Flawed history

Rating: Null/10 (25 December 2009)

A little background before I go on. I used to vacation in the little town of Manitowish Waters, where the Little Bohemia lodge is located. A key part of this movie is centered in the Little Bohemia shootout. (The scenes in the movie were actually filmed there!)
The prelude is that Melvin Purvis tortures a mortally wounded Dillenger confederate for the location of his hideout. In reality, the wife of owner Emil Wannatka mailed a letter to the FBI ratting out the gangsters. Now, I realize that this scene was done for dramatic effect, but what was the effect here? The whole movie seems to reflect on modern complaints that liberal Hollywood seems to have with the Government- there is wiretapping, officials (mostly J. Edgar Hoover) abusing authority, torture of suspects, etc.
Now, I give them credit for actually using the actual site and calling the town "Manitowish". (In reality, the town of Manitowish is about six miles north. Manitowish Waters was at that time known as "the Town of Spider Lake" until the town fathers realized in the 1940's that wasn't the best name to get tourists visiting.)
The history gets sloppier with the actual shootout. In the historical version, all the gangsters got away, a G-man was shot by Baby-Face Nelson on a nearby road, but it was a complete fiasco for the FBI. In the movie, all of Dillengers' accomplices are killed, including Nelson. (Nelson, in fact, survived Dillenger by a few months). Pretty Boy Floyd was also killed in the first scenes of the movie, even though he, too, was killed after Dillenger.
Dillenger was the first string Gangster. These guys were kind of the number two and three guys.
I think the producers figured that modern audiences wouldn't go for an accurate portrayal of events, and wanted to see as much ordnance as John McClain or John Rambo would dish out.
But the biggest flaw in the movie is that I didn't care about Dillenger or any other character as a person. I could have cared less if the FBI caught him or not. (Of course, knowing the did kind of took the suspense out of it for me. )
A final note. DIllenger and his sort get glorified in movies when there is economic trouble. THey robbed the banks, and people hated the banks in the 1930's and hated them in the 1970's when movies glorifying these people were made. The fact this sort of movie makes a comeback now says a lot.