Line #13 YMMV/PublicEnemies


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6	* AluminumChristmasTrees: During the Racine bank robbery, Dillinger, having noticed a customer put his cash on the counter, tells him "Put it away. I'm not here for your money, I'm here for the bank's money." While it makes a nice ShoutOut to ''Film/{{Heat}}'' (also produced by Creator/MichaelMann), John Dillinger is reported to have said that to a customer while robbing the First National Bank in East Chicago, Indiana, while some sources attribute it to a bank robbery in Greencastle, Indiana.
7	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Ten Million Slaves" by Otis Taylor, used in the trailer and two different scenes in the movie itself (Purvis chasing down Pretty Boy Floyd and during Dillinger's second bank robbery).
8	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Creator/BillyCrudup's performance as J. Edgar Hoover was praised even by people who didn't like the movie.
9	* HilariousInHindsight: Many a reference is made to UsefulNotes/AlCapone, who Creator/StephenGraham (Baby Face Nelson) would go on to play in ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire''.
10	* GeniusBonus:
11	** When being taken into custody, Makley and Pierpont say they are being "Shanghaied to Ohio". This makes sense if you know the real reason why they were sent to Ohio to stand trial. Makley, Pierpont, and Russell Clark walked into the Allen County Jail in Lima, Ohio on October 12, 1933 to break Dillinger out of jail. In the process, Pierpont shot and killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber. Pierpont, Makley and Clark were put on trial and convicted in March 1934.
12	** Karpis tells Dillinger about how he and the Barker brothers Fred and Dock are planning on kidnapping a St. Paul banker named Edward Bremer, with Dillinger turning down the offer. Though Karpis may never have actually met Dillinger, his gang did go through with the Bremer kidnapping on January 17, 1934 - two days after Dillinger and Hamilton robbed a bank in East Chicago, Indiana.
13	** There's also a mention during the same scene where the Dillinger gang members mention Karpis's previous major crime - the kidnapping of William Hamm in June 1933 around the time of the Kansas City Massacre.
14	** The official statement on Dillinger’s death was that he didn’t say any final words, but thanks to the legend around him rumors persisted that the police were covering it up, hence the ambiguous treatment of his possible final words in the film.
15	* HollywoodHomely: Billie's alleged "$3 dress" (around $50, adjusted for inflation) doesn't exactly look cheap by today's standards.
16	* JerkassWoobie: John Dillinger, definitely during his humane moments. Witnessing Billie Frechette taken away in handcuffs in particular, and crying as he drives away unnoticed. He was so distraught by Billie's arrest that he considered intending to rescue her while she was being transported to St. Paul to stand trial, which everyone else in the gang - John Hamilton, Baby Face Nelson, Homer Van Meter and Tommy Carroll all were against. Van Meter, however, did know where they could get vests. Indeed, that Friday morning, a few days after Billie was arrested, Dillinger and Van Meter went to Warsaw, Indiana, where they took a police officer, Judd Pittenger, hostage (there was a brief struggle where Pittenger tried grabbing the barrel on Dillinger's Thompson, and Pittenger was then pistol-whipped by Van Meter) and walked him to the police station armory at gunpoint, where they took a number of pistols and bulletproof vests.
17	* MagnificentBastard: [[GentlemanThief John Dillinger]] pulls off heist after heist on guarded banks while leading his gang, never losing his gentlemanly exterior and [[EvenEvilHasStandards refusal to rob civilians]] that makes him a folk hero to many. Upon being arrested thanks to a fire at his hotel, Dillinger carves a wooden pistol and uses it to take the guards hostage, bluffing his way to freedom where he resumes his usual activities and remains one step ahead of the law the whole way through. Dillinger at one point even strolls into a police station wearing a disguise just to ask the cops the score to a baseball game out of sheer audacity, repeatedly showing that as one man against the federal government, he usually has the advantage.
18	* OneSceneWonder:
19	** Creator/JamesRusso as Walter Dietrich, whose killed in the opening scene but whose brief appearance leaves quite an impression.
20	** Creator/ChanningTatum as Pretty Boy Floyd, if only for the sake that it's Channing Tatum and that he finishes his brief appearance by getting killed off in a rather gruesome way.
21	* RetroactiveRecognition:
22	** Creator/ChanningTatum pops up very briefly as Pretty Boy Floyd before being shot and killed by Melvin Purvis.
23	** Creator/CareyMulligan pops up very briefly as one of Anna Sage's girls. It's a role that goes by so quickly you could easily blink and miss it.
24	* SoOkayItsAverage: The general consensus is that the film is well-acted and filled with plenty of good action, but a lacking script makes the film feel meandering and unable to carry its over two hour running time.
25	* SpecialEffectsFailure: In the opening scene, the moment John Dillinger leaps over the counter gets ruined when one notices Depp's face is poorly rendered CGI on a stuntman's body.
26	* TearJerker: Dillinger's death scene is also surprisingly accurate, and is surprisingly good at making the audience feel sympathetic for him before he dies.
27	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Given the nature of the story, a lot of potentially interesting supporting characters pop up briefly, only to either fade into the background or vanish outright. Most notably, Winstead's fellow FBI agents are introduced doing a badass TeamPowerWalk, and then proceed to all but disappear from the film. The fact that they're played by MMA legend Don Frye and well-known character actor Matt Craven makes this all the more noticeable.

Context YMMV / PublicEnemies