Many conservative social and religious groups demanded that the film be withdrawn or banned outright because of what they considered its "brutal and sensational" subject matter. The Chicago Censorship Board banned the film from being shown in Chicago for two years. The film finally opened on May 30, 1947, at the Oriental Theater in downtown Chicago and at the Biograph Theater on the north side, where the real John Dillinger had just seen a movie, L'ennemi public n° 1 (1934), the night he was ambushed and shot dead by the FBI.
Monogram was considered to be the "best" of the Poverty Row studios. The King brothers managed to get a good supporting cast and composer Dimitri Tiomkin on board.
Produced by the King brothers Frank King and Maurice King at Monogram, this was nominated for best screen play to the shock of all the big Hollywood studios.
The first of four films made by Lawrence Tierney with director Max Nosseck. There was no love lost between them, however. In a magazine interview, Tierney said that he "hated" Nosseck. The feeling, as it turned out, was mutual.