The Film “Public Enemies”
Update below
Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein sagely wrote “What can be said at all can be said clearly; and whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent.” (My italics.) In other words, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t say anything.
While normally I try to abide by Wittgenstein’s adage, I have to say something about a movie I have not watched, and about which I have not seen any reviews. The film is Michael Mann’s movie Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. I have a great deal of respect for both Mann and Depp, and I recommend the book by Bryan Burrough upon which the film is based, but I am afraid that once again Depression-era bandits will be portrayed in an unrealistic light (e.g., Bonnie & Clyde starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway).
While Burrough’s book is one of the most detailed and accurate examinations of the early “War on Crime,” we all know that the phrase “based on the book by…” really means nothing to Hollywood.
Therefore, while I will happily eat crow should the film not lionize the outlaws or for that matter the cops, I want to share with potential viewers just what the Depression-era bandits were really like.
Outlaws like John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, the Barkers, Bonnie and Clyde and Machine Gun Kelly stirred the imaginations of Americans everywhere, who romanticized their acts of lawlessness. Whether it was frustration at the dismal economic conditions or just the idea of the “freedom” that being an outlaw on the run implies, the desperados of that era attained mythic folk-hero status that has not been seen since.
In reality, while Dillinger and the so-called A-list bandits might have pulled off their jobs with panache, most of the outlaws were simply run-of-the-mill violent armed robbers and remorseless killers.The only difference between them and your typical armed robber of today is that they had an effective PR machine in the popular press.
(FYI, the woman who betrayed Dillinger in Chicago, Anna Sage, was not wearing a red dress on that July 1934 day; she was really wearing orange — which shows just how accurately the press of the day embellished things.)
There is no difference between the armed robber of the 21st century and those men. Bank robbery victims — mostly employees — are severely traumatized by the act of violence. It is not unusual for the victims to suffer from PTSD. It doesn’t matter in what era the robbery occurs. The characters of “Public Enemies” had a profoundly negative effect on their innocent victims.
“Friends say William Hamm was never the same after his kidnapping by the Barker Gang,” wrote author Burrough in his book “Public Enemies. “Though he continued as chairman of the board of Hamm Brewing until his retirement in 1965, he tended to brood, and he surrounded himself with bodyguards.”
They were indiscriminate killers who were just as likely to murder civilians as the lawmen — mostly small town, untrained near-amateurs — who tried to stop them. For example, look at the acts of the Fleagle Gang.
The “hero” Fred “Killer” Burke was a participant in the St. Valentine’s Day massacre and is suspected of committing 20 murders. Bonnie and Clyde were a “motley collection of small-time thieves who robbed grocery stores, gas stations, and small banks…murdering at least a dozen men,” according to noted crime historians William Helmer and Rick Mattix.
Helmer and Mattix’s research and that of Burrough have conclusively demonstrated that John Dillinger’s famous “escape” using an alleged wooden pistol was actually accomplished thanks to bribery facilitated by his attorney.
Pretty Boy Floyd was a dangerous psychopath linked to at least 10 murders. Alvin “Creepy” Karpis was intellectually a genius, but also a kidnapper and murderer of at least 10 men. Floyd murdered Bowling Green, Ohio patrolman Ralph Castner, who died in April 1931 seven days after a gun battle.
Dillinger’s accomplice, Baby Face Nelson killed at least three FBI agents and was a part-time hitman for Al Capone. No one knows how many underworld criminals he gunned down.
A lesser-known Depression-era robber who worked with the Barker gang, Jimmie Creighton killed a civilian in 1931 because the man failed to apologize sincerely enough for bumping into him. Creighton was also responsible for the robbery and slaying of elderly brothers David and George Smith.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
Conversely, the federal lawmen who fought on the other side of the war on crime were brave, but mostly incompetent near-amateurs. Hopefully the film will portray them accurately as well.
In summary, I think Burrough sums it up best: “Despite the theater-goers who applauded them in life, in death John Dillinger and his peers were seen as symbols of all that was wrong in America.”
I hope it gives you a bit of perspective as you watch “Public Enemies.” Even more, I hope the film portrays these outlaws as they really were.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, I appear to have been correct in fearing the worst.
Shameless Self-Promotion
