Public Enemies
script used with courtesy of IMSDb
Written by
Ronan Bennett, Michael Mann & Ann Eiderman
November, 2007
TITLE: SEPTEMBER 26, 1933.
EXT. PRICK STREETS OF MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA – A BROWN
PONTIAC
is parked at the curb. It waits.
INT. PONTIAC – “RED” HAMILTON ( 34)
looks at his watch. With his meticulously parted red hair, he might be a bank president. It’s 6:55 a.m.
HAMILTON Time. Thirty year old JOHN HERBERT DILLINGER is in the backseat. He nods. His arms are behind him. We don’t know why. Red starts the car and drives forward.
INT. INDIANA STATE PRISON, MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA – LINE OF
CONVICTS
Its cold.-Convicts’ uniforms are broadly striped and frayed. This is a line of hard men branded by prison: shorn hair, broken nose, eyes with a cold ferocity. And their aggression has a nihilistic edge; their spirits never surrender. There’s nothing beaten down about these men. Like Alcatraz, Leavenworth, and Sing Sing, this is the end of the line.
PRISON GUARDS
in visored black caps, black shirts, black patent leather Sam Browne belts with three-foot long billy clubs watch the line, poised to unleash violence.
AMONG THE HARD MEN ARE…
HARRY “PETE” PIERPONT (32), 6 foot 1 with eerie blue eyes. Brilliant, violent, he hates all authority. CHARLES MAKLEY ( 44), squat with an anvil jaw, facial scars and as calm as Pierpont is volatile. HOMER VAN METER (27), tall, an incorrigible clown and an unemotional killer. He has continued to ridicule guards even when it cost him months in the hole.
THESE THREE
with an older man, WALTER DIETRICH, wait for the lam. work call to the prison Shirt Factory…
INT. INDIANA STATE PRISON, GATEHOUSE – TURNKEY
watches through a window as a Pontiac pulls into the parking area in front of the prison across from the streetcar tracks. Hamilton jerks a handcuffed Dillinger out of the backseat. Dillinger is shoved forward. Hamilton’s wearing a star.
TURNKEY (opening up) Afternoon. Hamilton flashes the badge. He shoves Dillinger inside. In an adjacent room FIVE GUARDS play poker. Next to them is a barred entrance to the prison yard. As the cage door locks behind him, this is the last place Dillinger wants to have entered. Meanwhile…
INT. INDIANA STATE PRISON – THE SHIRT FACTORY: STACKS OF
BOXES
and bolts of fabric wait for the convicts. lam. A KLAXON sounds. Door opens. Convicts enter. Walter Dietrich goes right to the stacks and pulls a box with an “X” crayoned on the side. Its labeled “Thread.” (Dietrich was mentored by Herbert K. Lamm, an ex-Prussian soldier who invented professional bank robbery by applying military tactics and who rode with Butch & Sundanc4’s Hole in the Wall Gang in Utah in 1901. in prison Dietrich passed on Lamm’s techniques. His brightest student in 1933 is..’ohn Herbert Dillinger.)
DIETRICH + “THREAD” BOX
arrive at a busy work station with Pierpont, Makley and Van Meter. Under spools are four Colt 45 automatics with loaded magazines.
GUARD DAINARD
is approached by Pierpont, who shoves the 45 in his face.
PIERPONT Line up! Line up… Dietrich and Van Meter control THREE OTHER GUARDS. ED SHOUSE, JIM LESLIE and EARL ADAMS – three other Cons armed with makeshift clubs and spivs — join the escape. Meanwhile…
INT. GATEHOUSE – TURNKEY
examines Dillinger a second time…
TURNKEY Didn’t you get paroled out of here a few months ago?
DILLINGER Yes, sir. Three months ago.
TURNKEY . John… Johnnie Dillinger?
