Public Enemies

Director: Michael Mann Michael Mann

Overview

Based on author Bryan Burrough's ambitious tome Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-43, director Michael Mann's sprawling historical crime drama follows the efforts of top FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale ) in capturing notorious bank robber John Dillinger. A folk hero to the American public thanks to his penchant for robbing the banks that many people believed responsible for the Great Depression, charming bandit Dillinger (Johnny Depp) was virtually unstoppable at the height of his criminal career; no jail could hold him, and his exploits endeared him to the common people while making headlines across the country. J. Edgar Hoover's (Billy Crudup) FBI was just coming into formation, and what better way for the ambitious lawman to transform his fledgling Bureau of Investigation into a national police force than to capture the gang that always gets away? Determined to bust Dillinger and his crew, which also included sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi), Hoover christened Dillinger the country's very first Public Enemy Number One, and unleashed Purvis to take them down by whatever means necessary. But Purvis underestimated Dillinger's ingenuity as a master criminal, and after embarking on a frantic series of chases and shoot-outs, the dashing agent humbly surmised that he was in over his head. Outwitted and outgunned, Purvis knew that his only hope for busting Dillinger's gang was to baptize a crew of Western ex-lawmen as official agents, and orchestrate a series of betrayals so cunning that even America's criminal mastermind wouldn't know what hit him. Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum, and Stephen Dorff co-star.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/08/2009
UPC:	0025195044912
Original Release:	2009
Rating:	R
Source:	UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:20:00

Special Features

Larger Than Life: Adversaries; Feature commentary with director Michael Mann

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Johnny Depp	Actor
Christian Bale	Actor
Marion Cotillard	Billie Frechette
Billy Crudup	J. Edgar Hoover
Channing Tatum	"Pretty Boy" Floyd
Stephen Graham	"Baby Face" Nelson
Giovanni Ribisi	Alvin Karpis
Jason Clarke	John "Red" Hamilton
Stephen Lang	Charles Winstead
Stephen Dorff	Homer Van Meter
David Wenham	Harry "Pete" Pierpont
Rory Cochrane	Agent Carter Baum
Emilie de Ravin	Barbara Patzke
Shawn Hatosy	Agent John Madala
John Michael Bolger	Martin Zarkovich
Matt Craven	Gerry Campbell
Peter Gerety	Louis Piquett
Don Frye	Clarence Hurt
Branka Katic	Anna Sage
John Ortiz	Phil D'Andrea
David Warshofsky	Warden Baker
Domenick Lombardozzi	Gilbert Catena
Bill Camp	Frank Nitti
Carey Mulligan	Carol Slayman
James Russo	Water Dietrich
Christian Stolte	Charles Makley
John Judd	Turnkey
Michael Vieau	Ed Shouse
Wesley Walker	Jim Lesley
John Scherp	Earl Adams
Elena Kenney	Viola Norris
Lili Taylor	Sheriff Lillian Holley
Madison Dirks	Agent Warren Barton
Len Bajenski	Police Chief Fultz
Andrew Krukowski	Oscar Lieboldt,Oscar Lieboldt
Casey Siemaszko	Harry Berman
Peter DeFaria	Grover Weyland
Michael Sassone	Farmer
Brian Connelly	Officer Chester Boyard
Ed Bruce	Senator McKellar
Geoffrey Cantor	Harry Suydam
Chandler Williams	Clyde Tolson
Jeff Shannon	Angry Cop
Diana Krall	Torch Singer
Richard Short	Agent Sam Cowley
Randy Ryan	Agent Julius Rice
Kurt Naeberg	Agent William Rorer
John Hoogenakker	Agent Hugh Clegg
Adam Mucci	Agent Harold Reinecke
Kurt Naebig	Agent William Rorer
Rebecca Spence	Doris Rogers
Danni Simon	May Minczeles
Shanyn Belle Leigh	Helen Gillis
Spencer Garrett	Tommy Carroll
Randy Steinmeyer	Cop Eyman
Alan Wilder	Robert Estill
Kris Wolff	Deputy
Michael Bentt	Herbert Youngblood
John Lister	Judge Murray
Jimmy Carrane	Sam Cahoon
Rick Uecker	Edward Saager
Mark Vallarta	Harry Berg
Dan Maldanado	Jacob Solomon
Sean Rosales	Joe Pawlowski
Stephen Spencer	Emil Wanatka
Gareth Saxe	Agent Ray Suran
Guy Van Swearingen	Agent Ralph Brown
Jeff Still	Jimmy Probasco
Lance Baker	Freddie Barker
Steve Key	Doc Barker
Leelee Sobieski	Polly Hamilton
Martie Sanders	Irene the Ticket Taker
Gerald Goff	Captain O'Neill
Robyn Scott	Ella Natasky,Ella Natasky
Keith Kupferer	Agent Sopsic
Patrick Zielinski	Doctor
Adam Clark	Sport
Jonathan Macchi	Teller
Duane A. Sharp	Doorman at Gold Coast
Joseph Mazurk	Actor
Elliot Goldenthal	Composer
John Kishline	Guard Dainard

