| Director | Michael Mann |
|---|---|
| Genre | action film, adventure film, biographical film, crime drama film, crime film, crime thriller film, drama film, film based on book, gangster film, heist film, historical drama film, historical film, mystery film, period drama film, thriller film |
| Runtime | 140 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $80 million |
| Box office | $214.1 million |
In 1933, John Dillinger infiltrates Indiana State Penitentiary, jailbreaking his crew. During the firefight, his mentor Walter Dietrich is shot and killed. Dillinger and company change clothes and eat at a nearby farm before driving to a safe house on Chicago's east-side.
After killing Charles Floyd, FBI agent Melvin Purvis is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover to lead the hunt for Dillinger. Purvis also uses modern methods to battle crime, from cataloging fingerprints to tapping telephone lines.
In between a series of bank robberies, Dillinger meets Billie Frechette at a restaurant and impresses her by buying her a fur coat. Frechette falls for Dillinger even after he reveals his identity, and they become inseparable.
Purvis leads a failed ambush of Dillinger at a hotel, and an FBI agent is killed by Baby Face Nelson, who escapes with Tommy Carroll. Purvis asks Hoover for additional, experienced agents to deal with the hardened killers. Intelligence officer Charles Winstead, of military background, subsequently arrives to assist Purvis.
Police arrest Dillinger and his gang in Tucson, Arizona, after a fire breaks out in their Hotel Congress. Dillinger is extradited to Indiana, where Sheriff Lillian Holley locks him up in the Lake County Jail in Crown Point. Using a fake gun to escape, he is unable to see Frechette, who is under tight police surveillance. Dillinger learns that Frank Nitti's associates won't help as the FBI has been prosecuting interstate crime thanks to him, imperiling Nitti's bookmaking racket. This severs Dillinger's ties with the Chicago Outfit, forcing him and Red Hamilton to seek money elsewhere.
Carroll goads a desperate Dillinger into robbing $800,000 from a bank in Sioux Falls with Baby Face Nelson. Both Dillinger and Carroll are shot, and have to leave Carroll behind. They retreat to the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, realizing their haul (~$46,000) is significantly less than expected. Dillinger hopes he can free the rest from prison, including Pierpont and Makley, but Hamilton convinces him this is unlikely. Dillinger longs to see Frechette again.
Purvis and his men apprehend Carroll and torture him for the gang's location. An ambush is organized at Little Bohemia. Dillinger and Hamilton break away, and agents Winstead and Hurt pursue them through the woods, engaging in a shootout that fatally wounds Hamilton. Nelson, Shouse, and Van Meter hijack a Bureau car, killing Purvis's partner Carter Baum in the process. After a car chase, Purvis and his men kill Nelson and the rest of the gang. Elsewhere, Hamilton dies from his injuries after warning Dillinger to let Frechette go.
Dillinger meets Frechette, telling her he will commit one more robbery to pay enough for them to escape together. He drops her off, thinking she is safe, but she is arrested and badly beaten for refusing to reveal his whereabouts. Winstead and Purvis eventually intervene to stop the abusive and violent interrogation. Dillinger organizes a train robbery with Alvin Karpis and the Barker Gang, intending to flee the country the next day. Receiving a note from Frechette through her lawyer, Louis Piquett, he is told not to break her out of jail as she will be released in two years.
Purvis enlists the help of Anna Sage, a "madam" and one of Dillinger's acquaintances, threatening her with deportation to Romania, unless she sets up Dillinger, to hide out at her brothel. They go out to see Manhattan Melodrama but when out of the theater, are met by Purvis and other agents who awaited them. Dillinger spots the police unit but is shot before he can aim. Winstead kneels down beside the dying Dillinger to hear his last words. Purvis informs Hoover of Dillinger's death as bystanders begin to crowd around his body.
Winstead visits Frechette in prison; she already knows about Dillinger's death. He tells her that he thinks his dying words were, "Tell Billie for me, 'Bye, bye, Blackbird.'" Frechette sheds tears as Winstead leaves. Closing titles explain that Purvis quit the FBI a year later and committed suicide in 1960, and Frechette was released after two years.