Book vs. Script

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Before I proceed this is a spoiler warning for all the history scholars out there who don't know that gangster John Dillinger was shot and killed by FBI agents on a hot night in Chicago in July 1934. Okay? Sorry if this upsets anyone who wants to be kept in a state of white-knuckled suspense when they sit down to see Michael Mann's Public Enemies sometime next year.

Last night I bought a copy of Bryan Burrough's "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI -- 1933 to '34," which is the basis of Mann's currently-shooting movie. I then received a copy of an 11.4.07 draft of the script of Public Enemies (written by Ronan Bennett, with revisions by Mann and Ann Biderman, and then Mann again).

The book is about all the wild-ass outlaw buckaroos of that era (including Machine Gun Kelly, Alvin Karpis, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, the Barker gang ) but the bulk of it -- certainly the heart of it -- is about John Dillinger. The book is 542 pages long (not counting the epilogue), and Dillinger finally goes down in a shower of hot lead on page 408. The script is even more Dillinger-friendly. It runs 131 pages, and Dillinger succumbs on page 123.

comment #1

Geoff says ...

What about Christian Bale/Melvin Purvis?

comment #2

AndrewOwens says ...

Did Jeff ever do anything on that John Logan script about a 30's PI in Hollywood, that was set up for DiCaprio and Mann? I would love to see that made. Alas, Public Enemies will do instead, I suppose.

comment #3

Mgmax says ...

Yeah, wildass buckaroos pretty much sums it up-- that's one thing I took away from the book, that it was still pretty much the Wild West, just because cars came along and hats got smaller doesn't mean things changed that much. Robbers, crooked cops, small towns consisting of a giant gambling hall and not much else-- not much difference in the end between the James gang and the Dillinger gang, really.

The other thing you take away, of course, is how amazingly incompetent the early FBI was.

comment #4

renorambler says ...

That first sentence had me laughing out loud. Well done!

comment #5

btwnproductions says ...

Great book, PUBLIC ENEMIES. HBO had planned a miniseries, a more apt format given the multiple historical threads, but the Mann film will have to do.

comment #6

Rich S. says ...

How incompetent the early FBI was?

I have a friend in state law enforcement who says the universal nickname for the FBI to this day is "Famous But Incompetent."

comment #7

Dave Polands Gut says ...

If you are expecting a good read and an interesting book do not read this. Its like a boring history book.

comment #8

Rich S. says ...

A good "true crime" book is Eliot Ness' The Untouchables. Undoubtedly embellished, but good nonetheless.

comment #9

TedM says ...

What's interesting is that Melvin Purvis' son is telling everyone that his biography of his father was optioned and used for this script, but I've yet to see any credits reflecting that. My guess is that the studio just bought the book to stifle any complaints from the Purvis family since there's still some controversy over whether Melvin committed suicide or died accidentally.

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