Technical Credits

Ann Biderman

Michael Mann

Ronan Bennett

Bryan Burrough

Ann Biderman	Producer,Screenwriter
Michael Mann	Screenwriter,Producer,Director
Ronan Bennett	Screenwriter
Kevin Misher	Producer
G. Mac Brown	Executive Producer,Producer
Avy Kaufman	Casting
Bonnie Timmermann	Casting
Robert De Niro	Executive Producer
Jane Rosenthal	Executive Producer
Bryan Burrough	Screenwriter
Bryan H. Carroll	Producer
Gusmano Cesaretti	Producer
Kevin De La Noy	Producer
Bob Beher	Sound Effects
Beau Borders	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Michael Mann's 2009 crime thriller Public Enemies tells the story of Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger -- in the most brooding and serious terms possible. You might think that a movie about one of the most beloved badasses in criminal history would be all about explosiveness and fun. But, then again, you'd probably think the same thing about a movie adaptation of Miami Vice. Exuberance just isn't Mann's style, and for people who want a little payoff or satisfaction in their two and a half hours of plodding, teeth-grinding intensity, that will be a problem. But for people who loved Heat, this is a tour de force. Johnny Depp stars as Dillinger, whom we first meet as he's leading a violent nine-man escape from Indiana State Prison. He and his gang soon get down to work robbing banks, relying on a complex network of syndicate cooperation and one-step-ahead criminal smarts to stay out of jail. They fill their off-hours with swanky Chicago parties, which is how Dillinger meets a dark-haired minx named Billie (played by Marion Cotillard, whose usual high-caliber acting chops are occasionally belied by her extremely inconsistent accent), and falls immediately in love. Sadly, we know that their romance is probably of the doomed variety, as Dillinger -- despite becoming a celebrity for the anti-heroic times -- is the most wanted man in America, and J. Edgar Hoover (played with a rapid-fire, old-timey accent and impressive fat-face by Billy Crudup) has created an entire federal task force devoted to his capture, led by stand-up Southern gentleman Melvin Purvis (played with even greater solemnity than usual by Christian Bale). The real-life Dillinger was a full-on rock star in the desperate 1930s, when people were ecstatic to see someone bilk the institutions that had let so many down. Depp's performance as the swaggering folk hero offers a lot of nuance in this regard, depicting the renegade as a natural celebrity, effortlessly charismatic and smirkingly self-aware. Dillinger was, after all, known to have peppered his stick-ups with biting quips and counter-jumping acrobatics that he copied from the movies. And yet, it stays clear in Depp's portrayal that he's an authentic outlaw, a reasonably skilled and certainly accomplished gangster, not just some Bonnie and Clyde-type newsreel cad -- all buzz with no rap sheet to back it up. There are plenty of scenes devoted to what would generally be considered gangster-movie badassery, stuff like police shoot-outs conducted largely with machine guns and bank heists featuring Depp in a fedora and overcoat, wielding two hand cannons. But while these moments are impressive, and even sometimes awesome, like everything else in Public Enemies, they're also often joyless. Mann just isn't interested in celebration; almost everything is deliberate and grinding -- an idea of realism that never builds toward triumph, or even tragedy. If movies like Collateral and The Insider are anything to go by, it would seem pretty clear that Mann just prefers tension to excitement, and Public Enemies proves once again that he can create beautiful cinema out of this perspective. But for audiences who can't bring themselves to share his rather sedate vision, beauty might not be enough.