Young Dillinger

1965 film by Terry O. Morse

Young Dillinger

Directed by| Terry O. Morse
Written by| Donald Zimbalist
Screenplay by| Arthur Hoehl
Donald Zimbalist
Produced by| Alfred Zimbalist
Starring| John Ashley
Nick Adams
Robert Conrad
Cinematography| Stanley Cortez
Edited by| Terry Morse
Music by| Shorty Rogers

Production
company

The Zimbalist Company

Distributed by| Allied Artists

Release date

* April 28, 1965 (1965-04-28)

Running time

| 102 mins
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $200,000[1]

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

## Plot

[edit]

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

[edit]

* Nick Adams as John Dillinger
* Robert Conrad as Pretty Boy Floyd
* John Ashley as Baby Face Nelson
* Mary Ann Mobley as Elaine
* Victor Buono as Professor Hoffman
* Dan Terranova as Homer Van Meter
* John Hoyt as Dr. Wilson
* Reed Hadley as Federal Agent Parker
* Robert Osterloh as Federal Agent Baum
* Anthony Caruso as Rocco
* Art Baker as Warden
* Gene Roth as Justice of Peace
* Harvey Gardner as Mills

## Production

[edit]

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

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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

[edit]

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.[permanent dead link]
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.

## External links

[edit]

* Young Dillinger at IMDb
* Young Dillinger at AllMovie
* Young Dillinger at the TCM Movie Database
* Young Dillinger at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* New York Times review
* Young Dillinger at BFI

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Terry O. Morse

* The Adventures of Jane Arden (1939)
* On Trial (1939)
* Waterfront (1939)
* No Place to Go (1939)
* Smashing the Money Ring (1939)
* British Intelligence (1940)
* Tear Gas Squad (1940)
* A Fugitive from Justice (1940)
* Fog Island (1945)
* Danny Boy (1946)
* Shadows Over Chinatown (1946)
* Dangerous Money (1946)
* Don Ricardo Returns (1946)
* Bells of San Fernando (1947)
* Unknown World (1951)
* Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)
* Taffy and the Jungle Hunter (1965)
* Young Dillinger (1965)

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