DILLINGER That’s right. But my friends call me “Johnnie”. You gotta address me as “Mister” Dillinger. Dillinger’s insubordination puzzles Turnkey so he doesn’t see Hamilton bat a Thompson submachine gun across the back of his head and swing it onto the Two Guards…
RED /DILLINGER
Against the wall! Hands up! Get up! Dillinger’s cuffs fell away. Now his Thompson covers the stunned poker°players. Hamilton and Dillinger are as tight as they come.- They share their food, money, liquor, ammunition and women. ,.id right now…
YARD GATE
is keyed open by Dainard followed by Pierpont and Makley and the others. Pierpont kicks over the poker table. Escapees throw all the Guards against the wall.
MAKLEY /VAN METER
(to the Guards) Undress. Get undressed!
DILLINGER at the window checks the escape route to the Pontiac. Its clear. Hamilton conceals his weapon and starts out. Smooth. He crosses the front lawn, the street car tracks. So far, so good…
INT. GATE HOUSE – GUARDS
undress. One takes his time.
SHOUSE Hurry up! C’mon!
This Guard gives Shouse an insolent look. Shouse slams the Guard’s head with a length of steel pipe. Guard goes down. Shouse goes wild and continues to hammer his skull again and again, caving it in.
PIERPONT Cut it out Shouse!
DILLINGER (turns from open door) Shouse!I Dainard thinks that once the killing’s begun, he will die… So, he grabs for Homer Van Meter’s .45. Van Meter SHOOTS Dainard. Dainard’s knocked to the floor. Blood pools. A SIREN SCREAMS.
EXT. FRONT YARD – RED
caught in the open, turns. He scans the guard towers on the East and West corners. He backs towards his Pontiac. RED’S POV: TOWER GUARDS look into the prison interior where the shots came from.
DILLINGER arrives, takes Red’s position. Red goes for the Pon,.c…
ESCAPEES
don’t complete their disguises. Half-dressed in gua ds’ uniforms, they crash outside…
EXT. FRONT YARD – ESCAPEES
sprint for the street in all directions.
INT. WEST TOWER – TOWER GUARDS #1 + #2
CRACK CRACK CRACK! Jim Leslie falls, the top of his head taken off.
EXT. FRONT YARD – DILLINGER
FIRES at the tower, forcing the Guards to cover. Hamilton’s in the Pontiac, starting it.
PIERPONT’ S
running with the older Dietrich across the grass FIRING his
INT. RED’S PONTIAC – MANLEY + SHOUSE
tumble in. Dillinger and Van Meter – outside – FIRE at the West Tower.
PIERPONT + DIETRICH
arrive.
EXT. STREET – PONTIAC
takes off. Dillinger’s on the running board. His Thompson ROARS, covering Pierpont, who’s hauling Dietrich into the backseat.
BANG! Dietrich is hit in the neck by rifle FIRE from the East Tower.
DILLINGER Walter! Dillinger falls away. Dillinger and Pierpont grab Walter’s arms. He’s-paralyzed now. They try to pull him onto the running boafd, of the moving car. Dietrich’s”hcpeful eyes look up at them. Then his eyes glaze over. His feet drag down the street. He’s dead and they know it. They let go.
EXT. STREET – DIETRICH’S
body remains in the center of the street. The Pontiac picks up speed.
INT. PONTIAC – HAMILTON
drives like he has no nerves. Totally focused. Hamilton is the best getaway, or “git” driver in the country.
DILLIN GER’ S
Thompson empty, he grabs Red’s shotgun. He shoves it into Shouse’s chest in the backseat.
DILLINGER Walter’s dead ’cause you screwed it up, you son of a bitch!
SHOUSE The bastard wouldn’t do what he was told, Johnny. .Pete? Homer?
VAN METER Let him have it.
PIERPONT Dietrich was your pal, up to you. Dillinger sees the abject fear in Shouse’s eyes. And Dillinger’s mood swings. He lowers the shotgun… Then, he snaps the butt across Shouse’s face. Breaks Shouse’s cheekbone. Dillinger pulls back and slams the heavy butt dead center, smashing Shouse’s nose and orbital socket. Dillinger opens the door and kicks Shouse out of the moving car.
EXT. FARM ROAD – SHOUSE
bounces and rolls across the road into a field. The Pontiac races away into the distance.
