Results tagged “johndillinger”

An auction of some things related to legendary bank bandit John Dillinger - didn't they make a movie about him recently - fetched some decent coin at a recent auction. A hand-written letter from Dillinger to his niece Mary Hancock sold for $60,400, more than 10 times than it expected to go for. A gun used in the dramatic shoot-out that killed Dillinger in front of the Biograph Theater also sold for a good price, at $36,400. [WBBM]

Just in time to cash in on the opening of “Public Enemies” this week, the site of John Dillinger’s last bank robbery shootout in South Bend, Indiana is up for sale. The historic State Theatre formerly known as the Blackstone Theatre Vaudeville House still bears bullet marks from the over 100 bullets that flew during gunfight between police and Dillinger’s gang in the 1934 robbery of Merchant Bank. The shootout left one police officer dead and eight people wounded as the gang made off with $30,000.

     

With all the hype over this week's opening of the new John Dillinger film Public Enemies, filmed here in Chicago, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and directed by Michael Mann, the Associated Press dug up this old file photo of the Biograph Theater as it originally appeared in July 1934, the night after Dillinger was shot (the second shot above is of a woman from the original pic holding a newspaper that says "Dillinger Slain"). Also check out shots taken by readers as the Biograph appeared last summer as the crew filmed.

With the countdown clock getting very near to the nationwide release of the Chicago-centric summer blockbuster "Public Enemies," the Chicago media landscape has been diligently tracking down Dillinger info en masse. Earlier this week, the morbid habit of collecting blood back in the 20's is given a modern day connection in Mark Brown's column on Tuesday. Charley Johnson of the City News Bureau recieved a square of bloodstained newsprint from a reporter who was on the scene at Dillinger's slaying. Charley pasted that piece of bloodied paper into his diary, and then passed the book onto his son, who grew up to be WLS news anchor Jim Johnson.

Just yesterday we were lamenting the fact that Chicago was left off a list of places receiving an advance screening of the new Johnny Depp-starring John Dillinger movie Public Enemies, which was largely shot here last year. What we are getting is the movie's big premiere which will include appearances from the movie's big stars, including Depp and Christian Bale. The bad news? Only a select few can go. It's an invitation-only event happening next Thursday at the AMC River East theater. According to Crain's Shia Kapos, it's one of the few films to get a premiere here in Chicago before it even premieres in L.A. a few days later; the film opens nationwide on Wednesday July 1.

One of the few summer blockbusters we're genuinely interested in seeing this year is Michael Mann's Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp as infamous gangster John Dillinger. The movie opens nationwide on July 1.

The FBI says that the number of bank robberies in Chicago this year (220 to date) is on pace to surpass 2007 numbers (226), but probably won’t surpass the record number set in 2006 (284). They also reported that the number of robberies has spiked in the last two to three weeks, and the incidents are becoming increasingly dangerous. Apparently, it’s no coincidence that the number of bank robberies is on the rise as the economy is tanking. Crimes like muggings and ATM hold-ups also increase during times of economic strife. The Sun-Times reported Tuesday that police are focusing crime fighting in areas hit hardest by foreclosures. "Abandoned buildings breed crime," police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. Officers in the Troubled Buildings Unit have been identifying abandoned properties, patrolling them to keep gangs, vandals and other criminals out and getting the city involved in dealing with the owners, Bond said.

Police are searching for two men considered "armed and dangerous" who "are believed to be responsible for a string of armed robberies and carjackings in the south suburbs over the past week."

Johnny Depp–watch powers, activate! Looks like the block of Lincoln near the Biograph is being prepped for , the John Dillinger biopic.

               

Rachel got more shots of the shoot in Crown Point. The cast of the movie is pretty amazing: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Giovanni Ribisi, and our under-the-radar fave Jason Clarke. But who's playing Anna Sage and Polly Hamilton?

Want to be in a Johnny Depp movie? Hells to the yes you do. The new Dillinger biopic he's in is looking for extras in Aurora on April 5 and 6.