Kill Dill: Depp's Dillinger Disappoints

John Dillinger was the FBI's top target. But this perfunctory biopic doesn't bring him back to life

To become rich and famous in the depression '30s, a fellow could make movies, play baseball or rob banks. John Dillinger chose Way 3, and for a while he enjoyed the celebrity of a Clark Gable or a Lou Gehrig. Newspapers breathlessly limned his exploits as he made sizable withdrawals from vaults throughout the Midwest, using his machine gun as collateral. But killing cops puts a man at greater risk than hitting a homer or kissing the girl. Dillinger stirred the hunter's blood in J. Edgar Hoover, the young director of the FBI, and Hoover's most resourceful agent, Melvin Purvis. They,...

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