EXT. PERU, INDIANA – CROSSROADS – LATER
It’s Dust Bowl America. 1933. Lunar landscape. CAMERA MOVES ACROSS brown dunes that half cover farm machinery and a wind- blasted house. And LANDS ON… JOHN DILLINGER in shirt sleeves and, a vest watchingthe roads for pursuit.
INT. FARM HOUSE — PIERPONT, MAKLEY + VAN METER
change into double breasted suits and shovel down hot cereal at a kitchen table. They’re in a rush. There is no ;£yurniture. A busted-out farmer, EDWIN NORRIS, hurriedly pours coffee from a kettle into tin mugs and a thermos. A WOMAN at a stove fries eggs.
PIERPONT (ready to go) okay…?
EXT. FARM — A TODDLER
wearing a torn smock approaches the Pontiac and a second car, a dust-covered Plymouth parked behind it.
HAMILTON (from the house) Johnny…? Ready.
THE WOMAN
brings out the dozen fried egg sandwiches wrapped in newspaper. She looks 40 but is 20. Edwin Norris is at the door.
DILLINGER (takes two) Thank you, ma’am. Dillinger’s lopsided smile is charming.
EDWIN NORRIS Its Miss. She’s my daughter, Viola. That’ll be eight dollars. Viola retrieves her toddler brother who’s crawled into the Pontiac. Dellinger peels off a $20 bill.
EDWIN NORRIS (CONT’D) Can’t change that…
DILLINGER Well, then you keep the change. $12 is a lot’–‘of money in 1933. Grateful, Norris goes inside, Dillinger passes Viola and the struggling toddler on the way to the Pontiac,
VIOLA
(LOW) Take me with you, mister. She puts a hand on his forearm.
DILLINGER I’m sorry, honey. Pierpont, Homer and Makley head towards the Plymouth.
INT. PONTIAC – DILLINGER,
as the Pontiac pulls away, looks back to see Viola wistfully watching them leave. The toddler reaches for Viola’s hand. She pushes the child away. Dellinger hates seeing the kid rejected.
HAMILTON Kid didn’t fool with anything, did he? Dillinger, looking back at the boy, hasn’t heard.
HAMILTON (CONT’D) Johnnie? All there? Dillinger lifts the coats on the backseat: their weapons are as they were.
DILLINGER Its all here.
(UPBEAT)
Let’s go make some money. The speeding cars throw up tails of dust as they drive west to Chicago.
EXT. THICK WOODS NEAR EAST LIVERPOOL, OHIO – A MAN – DAY
moves quickly through the woods. They run downhill. He wears expensive hunting clothes. He carries an 8mm Mauser sports rifle with a slim forestock and wrist and a turned-down bolt handle. It’s the best rifle made in 1933.
HE IS MELVIN PURVIS (30)
cleancut and handsome. A square jaw. Chester Gould modelled Dick Tracy’s profile after Purvis. Has not big, but he’s tenacious. He’s an incarnation of the social elite of h.is time: white, Southern patrician and a Christian gentleman. With Purvis are Special Agents WARREN BARTON (31) and Purvis’s friend CARTER DAUM (29) They have a harder time in the steep woods. They’re chasing someone. They are guided by East Liverpool police chief,
FULTZ.
BOTTOM OF THE HILL — PRETTY BOY FLOYD ( 29)
is a big-boned country boy. His blue suit is mud-streaked from his slide down the hill. He carries a Thompson submachine-gun with a drum magazine, and he is running for his life.
PURV I S , FULTZ, BAUM + BARTON
race after him.
MUDDY PATH – FLOYD
half runs, half slips in his dress shoes. Ahead is a cleared orchard. Floyd leaps the fence…
WOODS — PURVIS
jumping over fallen trees…
EXT. MIDDLE OF THE ORCHARD
of apple trees. Floyd’s three hundred yards ahead. He zigzags for a deeper forest at the far end. If he can reach it, he has a chance.
PURVIS breaks into the clear.
