A Vida de John Dillinger

Really tightly made biopic of Dillinger and his immediate rise to fame, and Melvin Purvis (here played by Will Patton) subsequent pursuit of the man. Its very well shot, its very well acted--Mark Harmon is quite good as Dillinger--he's again a surprisingly effective Dillinger. He's nice and laid back for the most part, but there's a definite edge to him that slips out when stressed or pushed. Its very well done....You see why he was well liked (He wanted to enjoy his life as much as he could) and you see why he was also so hated by the men pursuing him. I actually think this is a better biopic than Michael Mann's 2009 film "Public Enemies" which covers much the same terrain plot-wise. If anything, this is much tighter, and much more fast paced, and even more surprisingly--the big FBI raid on the compound where they find out Dillinger and his men are staying is actually even better shot--for one thing its actually shot in daylight and you can see what's happening unlike in Public Enemies where its shot in almost total darkness. Anyways this is a really worthy biopic even if made for commercial tv (meaning there are obvious spots where the commercials would go when this was running on tv) its well worthy of being better known, and frankly fans of Mark Harmon on NCIS will love seeing him here. (I know I did!)

I have all three movies (that I'm aware of) that are called "Dillinger" and have been available for purchase on either VHS or DVD. Of the three, this is by far the least known....but it's a pretty good one, as are the other two. (So "least known" that I am only reviewer of this movie as of March, 2006!)

The pluses are nice color (It won an award for its cinematography) .and a great period piece featuring the 1920s. It also had Sheriyn Fenn, who is never hard on my eyes. It also had a distinct lack of profanity, unlike the '73 version, but this was a made-for-TV version.

There was only fault, albeit a big one: Mark Harmon as Dillinger just wasn't quite believable. He's too much of a pretty boy to be a hard-nosed criminal like John Dillinger. Warren Oates and Lawrence Tierney, the other guys who played the role. looked the part.

Even though there was no nudity, it's fairly steamy for a made-for-TV movie. It also was interesting to see Dr. Ben Casey of past TV fame (Vince Edwards) after all these years. He played J. Edgar Hoover in a minor role here. Also in the film are Patricia Arquette and Will Patton. It's a decent gangster movie overall and worth seeing again. I hope it comes out on DVD.