There will be no Q & A on this screening.
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No other filmmaker has
explored the psyches of people caught in extreme circumstances with the
dominating consistency and cinematic power of MICHAEL MANN. For three
decades, Mann has remained one of cinema’s most compelling filmmakers,
and his level of artistry has created an indelible influence on the
medium. From Thief, Manhunter, Ali and Heat to The Last of the Mohicans
and The Insider, as well as Collateral and Miami Vice, his lasting
dramas have brought to the screen a series of tough, iconic figures
embodied by the most commanding actors of our time.
Now, in his most ambitious and timely project to
date, the seminal gangster saga Public Enemies, Michael Mann directs
one of our most gifted contemporary actors (JOHNNY DEPP of Pirates of
the Caribbean series, Sweeney
Todd) in the story of the fast and dangerous life of John Dillinger. In
the film, Mann teams with Depp to examine the man whose criminal
exploits captivated a nation besieged by financial hardship and ready
to celebrate a mythic figure who robbed the banks that had impoverished
them and outsmarted the authorities who had failed to remedy their hard
times, who inspired the first nationwide war on crime, who led a band
of accomplished armed robbers on a cascade of dazzling heists and
improbable breakouts, and whose dashing manner and charisma entranced
not only a special woman but an entire country: legendary
Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger.
For the epic
action-thriller, Mann directs Depp, CHRISTIAN BALE (The Dark Knight,
Terminator Salvation) and Academy Award® winner MARION COTILLARD (La
Vie en Rose, A Good Year) in the story of Dillinger, whose
well-choreographed bank robberies made him the number-one target of J.
Edgar Hoover’s (BILLY CRUDUP of Watchmen, The Good Shepherd) fledgling
FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis
(Bale). No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold
him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost
everyone—from
his
girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to Americans who were looking
for a symbol to divert them from their everyday hardships. They found
it in the man who took from the banks the monies they felt the banks
had wrongly taken from them.
While the adventures of
Dillinger’s gang—later including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson
(STEPHEN GRAHAM of Gangs of New York, Snatch) and robber/ kidnapper
Alvin Karpis (GIOVANNI RIBISI of Cold Mountain, Lost in
Translation)—thrilled many, Hoover planned to exploit the outlaw’s
capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the
national police force that
became the FBI. He made Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number
One and sent in Purvis, the dashing “Clark Gable of the FBI,” to snare
him. However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis’
men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of lawmen
from the Dallas bureau and orchestrating epic betrayals—from the
infamous “Lady in Red” (BRANKA KATIC of Big Love, The Englishman) to
Chicago crime boss Frank Nitti (BILL CAMP of Reservation Road,
Deception)—were Purvis, the FBI and their new crew of gunfighters able
to close in on their prey.
Drawn
back to the very city where his obsession with both Frechette and bank
robbing began, Dillinger, for once and for all, ended this pursuit by
Purvis. And when all was said and done, the entire country learned that
with the death of one of its heroes came the birth of a legend.
Harmony Gold Theater
7655 Sunset Blvd.
(between Stanley and Courtney)
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(free parking underneath & in lot behind theater - some street parking is permit restricted so be sure to read the signs) |
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