PURVIS Floyd! Halt! Purvis aims the Mauser. Perfect form. Floyd zigzags. Purvis FIRES, misses. Floyd opens up with the Thompson — wildly at that range. A few .45s splinter nearby branches. Fultz, Baum and Barton seek cover: Purvis works the bolt and chambers another round. Floyd is 10 yards from the forest. Purvis kneels onto his right knee. On his upraised left knee he braces hi left elbow. He inhales. Starts a smooth squeeze. Ha Tway through the exhale he FIRES. Floyd’s right arm flies up. He’s punched forward and crashes to the ground.
FLOYD regains consciousness. Purvis is running in. Floyd`s left hand pulls a 45.
BAUM Look out, Melvin! Purvis kicks the 45 out of his hand.
PURVIS You are under arrest. Floyd sits up to see the massive exit wound. His right lung and liver are shot through. He falls back.
(RASPS)
I’m Floyd. Who are you?
PURVIS Melvin Purvis – Department of Investigation.
(BEAT) Where’s your friend Harry Campbell, Floyd?
FLOYD Ain’t gonna tell you shit. Floyd looks at the sky.
FLOYD (CONT’D) And I believe you have killed me. So you can go and rot in hell, you sonofabitch. He lapses, goes cold and dies.
INT. KITCHEN – CA-ROLE SLAYMAN – DAY (EAST CHICAGO, INDIANA)
CAROLE SLAYMAN is 33 with green eyes and peroxide blonde hair and bounces down the stairs in a black robe. She crosses through a white kitchen with TWO GIRLS in kimonos. A scarred, African-American bouncer of 50 named SPORT enters…
SPORT He jus’ pulled in.
EXT. REAR YARD – CAROLE
sees Dillinger’s Pontiac stop in the backyard. It’s`-secluded by a hedge from the street. Its followed by the Plymouth with Pierpont and Van Meter in suits and prison haircuts.
CAROLE Johnny! Dillinger cradles the Thompson in his arm and crosses to her.
DILLINGER (to Hamilton) Hey, Red, call Oscar.
HAMILTON Okay. And Berman? Wanna switch-out the “shorts”?
(ADDS)
Get a Chrysler and an Essex. (to Carole) Hey, doll… He half picks her up with one arm around her waist.
DILLINGER (CONT’D) (to Carole) You get a hold of Zarkovich…?
CAROLE I sure did…
(LAUGHING)
Put me down!
JAN METER
Where those gals?! As Homer and Pierpont head inside…
INT. REAR GARAGE – OSCAR LIEBOLDT – LATER
OSCAR`s a 50 year old German gunsmith. Dillinger rapidly field strips his Thompson.
DILLINGER (re main spring) Jammed twice, Oscar., .main spring’s too tight.
OSCAR cut off one coil.
DILLINGER And it rides up and to the right on full auto.
OSCAR (re Cutts compensator) I widen port…
CAROLE APPEARS ON REAR PORCH ACROSS THE YARD. SHE SIGNALS TO
JOHNNY.
Dillinger rises as a 1933 Chrysler and an Essex Terraplane drive in. Out of the Essex steps HARRY BERMAN, a Cicero, Illinois auto dealer for the Syndicate. (Berman will switch- out the Dillinger Gang’s work cars or “shorts.”)
PIERPONT Hiya Harry…
PIERPONT tosses Berman a rubber banded roll of bills while…
INT. KITCHEN – DILLINGER
enters. MARTIN ZARKOVICH looks up. He wears a police badge and a 38 in a shoulder holster. He is a corrupt detective in the East Chicago, Indiana Police Department.
ZARKOVIOH
Johnny! How are ya? With him is ANNA SAGE, a 40 year old well-dressed madam. She kisses Johnny on the cheek.
DILLINGER Good and so are you. Christmas is coming early this year. (fat envelope of cash) Extra cake’s in here for you and Anna.
(BEAT) Still in Hammond, doll?
