Brief look at Dillinger’s and Fatboys (that sounds weird)

I “borrowed” from the library two movies. And by that I mean I borrowed them legitimately with my library card and everything. Who’d steal from a library?

I guess you can mentally thrown in the appropriate dig at the Ford bros. right here. Ford bros.? Can you imagine if they made a Mario parody based on those guys?

I picked up the films Public Enemies and Run Fatboy Run.

For those not in the know, Public Enemies is based on the true story of depression era bank robber (I mean 1930’s, not Twentynow’s, even though the times have been increasingly blurred together) John Dillinger- possibly the best name for a bank robber ever- and the agent that’s on his trail, Marvin Purvis. You know they stuck with the real names when they make a movie with a “Marvin Purvis” in it.

Dillinger is a sort of Robin Hood figure, at least that’s how people idealize him. He takes only from the rich, but he doesn’t exactly give to the poor. He was really charming in that scene with the reporters after he was captured- which is a thing that really happened! - But for the most part he was a little on the creepy side. Dillinger was played by Johnny Depp, so maybe that’s just what I should’ve been expecting. Great in Edward Scissorhands though.

That said, when Dillinger became cut off from his support network because they’d found better ways to become rich than robbing banks, you felt for him. He was the last of a species, quickly becoming outpaced in a new age. Factor in the fact that he’d become such a liability partly because the syndicates were so eager to use him, making him a famous criminal that couldn’t hide out so well AND Dillinger only became a hardcore criminal after spending ten years in jail after he robbed a convenience store as a kid (it’s a good picture for jails as criminal factories) well, Dillinger really was a tragic figure. That’s how the movie plays it anyways.

Purvis is an excellent foil to Dillinger as another man out of time (and wonderfully played by Christian Bale who really did his homework on the man. Bale really is a great actor; I don’t care if you think his Batman voice is silly.). I thought the opposite at first- Purvis was a champion for new crime fighting technologies and strategies- he was very much on the cutting edge, but as his co-workers got increasingly desperate to capture Dillinger (a small fry in the grand scheme of things, but a famous one) Purvis felt more at odds with himself, that he was betraying his “southern gentleman” values.

In the end Purvis wasn’t the man to kill Dillinger- the perils of a chiefly accurate adaptation of real life- so no climactic gun battle here; Purvis, by that point, wanted to wash his hands of the matter anyways, so the films emphasis on Purvis not taking that final shot is a deliberate one.

Also, it gives more opportunity for Purvis’ right hand man to look cool. Seriously, that guy was amazing. My brother Simon thinks he was the evil general guy from Avatar. Yeah, you know, THAT guy.

I only just watched Run Fatboy Run yesterday, but man was it sweet. I was surprised by the degree to which I disliked the protagonist at the beginning, actually, I’m getting ahead of myself.

So the film is about a guy who left the love of his life at the altar, when she was pregnant, and five years later, threatened by the new man in her life who often brags about running in marathons, he decides to run in a marathon to show that he can be dedicated to something, a changed man.

The film is pretty formulaic, but comfortably so. It hit all the beats where I wanted the film to hit them- “and here’s the part where he decides he’s running for himself, his own self worth, instead of just for the girl”- and they were such that if the movie DIDN’T hit those beats I’d be disappointed. The story is more genuine and affecting for those beats.

I was surprised at the degree to which Hank Azaria’s “new boyfriend” role descended into villainy. Of course he seemed perfect at the start, but even before the actual race when he goes really bad you could see that he was too high strung, too forceful. Things were his way, or no way. (Conversely, the highway. Wait, I did that wrong…)

But having that guy be clearly bad makes it possible for a reconciliation between hero Danny Doyle and ex- fiancé Libby. It’s super sappy at the end of the race, but again, I liked it. And the sappiness is even pointed out in the film itself- when Danny finally crosses the finish line, collapsing into the waiting arms of Libby, with their five year old son also waiting to embrace dad, the scene cuts to Hank Azaria back in his own bed room (or someplace) looking at the news camera view of the scene shouting “I can’t beLIEVE this!” as the commentator says in a joyful tone “Doyle’s done it, oh and he has a son! Can you believe he has a son?” suggesting “isn’t this too perfect?”

Fortunately, the ex-couple aren’t just immediately back together afterwards. Life pretty much is back to normal except Danny now has a running hobby (I approve) and self respect. He asks Libby to dinner next week, she says okay, and we’ll see what happens in the future.

Reasons why I’m not an impartial reviewer for Run Fatboy Run: I like running, I like Simon Pegg and Simon Pegg movies. But I still recommend it.