair were nothing like the couple portrayed onscreen. They truly were dirt road bandits whose biggest haul netted them a mere $3600. They shared a strange strange sexual relationship (can't get into that here), had no compunction about killing whoever got in their way: "the laws" or even bystanders, and were not the Robin Hood figures that Pretty Boy Floyd was remembered as. They stole from their own people as freely as they robbed others. Dillinger called them: "A couple of punks who give bank robbing a bad name." There was a TV-movie called "The True Story of Bonnie and Clyde" (the title of which was a misnomer) and apparently a new theatrical feature is in the works, that was to star Hillary Duff and feature Faye Dunaway. All I can say is that I really don't hold out much hope for the true story to ever be told cinematically. Actually the real-life Bonnie and Clyde were too depressing and perverse to make for an entertaining movie.
I for one have long been fascinated with gangsters and the underworld- from a young age, which often left my parents and relatives wondering how I developed such an interest. Spent a lifetime researching the topic and was fortunate to have had an uncle and two aunts who lived in Chicago during the Roaring 20s, who shared with me their own stories of the era. Spent my own time in Chicago during the early 70s and can't explain the thrill I got visiting some of the historic landmarks that still survived (the Biograph Theater) and seeing spots where famous underworld incidents occurred (such as the location where once stood the garage at 2122 North Clark Street).
Love the history, love the movies. As to some of those biopics already mentioned, I'd have to say I'm still hoping for the "real deal". I suppose my favorite and the one that (kinda) sticks closest to the facts both in historical significance and character is Warren Oates' "Dillinger". The timeline gets a little wacky, with Baby Face Nelson and Homer Van Meter getting killed before Dillinger, among other discrepancies, but I think Oates pretty much captures the essence of Dillinger, based on what people have said about the outlaw. Female bank employees called him a gentleman. Heck, even some agents of the FBI admitted to having a grudging respect for Dillinger (as did Bill Roemer for his target, Chicago mob boss Tony Accardo).
Lawrence Tierney was too brutal - psychotic, in fact; Mark Harmon . . . well, 'nuff said. Johnny Depp was okay but personally I could not warm to "Public Enemies". Actually found it boring and that final scene of the dying Dillinger whispering in Melvin Purvis's ear . . . well . . . right. First of all, it is still my belief that it was not John Dillinger killed that night. Gotten a lot of flack for that but I stand by it.
As for other 30s bandit movies: "Baby Face Nelson" with Mickey Rooney is quite good. Again, strays somewhat from the facts, especially the ending, but it certainly is entertaining. And Leo Gordon makes a pretty good Dillinger. "The Bonnie Parker Story" is interesting as there is no Clyde Barrow mentioned in the movie! "Machine Gun Kelly" and "Pretty Boy Floyd" (with John Erickson) are virtually total fiction. Actually, the movies about The Mob often had more fact surrounding them: "The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond", "Al Capone", "Murder, Inc." "Portrait of a Mobster" (the Dutch Schultz story) again, unnecessarily, veers off too much into the world of fiction, though Vic Morrow is good as Schultz.
Find it interesting how screenwriters and producers have to embellish the facts when the histories themselves should more than suffice.
Bonnie & Clyde, albeit fictionalized, were the first real-life criminals to be recreated onscreen: in "Persons in Hiding" (1939), portrayed by J. Carrol Naish and Patricia Morison. Ma Barker was re-christened Ma Webster, played by Blanche Yurka, in "Queen of the Mob", released the following year. Dillinger remained a hands-off subject until 1945, although Warner Brothers in the late 30s announced a film to be called "John Dillinger - Outlaw", which was to star Cagney as Melvin Purvis and either Bogart or George Raft as Public Enemy Number 1. The film, of course, was never made and I've often wondered if the topic was still too hot and maybe Mr. Hoover had put some pressure on J.L. to forego the project.
My problem with the Beatty/Dunaway version of "Bonnie and Clyde" is that they were too romanticized. The real outlaw pair were nothing like the couple portrayed onscreen. They truly were dirt road bandits whose biggest haul netted them a mere $3600. They shared a strange strange sexual relationship (can't get into that here), had no compunction about killing whoever got in their way: "the laws" or even bystanders, and were not the Robin Hood figures that Pretty Boy Floyd was remembered as. They stole from their own people as freely as they robbed others. Dillinger called them: "A couple of punks who give bank robbing a bad name." There was a TV-movie called "The True Story of Bonnie and Clyde" (the title of which was a misnomer) and apparently a new theatrical feature is in the works, that was to star Hillary Duff and feature Faye Dunaway. All I can say is that I really don't hold out much hope for the true story to ever be told cinematically. Actually the real-life Bonnie and Clyde were too depressing and perverse to make for an entertaining movie.