Johnny Depp plays John Dillinger in Michael Mann's new film, "Public Enemies". An article in The Wall Street Journal looks at Dillinger as portrayed on the screen through the years, and our fascination with gangsters.If you haven't been hooked on this movie genre, here are a few of the old classics I recommend:
- White Heat. James Cagney gives a great performance as a psychotic hoodlum with a too-strong devotion to his mother.
- The Roaring Twenties. Another Cagney classic which also stars Humphrey Bogart.
- Little Ceasar. A great performance by Edward G. Robinson, who plays a flawed but cold-blooded mobster.
- High Sierra. Bogart as a complex thug. The story is timeless -- this film begs a remake.