ANNA SAGE I’m in Chicago on North Halstead now. Come on by…
DILLINGER Marty, tell me that me and my boys are okay…
ZARKOVICH Long as you stay in my town, you’re in safe haven. Dillinger tosses Marty the envelope. This is Dillinger’s support and resupply network.
INT. CAROLE’S BEDROOM – DILLINGER’S – LATER
in a deep armchair with his shoes off and his feet on a hassock. Paul Whiteman’s Big Band is on the console radio. Carole slides onto his lap and snuggles into his shoulder. John glows with the affection.
CAROLE Wanna go out later, sugar?
DILLINGER I want to sit here with you and listen to the radio, baby.
(BEAT) I have missed you like nobody’s business…
John Dillinger seems like a romantic husband with his little wife Betty. And it feels a little out of place…
INT. CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ROOM – J. EDGAR HOOVER – DAY
MCKELLAR (to Hoover) Why do we need this?
HOOVER Because of the new breed of mobile outlaws who flee jurisdiction by crossing state lines over highways and against whom this government must wage a war on crime. J. EDGAR HOOVER is a physically short man but has a dynamic presence. He is a dapper patrician who believes in elites. He is completely free from self-doubt. He is youthful and 33 years old. SUYDAM and TOLSON sit next to him. MCKELLAR i�’Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Sub- Committee.-,He’s an avuncular man of 62.
MCKELLAR And so in the middle of a Great Depression you’re looking for a budget increase to build up your Department? But by my tally your Department of Investigation spends more taxpayer’s dollars catching crooks than what the crooks you catch stole in the first place…
HOOVER That’s ridiculous. The Bureau’s apprehended kidnappers, bank robbers, who have stolen up to…
MCKELLAR (looking at document) How many criminals you apprehended?
HOOVER We’ve arrested and arraigned 213 wanted felons…
MCKELLAR No. I mean you. How many?
HOOVER As Director I’ve administered…
MCKELLAR No. How many have you arrested? Personally.
HOOVER I’ve never arrested anybody.
(INCREDULOUS)
You never arrested anybody?
HOOVER I’m an administrator.
MCKELLAR With no field experience. For once Hoover is silent.
(CONTINUING) In fact you are shockingly unqualified, aren’t you, sir? You have never personally conducted a criminal investigation in the field in your life= Others in the room stare at Hoover. McKellar leans’-back…
MCKELLAR (CONT ° D )
(CONTINUING) I think you are a front. I think your prowess as a lawman is a myth created from a hoopla of headlines by Mr. Suydam, your publicist there. You are trying to make a federal police force with you set up as its Czar. That is runnin’ wild in my estimation…
HOOVER Crime is what runs wild in this country, Mr. Chairman. And…
MCKELLAR And if the country required an expanded Bureau, I question you are the person most fit to run it while…
(EXPLODES)
I won’t be judged by a kangaroo court of venal politicians…
MCKELLAR (slams gavel!) While outlaws like Dillinger, Clyde Barrow, the Barkers, and Nelson flourish unabated.
(SLAM)
Your appropriation request is denied. The hearing’s over.
TNT. U.S. CONGRESS, CORRIDOR – J. EDGAR HOOVER -DAY
walks fast through the corridor of congressmen. He talks over his left shoulder to Suydam and Tolson. They struggle to hear him…
HOOVER (to Suydam) Find out: was he soft on the Reds in ,1919? Does he use prostitutes? Peppy `tuf f like that. And feed this to Walter =!rii„inchell: “McKellar’s a Neanderthal. He’s O7:a personal vendetta to destroy me.” Like that.
(BEAT) We’ll fight him on the front page. Not in his damn committee room… (to Tolson) Where’s Dillinger?
TOLSON Spotted in Hammond, Indiana.
HOOVER How long ago?
TOLSON Yesterday. Another sighting has him on the Lincoln Highway in Ohio heading towards Cincinnati.
(DECIDES)
He’s in Hammond. Heading to Chicago.
SUYDAM How do you know?
HOOVER You can have fun in Chicago. What the hell’s there to do in Cincinnati?
