Dillinger Reviews

Although Oates bears some resemblance to Dillinger, this film, like its 1945 predecessor, has little to do with the facts. Despite its big budget, antique cars, and good costuming, it is even more laughable than the Tierney programmer. Director Milius is wholly unconcerned with portraying the criminals of the 1930s as they really were, mixing up facts and fiction in a tasteless stew of violence, blood, and human gore. He has Homer Van Meter (Stanton) shotgunned to death by farmers when this gangster was shot in a St. Paul, Minnesota, alley by police. He has Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd (Kanaly) killed in Wisconsin when he was shot in Ohio. Milius' attitude is blatant--that he can offer the viewing public this kind of history and they will accept it as fact, as he did in the ridiculous WIND AND THE LION. His direction is erratic, ungainly, and so boring that the long lulls are only brought to life by machine-gun fire. The dialog, also courtesy of the egotistical Mr. Milius, is inane, out of period, and could have been written better by a high school student in Composition I. Oates merely swaggers through a role for which he is entirely miscast, appearing juvenile and amateurish; in fact, Tierney's performance is good by comparison and Tierney was an absolute stranger to talent. This is the kind of mess only Milius can make, an awful offal no amount of tissue can wipe away.