Did We Forget?!

[LIONHART]

68 years ago yesterday, Tommy Gun Carrying Public Enemy No:1 John H. Dillinger was slain outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago, by Agents of the FBI. He was escorted by a one Anna Sage, the infamous "Lady In Red"..

[Arthur Fliegenheimer]

Are we remembering Dillinger because he favored Colt Thompson's, robbed banks, manged to escape from jail and elude being captured alive, put the FBI on the map, or because his name became synonymous with crime sprees? Since J. Edgar Hoover built the FBI on the revisionist history of what happend at the Kansas City Masacre in 1934, Hoover needed Dillenger to give the bureau oompf

[LIONHART]

All of those things....

[full auto 45]

Speaking of the old home town boy, has anybody heard if that idiot for a sheriff up in northern Indiana is still wanting to melt down John's Tommy gun he stole from the police department? He ha mentioned about selling it and I have been trying to get in touch with them but haven't heard a word.

I think he actually went to work for the FBI and helped them get all the other bad boys of the Era rounded up, J. Edgar needed him to help him out.

Ok so it's random babble!

[Chopper28]

Devlin, I like the Dillinger movies and mystique as much as any other TSMG lover. But sometimes Hollywood can paint a picture of someone that is not totally realistic. Just look at the movie Bonnie and Clyde. It actually makes you feel sorry for them, kind of like they were underdogs. When in actuality they were nothing more than two cold blooded thrill killers. And they never even used the TSMG. I am not comparing Dillinger to them but he also was a felon and is as responsible as anyone for the passage of the 1934 firearms act. I bet no one in Officer O'Malley's family lost any sleep over yesterdays aniversary. I am not trying to be argumenitive. I just want to keep in perspective what kind of people these were. Criminals that would use the instrument that we all love so dearly, or any other weapon, for purposes which John Thompson never intended them to be used for. They all got what they deserved, it is just a shame so many innocents had to die because of thier actions. With that said, can I barrow the new Baby Face Nelson DVD?

 

[LIONHART]

Chopper28,

Yes, Johny was an outlaw. And yes, even the movie, "Dillinger" is not 100% accurate. But, some information has come to light. Such as some of the Banks Owners being involved in heists, Ect. Who knows. I've been a Dillinger Collector for a long time. I'll be featured in a Book someday soon on the Public Enemy. But one thing holds true. Sure an interesting time!There are many things about Dillinger that has been exaggerated. I knew the curator of the "John Dillinger Historical Museum" that had been located in Nashville, Indiana, before his death in 1996. Mr. Joe Pinkston. He sure owned a lot of items from the Dillinger family, including, but not limited to, the Trousers that John was wearing the night he was killed. It's an interesting era, and one that did make the Thompson infamous. Bonnie And Clyde were nothing short of "Mad Dogs". They did get what they deserved.

[Arthur Fliegenheimer]

Naturally, Arthur Penn's 1967 movie with Beaty and Dunaway was a movie of its time. The sixties were interested in glamorizing the anti-hero. The unfortunate thing about movies, that are based on actual events and people, is that the uneducated public comes away from the experience believing what was portrayed on the screen as fact. The Clint Eastwood (before "Dirty Harry") and Charles Bronson anti-hero movies of the 1960's were only characters. Although Bronson did make the 1957 Roger Corman movie "Machine-Gun Kelly", it hardly glamorized Kelly. The film set in the early 1930's, is memorable for using XXX round mags in Kelly's Colt TSMG , when of course they were not manufactured until 1941.