INT. HOOVER’S PRIVATE OFFICE — HOOVER
enters. Melvin Purvis has been waiting. He’s gestured to follow.
HOOVER (suddenly brilliant) Agent Purvis, congratulations.
PURVIS Thank you sir. May I ask why?
HOOVER Pretty Boy Floyd, for which you have my commendation and personal gratitude. Second, you are, as of this moment, the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago field office. Your task will be to get John Dillinger. Are you up to it?
PURVIS Absolutely, sir. Purvis is imbued. Henry Suydam enters.
SUYDAM (to Hoover) They’re ready for him.
(PENSIVE)
This is Henry Suydam.. He is our expert in congressional and press relations.
INT. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION w HOOVER ESCORTS PURVIS THROUGH
THE OPEN PLAN OFFICE
Tolson + Suydam follow. It’s like the “Corporate Office of the Future” designed by Albrecht Speer. Agents are at grey metal desks dressed identically in dark suits, white shirts, dark ties. No personal effects. The individual is reduced to a component in a gleaming machine.
EXT. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT STEPS – HOOVER, PURVIS, SUYDAM +
TOLSON hurry down the staircase.
(LOW) Why are you sure you’re up to this task, Mr. Purvis?
PURVIS We have two weapons that cannot be defeated.
HOOVER What are they?
PURVIS The Bureau’s modern techniques of investigation and your visionary leadership.
HOOVER You let Mr. Tolson, here, know if you need anything, Melvin, anything at all,
PURVIS Thank you.
HOOVER (brilliant smile) Call me J.E. They shake hands. There’s a mob of photographers and newsmen and microphones to interview him.
EXTREMELY CLOSE: MELVIN PURVIS
is awed. He’s imbued with purpose. He’s been anointed Hoover’s Crimebuster. He claimed he was up to the task. “Is he?” he asks himself right now. And he didn’t expect to be overcome by doubt. He struggles with anxiety. Then, he pushes that aside and forces himself to take the step forward into the lights and flashbulbs.
SUYDAM (quietly to Tolson) Our own Clark Gable…
INT. AMERICAN BANK AND TRUST COMPANY – JOHN DILLINGER
in a long overcoat and a hat with a Tommy gun crosses a bank interior to a thin man behind a large desk, GROVER WEYLA_ND.
Grover stands and flattens against the back wall, as if trying to permeate the masonry and disappear into the back alley. Dillinger peels him off the wall and steers him towards the vault.
DILLINGER Let’s play a game, Mr. President. Its called spin the dial. (starts stopwatch, shouts to
CREW)
Seven minutes! Dillinger is the Vault Man. And alarm sounds.
WIDE: A BANK ROBBERY IN PROGRESS – PIERPONT
is the Lobby Man. His back is to the front door. He controls the customers on the inside. Women are seated on the floor. Men stand. It’s well-ordered. Pete doesn’t worry about his back because…
EXT. BANK + STREET – HOMER VAN METER
is the Lookout. His back is to the front door. His,job is to control the people outside the bank. His 351 Winchester rifle is hidden by his coat. Crowds gather across th’ street because of the alarm. Homer’s focused. He is rock steady.
MANLEY
is at the tellers’ drawers. His job is to shovel cash into a canvas bag. The Tellers stand aside.
DILLINGER`S
at the vault with Weyland. Weyland hesitates. Dillinger’s right hand with the Thompson covers Tellers so Makley can work. His left hand draws one of the two 45s he keeps in twin shoulder holsters and he cracks Grover Weyland across the forehead. He aims the .45 between Weyland’s eyes…
(CALM) You can be a dead hero or a live coward. Grover Weyland OPENS THE VAULT. Dillinger checks his watch.
EXT. BANK – VAN METER
spots a police car racing up, TAPS the window with the barrel of his rifle.
INT. BANK – PIERPONT
glances outside.
(CALMLY)
Company! NO ONE inside stops working. They know Van Meter will do his job.
EXT. BANK – OFFICER CHESTER BOYARD
is out of the car and into the bank door, passing right by —
VAN METER — who let him go. Van Meter keeps his eye on the other THREE COPS. Two get behind the cover of parked cars across the street. ONE stays low and runs towards Homer.
