Young Dillinger

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title: "Young Dillinger" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1965-films", "allied-artists-films", "american-black-and-white-films", "films-set-in-the-1920s", "american-gangster-films", "crime-films-based-on-actual-events", "1960s-english-language-films", "1965-crime-drama-films", "cultural-depictions-of-pretty-boy-floyd", "cultural-depictions-of-john-dillinger", "cultural-depictions-of-baby-face-nelson", "1960s-historical-films", "american-historical-films", "films-about-john-dillinger", "1965-american-films", "films-directed-by-terry-o.-morse", "english-language-crime-drama-films", "english-language-historical-films"] description: "1965 film by Terry O. Morse" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Dillinger" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1965 film by Terry O. Morse ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]

Field	Value
name	Young Dillinger
image	Young Dillinger.jpg
director	Terry O. Morse
producer	Alfred Zimbalist
writer	Donald Zimbalist
screenplay	Arthur Hoehl
Donald Zimbalist
starring	John Ashley
Nick Adams
Robert Conrad
music	Shorty Rogers
cinematography	Stanley Cortez
editing	Terry Morse
studio	The Zimbalist Company
distributor	Allied Artists
released
runtime	102 mins
country	United States
language	English
budget	$200,000
::

| name = Young Dillinger | image = Young Dillinger.jpg | caption = | director = Terry O. Morse | producer = Alfred Zimbalist | writer = Donald Zimbalist | screenplay = Arthur Hoehl Donald Zimbalist | starring = John Ashley Nick Adams Robert Conrad | music = Shorty Rogers | cinematography = Stanley Cortez | editing = Terry Morse | studio = The Zimbalist Company | distributor = Allied Artists | released = | runtime = 102 mins | country = United States | language = English | budget = $200,000 | gross = Young Dillinger is a 1965 gangster film directed by Terry O. Morse. It stars Nick Adams as the notorious criminal John Dillinger, and co-stars Robert Conrad, John Ashley and Mary Ann Mobley.

Plot

With help from Elaine, his girlfriend, young John Dillinger breaks into her father's safe. They are caught, but Dillinger takes the rap by himself.

In prison, he meets Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson, who join Dillinger's gang after he masterminds a prison break. The gang goes on a years-long crime spree, robbing banks and armored cars. Elaine goes along, but she becomes pregnant and is wounded in a shootout. Dillinger in forced to leave her behind, and she rats him out to the FBI in order to prevent the authorities from taking her baby.

Cast

• Nick Adams as John Dillinger
• Robert Conrad as Pretty Boy Floyd
• John Ashley as Baby Face Nelson
• Mary Ann Mobley as Elaine
• Victor Buono as Professor Hoffman
• Dan Terranova as Homer Van Meter
• John Hoyt as Dr. Wilson
• Reed Hadley as Federal Agent Parker
• Robert Osterloh as Federal Agent Baum
• Anthony Caruso as Rocco
• Art Baker as Warden
• Gene Roth as Justice of Peace
• Harvey Gardner as Mills

Production

The film was shot at Goldwyn Studios starting in November 1964. Al Zimbalist said he didn't want to glamourise the gangsters. "We just wanted to tell the story how three young men went wrong in hopes no other young people would make the same mistakes they made", he said.

Shot cheaply in 17 days without period costumes, Robert Conrad recalled that he only did the film to repay a favor to his friend Nick Adams. He says the film had "no budget" so "everyone had to do their own stunts" but it was during filming that he successfully auditioned for Wild Wild West.

John Ashley says the film "was basically all of (producer) Al Zimbalist's footage of machine guns and crashing cars from Baby Face Nelson (1957)."

Ashley added that the film "may have been the most fun of everything I ever did. At the time all three of us [Adams, Conrad and himself] were divorced. We were all living up in Nick's house. This film came along through Allied Artists. They actually approached Nick, and Nick said 'You should go see about getting John and Bobby'. We all agreed to it and we basically rewrote it. We took a lot of liberties with these three guys, but it was a lot of fun and a real pleasant experience." Ashley later produced some TV movies for Conrad.

During filming, the management of Allied Artists were engaged in a proxy fight with rebellious shareholders.

Adams and Zimbalist wanted to make another film together, Guns of the G Men. However it was never made.

Reception

The Los Angeles Times called it "a B picture with A virtues... good performances... crisp direction... fast moving and full of action.

Cinema Retro later wrote "the movie breezes along at a brisk pace even if the style is quite unimpressive and pedestrian. In fact, the film looks like a standard TV episode of "The Untouchables" in terms of production values...The performances are adequate, nothing more."

Notes

References

1. Lamont, John. (1990). "The John Ashley Filmography".
2. Scheuer, P. K.. (Nov 12, 1964). "Location realism calls for ingenuity.". Los Angeles Times.
3. (Feb 23, 1965). "'Dillinger' tells how youths went wrong.". Los Angeles Times.
4. Major, Jack ''Robert Conrad Interview'' ''Akron Beacon Journal'' August 22, 1965
5. (October 1999). "Wild Wild West Revisited".
6. Kelley, B.. (Mar 17, 1985). "ASHLEY FINALLY MAKES THE TEAM". Sun Sentinel.
7. Lamont, John. (1990). "The John Ashley Interview Part 1 1956–1965".
8. Vagg, Stephen. (December 2019}}{{Dead link). "A Hell of a Life: The Nine Lives of John Ashley".
9. Bush, T. W.. (Nov 20, 1964). "Allied artists management wins fight". Los Angeles Times.
10. Scheuer, P. K.. (Dec 7, 1964). "'Loved one' takes 16 years to evolve.". Los Angeles Times.
11. Thomas, K.. (Jun 11, 1965). "'Young dillinger' right on mark". Los Angeles Times.
12. Pfeiffer, Lee. (13 November 2018). "Young Dillinger".

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