"Public Enemies" comes to Janesville
Movies 10 at Pine Tree Plaza offered an enjoyable experience for moviegoers Wednesday for the premier of "Public Enemies, the Depression-era gangster movie about John Dillinger and featuring star Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.
Several vehicles featured in scenes from the movie were displayed outside, and two more were parked in the theater lobby. Customers could sign up for a free raffle of movie memorabilia. As you can see below, photos from the film by UW-Madison graduate Michael Mann were displayed on boards next to some of the cars.
Some employees, as well as some of the car owners, dressed up in appropriate period costumes. The photo below shows Rich and Barb Burton of Burlington with their 1935 Buick 40 series coupe. Rich tells me his car was in two scenes of the Sioux Falls, S.D., bank robbery and several more shots, most prominently outside Chicago's Biograph Theater, where the FBI finally caught up with Dillinger and gunned him down.
Seeing the old cars at Pine Tree was neat. Of course, I'm fond of such relics after having written the book, "Death Beyond the Willows," a true story of a couple who wed in my hometown of Marshall and died in Portage the same day while on their honeymoon in a 1927 Chevy Capitol Series AA coach.
I talked to Rich Burton again this morning, and we both enjoyed the movie very much. We appreciated the historical integrity that Mann tried to maintain. We also agreed that film reviewer Roger Ebert underplayed the relationship between Depp's Dillinger and actress Marion Cotillard's Billie Frechette.
In today's kicks section, Ebert writes of when Depp/Dillinger gives Cotillard/Frechette a fur coat, "He allows himself a tiny smile...and it is the only vulnerability he shows in the movie." Gee, Roger, did you miss the part where Depp/Dillinger has tears in his eyes after the FBI arrests Cotillard/Frechette?
Now, I'm kicking myself for never visiting Little Bohemia in Manitowish Waters, just 30 minutes north of where my parents now live in Minocqua. The resort displays artifacts from the shootout between Dillinger's gang and the FBI, and bullet holes from the incident remain visible. I'll have to get up there, perhaps during my next visit with my parents.
Greg Peck
Jul 2, 2009 at 9:59 p.m.
Suggest removal
I never checked out where Little Bohemia was on a map before. My Dad helped his uncle build a log cabin west of Minocqua back in 1950 and we used to go deer hunting up there in the late 60's and early 70's. It was about a 5 hour drive from Janesville on modern roads back then. That must have been a full day's drive from Chicago when Dillinger was going up there on the roads that existed back in the 30's.
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