Public Enemies (2009)


Johnny Depp             John Dillinger
Christian Bale          Melvin Purvis
Marion Cotillard        Billie Frechette
Channing Tatum          Pretty Boy Floyd
David Wenham            Harry “Pete” Pierpont
Stephen Graham          “Baby Face” Nelson
Giovanni Ribisi         Alvin Karpis
Stephen Dorff           Homer Van Meter
Rory Cochrane           Agent Carter Baum
John Ortiz              Phil D’Andrea
Jason Clarke            “Red” Hamilton
Billy Crudup            J Edgar Hoover
Stephen Lang            Charles Winstead
Emilie De Ravin         Barbara Patzke
Leelee Sobieski         Polly Hamilton
James Russo             Walter Dietrich
Christian Stolte        Charles Makley

Directed by:            Michael Mann
Produced by:            Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro, Michael Mann


Set during the Depression-era's great crime wave, the story of the government's attempt to stop legendary 
criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. This operation transformed the FBI into 
the first federal police force from the powerless agency it once was.

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This is the story of the last few years of the notorious bank robber John Dillinger. He loved what he did 
and could imagine little else that would make him happier. Living openly in 1930s Chicago, he had the run 
of the city with little fear of reprisals from the authorities. It's there that he meets Billie Frechette 
with whom he falls deeply in love. In parallel we meet Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent who would eventually 
track Dillinger down. The FBI was is in its early days and Director J. Edgar Hoover was keen to promote the 
clean cut image that so dominated the organization through his lifetime. Purvis realizes that if he is 
going to get Dillinger, he will have to use street tactics and imports appropriate men with police training. 
Dillinger is eventually betrayed by an acquaintance who tells the authorities just where to find him on a 
given night.  

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The difficult 1930s is a time of robbers who knock over banks and other rich targets with alarming frequency. 
Of them, none is more notorious than John Dillinger, whose gang plies its trade with cunning efficiency against 
big businesses while leaving ordinary citizens alone. As Dillinger becomes a folk hero, FBI head J. Edger Hoover 
is determined to stop his ilk by assigning ace agent Melvin Purvis to hunt down Dillinger. As Purvis struggles 
with the manhunt's realities, Dillinger himself faces an ominous future with the loss of friends, dwindling 
options and a changing world of organized crime with no room for him.

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In 1933, in the fourth year of the Great depression, the bank robber John Dillinger challenges the law with 
his gang and is considered Public Enemy #1. J. Edgar Hoover goes to the Congress asking for financial support 
to the agency and assigns the Agent Melvin Purvis responsible for Chicago area. Melvin does not succeed using 
technology to hunt Dillinger, so Hoover orders the use of abusive means of interrogation and the agents use 
torture, intimidation and blackmail to achieve their purpose. Meanwhile Dillinger falls in love for Billie 
Frechette and Melvin and his men stakes her out trying to catch the outlaw.