INT. BANK – BOYARD
marches into the lobby, gun in hand.
BOYARD
(CONFIDENTLY)
Hold it! Hands up! PIERPONT, behind him, slams the butt of the Thompson into the back of his head, knocking him flat, and disarms him. He rouses. Pete doesn’t like authority. Pete hits him again. Blood pools onto the floor. A WOMAN faints, collapsing. Peters dead calm. He looks over the half-painted windows. The growing crowd on the sidewalk is getting too large…
HE FIRES
at the glass. People scramble for cover as it CRASHES onto Main Street. Meanwhile…
EXT. BANK – REAR ALLEY: RED IN THE BUICK
engine idling, sees people running past. Taped to his dash are two “°gits” – step by step instructions to two getaway routes. He checks his watch. The minute hand moves into place. He drives evenly out of the alley.
EXT. BANK FRONT – VAN METER
is approached by the COP who thinks he’s a pedestrian.
COP
(to Homer) Hey, you. Move out of there!
VAN METER Why should I? I wanna watch. Angry Cop rushes him. Homer slams him in the gut with his rifle, disarms him and uses him as a shield. He backs to the front door. Pedestrians flee. Cops draw down. They cannot shoot without Homer blowing off the Cop’s head. Meanwhile…
INT. BANK — DILLINGER
tosses the last bag to Pierpont at the front door. On. the way out he passes a FARMER near a teller’s cage, his hands in the air. Cash on the counter.
DILLINGER That your money there, mister?
FARMER
Yessir. It is.
DILLINGER Well, go ahead and put it away. We’re here for the bank’s money. Not your money. Customers appreciate Dillinger. Dillinger loves their- appreciation…
PIERPONT You three! Let’s go! .to three pretty TELLERS hiding under a desk.
DILLINGER Folks, stay calm and stay low. Pierpont grabs two; Dillinger takes one, creating a human shield around them —
EXT. AMERICAN BANK AND TRUST — VAN METER,
his gun against the side of the cop’s head, moves to the Buick. A large crowd is across the street.
CITY DETECTIVES
pull up in front of Wylie’s Hat shop. Dillinger’s crew is crossing fast to Red’s Buick, as…
DILLINGER OPENS UP
and the Wylie Hat Shop windows blow out. A DETECTIVE with a deer rifle aims.
VAN METER FIRES past his hostage’s head. Detective goes down. The Hostage’s eardrum is blown. His ear bleeds.
DILLINGER SHOOTS UP…
City Detectives’ car, police car and a few others.
INT. BUICK – MAKLEY + PIERPONT
are in. Dillinger and hostages load onto the running board. Pierpont grabs ANNA PATZKE’s arm.
PIERPONT C’mere, honey. Buick’s moving faster. Dillinger pulls her onto the running board next–:o Boyard. The Buick roars away.
INT. BUICK:.- RED
drives with total concentration. Makley cooly reads the git.
MAKLEY 2 miles – turn left at the white barn. Right there. Now. 6 miles to the new bridge. Pierpont breaks out the rear window. He throws two five gallon milk jars full of roofing nails out into the road. They scatter.
TWO POLICE CARS
hit the nails, their tires blow. ROUNDS from the Buick finish dissuading them to pursue.
INT. BUICK – HAMILTON
approaches the bridge, slows.
DILLINGER (to Boyard and two of the
HOSTAGES)
Okay. Beat it!
Three hostages jump off. Dillinger pulls Anna Patzke and Weyland inside.
DILLINGER sees Anna Patzke’s shivering from shock and the cold. He puts his coat on her. He plops his hat on her head, too.
DILLINGER (CONT’D) Something to remember me by. She laughs, nervously, and a little thrilled at being where she is…
(OMINOUS)
Are we taking `em to the hideout?
DILLINGER (going along with it That depends.
VAN METER How ’bout it, honey? Can you cook?
