PUBLIC ENEMIES
US, 2009, 140 minutes, Colour.
Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Jason Clarke, Stephen Graham, David Wenham, Stephen Dorff, Cary Mulligan, James Russo, Giovanni Rubisi, Stephen Lang, Channing Tatum, rory Cochrane, Branka Katic, Billy Crudup, Shawn Hartosy, Lili Taylor.
Directed by Michael Mann.
There is a tradition of wildness, even of savagery, in US history. Wars, the west, mobs and crime... And these savage societies have been dramatised and explored in films for a hundred years. A question often arose as to whether the movies glamourised criminals and violence. This was a concern in the 1930s with Scarface, Little Caesar, Public Enemy and other films about Al Capone and contemporary gangsters. Towards the end of the 1940s, writers and studios realised that so many westerns had demonised the native American Indians and began to portray more sympathetic portraits. War in the movies has been patriotised as well as being made to serve as a critique of the conduct of some wars. In recent years a spate of films about the war in Iraq have not been popular box-office draws despite the topicality of the films. Which means, perhaps, that films reflect society more than influence it.
All this is a prelude to a review of Michael Mann's latest film. Mann has been interested in a range of topics for his films, from Manhunter (the first of the Hannibal Lecter films, with Brian Cox) to his biography of Muhammed Ali, Ali, with Will Smith, from The Last of the Mohicans to his thriller, Collateral. And, of course, Miami Vice.
Mann now gives his full attention to the Depression era, recreating it with impressive detail, even a gritty epic style with a solemn orchestrated score and those creations of the Depression, the bank-robbing petty gangsters. Both Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson appear in this film as does Chicago enforcer, Frank Nitti. But the focus is on Public Enemy Number One, the robber John Dillinger. He has been played by many actors like Lawrence Tierney, Ralph Meeker, Warren Oates, Mark Harmon in films about himself as well as appearing as a supporting character in films about Nelson and Floyd and about the exploits of the G-Men? and Melvin Purvis. For film fans he is not an unknown personality.
Now he is Johnny Depp. Does having Depp play him glamourise him or his memory? Obviously, Dilligner had to have had charm to have influenced the people he did, to work on prison escapes with which the film opens as well as the robberies – and Depp displays the charm. However, Dillinger was also ruthless and a murderer and Depp is given plenty to do to reinforce this aspect of his character – as well as his being gunned down after seeing the 1934 gangster film with Clark Gable, Manhattan Melodrama.
On the side of the law is the famous G-Man?, Melvin Purvis. He is played by Christian Bale in another square-jawed performance, struggling to use his skills with often poorly trained agents. The screenplay gives quite a deal of attention to the workings of the newly instituted Federal Bureau of Investigation with a strong cameo performance by Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover, forcing his ideas on his agents and on government (though not well heard by a senate hearing). Stephen Lang stands out as a veteran and shrewd agent.
The other star is Marion Cotillard after her Oscar-winning performance as Edith Piaf. She is good as the coat-check girl who seems to bewitch Dillinger but who has a mind of her own, willing to be violently treated by the FBI interrogators and to go to prison for him.
Some of the distinguished cast have very little screen time, David Wenham, Stephen Dorff, Giovanni Ribisi, Lelee Sobieski.
What Mann has done with his sweeping style and his cast is to immerse his audience in the era and offer them different perspectives on these, at the time, popular criminal figures.
1. Memories of the 1930s, the gangsters the role and the media publicity during the Depression, the ethos, the bank robberies, the role of the law, the FBI, the G men?
2. The presentation of the outlaws on screen – as villains, as heroes? The issue of glorifying them?
3. The director, his films, the focus on crime, reconstruction of a period?
4. Strong cast, Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis? The strong supporting cast? A range of characters – but little background development?
5. The focus on Dillinger, Johnny Depp’s presence, Dillinger’s reputation, his living in the moment, his motivation for the robberies, his friends and collaborators, his taunting authorities? Alvin Karpis and the friends advising him about robberies? The domestic sequences? His base? In prison, freed? Going underground? Tactics of the gang freeing him? Relaxing after the event? The range of contemporary criminals, known to the public, glimpses rather than characters? His relationships? The encounter with Billie, not knowing who he was, falling in love, Bye, Bye, Blackbird? Their time together? Socialising, the clubs, at home?
6. Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, the serious G-man, with J. Edgar Hoover, the organisation, Winstead and the other agents, their working with him, the training, seeing them in action, failures and successes?
7. Hoover, in himself, at the Senate hearing, asked whether he had arrested anyone personally? His role, ambition, the organisation of the FBI, the use of the G men?
8. The women in Chicago, the migrants, the pimps, prostitution? Anna Sage, the younger women? Life with Dillinger? Susceptible to the G men and their threats? Purvis threatening And her with deportation, her agreement, the set up, the younger girl and going to the movie?
9. Billie, background, meeting Dillinger, not knowing who he was, falling in love with him? The arrest, the interrogation, the bullying policeman and his slapping her – and his being reprimanded? Her endurance, her love, the news of Dillinger’s death, Winstead coming to see her, the final message of Bye, Bye, Blackbird?
10. Scenes of crime, the banks, the plans, those collaborating, the managers, customers, the robberies, the shootings, the daring, the amount of cash?
11. The focus on going to see Manhattan Melodrama, the extensive use of the scenes in this film? Dillinger, going to watch? Clark Gable’s character, a gangster in film – and Dillinger later the central character in so many films?
12. The plan, the preparation, Winstead and his knowing where Dillinger would go, Purvis and the group on surveillance, the girl on the street, watching for Dillinger, the end, lighting the cigar, the pursuit in the street, the shooting, his last words, his death?
13. The reconstruction of an era? Figures in American history for good or for ill?
