Public Enemies in Theaters July 1 – Film Based on Book by Bryan Burrough

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It's summer and that means summer movies! Check out the new Johnny Depp film, Public Enemies, which is based on a book by Penguin author, Bryan Burrough.

About the book:

"Ludicrously entertaining" (Time), Public Enemies is the story of the most spectacular crime wave in American history, the two-year battle between the young J. Edgar Hoover, his FBI and an assortment of criminals who became national icons: John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the Barkers. In an epic feat of storytelling, Burrough reveals a web of interconnections within the vast American underworld and demonstrates how Hoover's G-men overcame their early fumbles to secure the FBI's rise to power. Listen to a podcast with author Bryan Burrough for his book The Big Rich.

About the movie:

In the action-thriller Public Enemies, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard in the incredible and true story of legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger (Depp), the charismatic bank robber whose lightning raids made him the number one target of J. Edgar Hoover's fledgling FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), and a folk hero to much of the downtrodden public. No one could stop Dillinger. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone, from his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard), to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger's gang (later including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham)) thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting 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". However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis' men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents), who were real gunfighters, and orchestrating epic betrayals, from the infamous "Lady in Red" to the Chicago crime boss Frank Nitti, were Purvis and the FBI able to close in on Dillinger. -from imdb.com

Public Enemies, new movie, Penguin Bloggers, Penguin Books