ANNA PATZKE (not disinterested) Uh. Sure… After a fashion. They start to hoot and laugh. They think this is h±l iiou.s.
ANNA PATZKE (CONT’D) Well, its true!
VAN METER When I’m not doing this, I’m a scout for the movies.
ANNA PATZKE Really? This makes them laugh even harder.
EXT. THICK WOODS
Pierpont has brought the hostages to a big tree.
PIERPONT Face each other. Join hands. Pierpont binds them loosely to the tree.
WEYLAND
We’ll freeze.
DILLINGER You’ll worm your way out of that in about ten minutes. Anna looks over at Dellinger.
DILLINGER (CONT’D) It’s okay, doll. You’re just gonna be a little late for dinner. Dillinger reaches over, snatches his hat off Anna Patzke’s head. He leaves her his coat.
THE BUICK WORK CAR
is abandoned.
TRACK RIGHT + SEE
Dillinger”b Essex and a Ford drive off past fields with snow on both sides. New cars. Flush with cash. Clean.
INT. CHICAGt7: BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION OFFICES – PURVIS – DAY
(BANKER’ S BUILDING)
looks at the gathered agents. New faces. College men.
WARREN BARTON
holds up the coat Dillinger left on Anna Patzke.
BAUM .manufactured by Freeman & Freeman in St. Louis. We are identifying all stores that sold this coat. We note AGENTS COWLEY, RICE, CLEGG + RORER. DORIS ROGERS ( 23) is Purvis’ secretary. He brought her from his last post in Alabama along with Barton and Baum. We’ve entered mid-scene.
PURVIS Then we will cross-reference every Dillinger family member and known associate in each locale.
(BEAT) He was there. It got cold. He bought a coat. Therefore, he may have been harbored or have a safe house nearby.
PURVIS (CONT`D)
By such techniques we will get Dillinger.
(BEAT) Doris…
(STOPS)
For those of you who haven’t met her, Miss Rogers is my secretary… (to Doris) Please contact the Chicago telephone exchange supervisors. Request appointments for Carter Baum or myself.
(BEAT) We are going to be working long hours. It will be dangerous. Those of you who aren’t prepared for that, can go. And if you’re going to go, go now. (no one does) Thank you, gentlemen.
E /I. ARAGON BALLROOM, CHICAGO – ON DILLINGER – NIGHT
watching a sexy young woman on the dance floor. He loses sight of her… He’s expecting someone. Then, Dillinger sees her again: jet black hair in a bob, brown eyes, high cheekbones fom:her Indian mother and a great smile. She lights up a ro om. She is
BILLIE FRECHETTE (27).
She feels the stare and looks over. She studies him, then looks away. Dillinger’s with Pierpont, Makley and Hamilton at a table. It is loaded with steaks, oysters, and frog legs. ALVIN KARPIS and Homer Van Meter approach and Alvin sits next to Johnnie… Dillinger adjusts his chair to watch for the girl. He’s shoulder to shoulder to Karpis.
DILLINGER Hiya, Alvin. You hungry? How’s Freddie and Dock? (note: Alvin Karpis is cunning and careful. He will outlive everyone, including J. Edgar Hoover, and retire to Torremolinos, Spain, where he will die of heart failure in
Freddie and Dock Barker are the sons of Ma Barker. After the FBI gunned down the old woman, Hoover labeled her the “crime genius” of the family. According to Volney Davis, she couldn’t organize breakfast.)
KARPIS Everyone’s good. (leans in; they talk quietly) We been looking to snatch two fellas. One’s a St. Paul banker, Ed Bremer. Need a few more hands.
DILLINGER Don’t like kidnapping.
KARPIS Robbing banks is getting tougher.
DILLINGER The public don’t like kidnappers.
KARPIS Who gives a damn what the public likes?
DILLINGER I do. I hide out among them.
(SHRUGS)
,L -am strictly out to make cake.
DILLINGER .: yeah, then you, Ma, Dock and Freddie hole up like hermits on farms for six months. I grew up on a goddamn farm. I hate farms. I like big cities, crowds and a good time…
