Public Enemies

I can't wait for the action-thriller Public Enemies by acclaimed filmmaker Micheal Mann to hit theaters on July 1st. The movie explores the life of legendary Depression-era bank robbing gangster John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) with an award-winning cast. Dillinger was a charismatic bank robbers whose lightning raids made him the target of J. Edgar Hoover's (Billie Crudup) fledgling FBI and its top Agent, Melving Puris (Christian Bale), and a folk hero to a nation besieged by financial hardship and ready to celebrate a mythic figure.

No one could stop Dillinger. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone, from his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Marian 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 gang (later 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 and 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 Nitti, were Purvis and the FBI able to close in on Dillinger.

"I like baseball, movies, good clothes fast cars, and you. What else do you need to know?" - John Dillinger