Young Dillinger

Young Dillinger is a 1965 gangster film directed by Terry Morse. It stars Nick Adams as the notorious criminal John Dillinger, and co-stars Robert Conrad, John Ashley and Mary Ann Mobley.

Young Dillinger
Directed byTerry Morse
Produced byAlfred Zimbalist
Written byArthur Hoehl
Donald Zimbalist
Based onstory by Donald Zimbalist
StarringJohn Ashley
Nick Adams
Robert Conrad
Music byShorty Rogers
CinematographyStanley Cortez
Edited byTerry Morse
Production
company
The Zimbalist Company
Distributed byAllied Artists
Release date
  • 1965 (1965)
Running time
102 mins
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$200,000[1]

Plot

With help from Elaine, his girlfriend, young John Dillinger breaks into her father's safe. They are caught, but Dillinger takes the rap by himself.

In prison, he meets Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson, who join Dillinger's gang after he masterminds a prison break. Elaine goes along, but when she becomes pregnant and is rejected by Dillinger, she rats him out to the FBI.

Cast

Production

The film was shot at Goldwyn Studios starting in November 1964.[2] Al Zimbalist said he didn't want to glamourise the gangsters. "We just wanted to tell the story how three young men went wrong in hopes no other young people would make the same mistakes they made", he said.[3]

Shot cheaply in 17 days without period costumes, Robert Conrad recalled that he only did the film to repay a favor to his friend Nick Adams.[4] He says the film had "no budget" so "everyone had to do their own stunts" but it was during filming that he successfully auditioned for Wild Wild West.[5]

John Ashley says the film "was basically all of (producer) Al Zimbalist's footage of machine guns and crashing cars from Baby Face Nelson (1957)."[6]

Ashley added that the film "may have been the most fun of everything I ever did. At the time all three of us [Adams, Conrad and himself] were divorced. We were all living up in Nick's house. This film came along through Allied Artists. They actually approached Nick, and Nick said 'You should go see about getting John and Bobby'. We all agreed to it and we basically rewrote it. We took a lot of liberties with these three guys, but it was a lot of fun and a real pleasant experience."[7] Ashley later produced some TV movies for Conrad.[8]

During filming, the management of Allied Artists were engaged in a proxy fight with rebellious shareholders.[9]

Adams and Zimbalist wanted to make another film together, Guns of the G Men.[10] However it was never made.

Reception

The Los Angeles Times called it "a B picture with A virtues... good performances... crisp direction... fast moving and full of action.[11]

Cinema Retro later wrote "the movie breezes along at a brisk pace even if the style is quite unimpressive and pedestrian. In fact, the film looks like a standard TV episode of "The Untouchables" in terms of production values...The performances are adequate, nothing more."[12]

Notes
  1. Lamont, John (1990). "The John Ashley Filmography". Trash Compactor (Volume 2 No. 5 ed.). p. 26.
  2. Scheuer, P. K. (Nov 12, 1964). "Location realism calls for ingenuity". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 155055803.
  3. "'Dillinger' tells how youths went wrong". Los Angeles Times. Feb 23, 1965. ProQuest 155126680.
  4. Major, Jack Robert Conrad Interview Akron Beacon Journal August 22, 1965
  5. "Wild Wild West Revisited". Cinefantastique¼. Vol. 31 no. 8. October 1999. p. 47.
  6. Kelley, B. (Mar 17, 1985). "ASHLEY FINALLY MAKES THE TEAM". Sun Sentinel.
  7. Lamont, John (1990). "The John Ashley Interview Part 1 1956–1965". Trash Compactor (Volume 2 No. 5 ed.). p. 25.
  8. Vagg, Stephen (December 2019). "A Hell of a Life: The Nine Lives of John Ashley". Diabolique Magazine.
  9. Bush, T. W. (Nov 20, 1964). "Allied artists management wins fight". Los Angeles Times.
  10. Scheuer, P. K. (Dec 7, 1964). "'Loved one' takes 16 years to evolve". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 155060999.
  11. Thomas, K. (Jun 11, 1965). "'Young dillinger' right on mark". Los Angeles Times.
  12. Pfeiffer, Lee (13 November 2018). "Young Dillinger". Cinema Retro.
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