Public Enemies

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 2009, 143 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

John Dillinger became a legend during the Great Depression when he and his boys carried out a series of daring bank robberies. He thus became public enemy number one as determined by America’s justice system. In Public Enemies, J. Edgar Hoover sets dogged, experienced FBI Agent Purvis on Dillinger’s trail with orders to eliminate him and his gang. But Purvis comes up against the hard fact that most Americans consider his elegant and charismatic nemesis a modern-day Robin Hood. On top of that, the gangster has powerful protectors. Dillinger’s story has made it to the silver screen several times over the years. In Michael Mann’s version, the highly-regarded director chose a method – corresponding to his previous masterful works Heat (1995) and Miami Vice (2006) – that focuses on the ambivalent struggle between good and evil. This star-studded gangster drama is based on Bryan Burrough’s bestseller Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34.

About the director

Michael Mann (b. 1943, Chicago) started in television in the 1970s, working as a writer, director, and producer on various series (e.g. "Starsky and Hutch”). His foremost works include the crime drama Thief (1981) starring James Caan; The Keep (1983), a horror film set in World War II; an adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel Manhunter (1986), starring Brian Cox in the role of cannibalistic Hannibal Lecter; the Daniel Day-Lewis adventure romance The Last of the Mohicans (1992); the crime drama Heat (1995) starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro; the Al Pacino thriller The Insider (1999); the biopic Ali (2001); a psychological drama starring Tom Cruise entitled Collateral (2004); and a film version of the classic TV series, Miami Vice (2006), with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. He is also a successful movie producer.