Young Dillinger

This is a great gritty low budget movie from a fabled small boutique studio Allied Artists which had a great run with films such as Love In The Afternoon, Friendly Persuasion, El Cid, Papillion and Cabaret, et al and film directors such as William Wyler, John Huston, Billy Wilder and stars such as Ava Gardner, Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Steve McQueen, Sophia Loren. Young Dillinger is a wonderful movie directed by Robert Wilson who also did a fine racetrack drama at Warner Bros called Wall of Noise that starred Ty Hardin, Dorothy Provine, Ralph Meeker and Suzy Pleshette. Robert Wilson cast his movies well! In Young Dillinger, Nick Adams and Bob Conrad star along with former Ms America Mary Ann Mobley and a great cameo by Victor Buono. There isn't much more to say about this fine film but to see it if and when you can!

I always enjoy the old crime films especially when they are filmed in black and white. Frankly though, Young Dillinger was a big disappointment. I could not understand the relationship on screen between John Dillinger (Nick Adams), and his moll. Elaine (Mary Ann Mobley). They continually expressed their undying love to one another but all I saw were two people reading their scripted lines and lacking any emotion or physical attraction to one another. If anything I viewed Mary Ann Mobley's performance as deserving of a. Golden Raspberry Award. Had this award been available in 1965. Fortunately for Mary Ann Mobley the awards were first presented in 1981.

There is a relatively strong supporting cast with actors such as Robert Conrad, John Ashley, Victor Buono, and John Hoyt but their performances were wasted on this very choppy film with no real sense of direction.

No spoilers here but suffice to say I am still waiting for a proper ending to the film. It is as if the director was left hanging when the entire cast walked out before the film was provided with a proper ending to the Young Dillinger story.

I can only give this film a lacklustre 3 out of 10 IMDb rating.

All he wants to do is to marry Mary Ann Mobley, but they've got no money. At her urging Adams robs her father's business, killing a guard in the process, then it's off to find a Justice of the Peace.... but they're too young to get married, so they head off to honeymoon anyway. But Miss Mobley's father wants his money back, so it's off to prison for Adams, where he meets the nicest people, like Pretty Boy Floyd -- Robert Conrad -- Baby Face Nelson -- John Ashley. Adams escapes, then breaks his friends out, killing a few guards in the process, and it's off to the race.

This looks like it anticipates a lot of things about BONNIEAND CLYDE, but in a B movie way. Terry Morse hadn't directed a movie in almost ten years. Instead he practiced his other craft, that of editor, and he had Stanley Cortez helming the camera. As a result, visually and in terms of pacing, it's excellent; The heist and fighting sequences are excellent (if you can ignore Shorty Rogers bombastic, jazzy score), but the performances are all over the shop, from Conrad solid performance, to Victor Buono's over-the-top mastermind, to Miss Mobley's whiny hysteria.

It's one of the increasingly violent crime movies of the 1960s, and like the pre-code era, it ends with a pious paean to the cops who guard the citizenry. It didn't stop local station managers from shutting down a network broadcast in 1968, about the time that Adams died of a drug overdose at the age of 36.

I am a fan of Nick Adams, but this is one of the worst acted, filmed and written movies ever made. Shoe string budget and dismal script makes this black and white film a full, boring mess. Victor B. steals the film in a small cameo as the Professor of Crime. Forget the whole thing.

What a load of bs, from the acting to costumes and facts or lack there of. Nick adams as dillinger is as bad as mickey rooney as babyface Nelson. I loved Robert Conrad in almost everything but this, a waste of talent. Nick adams like rooney a angry little guy. The only thing that I like about this is the music.