Midwest is banking on tourism from ‘Public Enemies’
MILWAUKEE—John Dillinger: America’s most notorious criminal or Robin Hood of the Great Depression?
It doesn’t matter to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, which wants people to visit Wisconsin locales related to his gang’s time here in the 1930s and the movie filmed in the state, “Public Enemies.” It stars Johnny Depp as Dillinger.
The movie just opened, but Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and Arizona have been readying for months for the onslaught of attention related to the film, which features Dillinger’s escapades through those states.
The Wisconsin tourism department has created itineraries on its Web site of state locales from the movie and of those related to other notorious criminals, such as Al Capone, as well as an illustrated map and video guide.
“Visiting the old battle sites of the war on crime, it’s eerie,” said author Bryan Burrough, whose book “Public Enemies, America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI 1933-34” was used to help craft the screenplay for “Public Enemies.”
“Almost all these places still exist,” he said.
“Public Enemies” director Michael Mann filmed in the Midwest where Indiana-born Dillinger’s gang killed 10 men, wounded seven, robbed banks and police arsenals, and staged three jail breaks, according to the FBI.
Crews filmed in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin Dells, Columbus, Darlington, Beaver Dam, and around Mirror Lake in Wisconsin, and Crown Point, Ind., Chicago and Los Angeles.
Depp stars as Dillinger, and Christian Bale co-stars as FBI agent Melvin Purvis. Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard is Depp’s love interest, Billie Frechette.
One of the most dramatic events happened at Little Bohemia Lodge in northern Wisconsin in April 1934. Dillinger and his gang went there to relax and hide from the FBI, but a family member of the owner told the FBI. Agents staged a disorganized and disastrous raid, firing hundreds of bullets. An FBI agent and a bar patron were killed and another FBI agent, a constable and two other guests were wounded. Dillinger and others jumped from a second-floor window and escaped through the woods.
One of the few people still alive who was there is Emil Wanatka, 83, who now lives in Ashland, Wis. He was 8 when the six men and four women came to stay at his father’s lodge and restaurant. He remembers playing catch with Dillinger and George “Baby Face” Nelson and having to end the game because Nelson threw too hard.
He said Dillinger gave him a quarter so he could buy everyone ice creams at a birthday party.
Wanatka, who later took over the business for 31 years before selling it, said the lodge’s history helped business, with “Bullet hole customers” coming to see the holes—still visible today.
He is mentioned in Burrough’s book and was on set last summer and took a photo with Depp and cast members.
Officials plan to go all out in Oshkosh, where tourists spent an estimated $3.5 million during more than three weeks of setup and filming, said Wendy
K. Hielsberg of the Oshkosh Convention&Visitors Bureau.
The Oshkosh Public Museum is educating visitors about Depression-era crime with the exhibit “The Era of Public Enemies: A Wave of Crime in a Troubled Time.” Artifacts include Dillinger’s death mask, a vintage Thompson submachine gun and a hat worn by Depp during filming.
Crews filmed in two downtown buildings and in an airplane hangar at the EAA AirVenture Museum, Hielsberg said.
Other places with possible movie-related events:
• The Biograph Theater in Chicago is now a live theater called Victory Gardens Biograph Theater. Dillinger was watching “Manhattan Melodrama” on July 22, 1934, at the Biograph before he walked out and FBI agents shot him to death.
• The city of Crown Point, Ind.
—where Dillinger broke out of jail in March 3, 1934—is featuring films that star “Public Enemies” cast members during its “Movies In the Park” series this summer. Also, the old sheriff’s house and jail, one of the film’s locations, will be open for tours this summer.
• At the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis, the Indiana State Archives and others are putting on “Dillinger! Forging a Hoosier Legend,” July 15- Dec. 31. The free exhibit will feature Department of Correction files, mug shots and investigative documents.
If you go
Here are some places around Wisconsin where “Public Enemies” was filmed. Details: www.travelwisconsin.com . • Little Bohemia, a resort near Manitowish Waters, has bullet holes and artifacts from an FBI shootout with Dillinger and other gangsters in 1934.
• Oshkosh was turned into a movie set with refaced buildings and ’30s-era billboards, window displays, awnings and marquees.
The actual bank in Racine, now the Racine Museum of Art, features “The Scene of the Crime: Warrington Colescott Depicts Dillinger,” through Sept. 6, and the Racine Police Department lobby has a Dillinger submachine gun, mug shots and press clippings on display.
• Columbus, Wis., was turned into Greencastle, Ind., where a $75,000 bank robbery took place, filmed in Columbus at West James Gallery, a former bank. Columbus’ downtown, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will host a festival July 25.
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