The film opens in 1933 as John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) is brought to a penitentiary by his partner John "Red" Hamilton, under the guise of a prisoner drop. They are actually there to break out the rest of their gang. Dillinger and Hamilton however overpower several guards and free their partners. After a gangmember gets violent, a gun is used to kill a guard alerting the rest of the prison. A shootout ensues as the gang makes a run for the getaway car. This results in Dillinger's mentor Walter Dietrich being killed. After beating and disposing of the gangmember who caused the shootout, Dillinger and the gang take refuge in a country house before leaving for Chicago to rob banks.
Elsewhere, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) and several other FBI agents are running down Pretty Boy Floyd. Purvis kills Floyd in self defense. As a result, Purvis is upgraded by J. Edgar Hoover, who is protecting the FBI from scrutiny by politicians, to lead the hunt for John Dillinger.
While Dillinger and his gang reap the benefits of their robberies, Alvin Karpis offers Dillinger a role in a kidnapping plot. He declines however, stating that the public doesn't like kidnappings. At the party he meets Billie Frechette, whom he takes to dinner. At the restaurant they are in, they both are looked upon by others; John with fear because they know who he is, Billie with disdain because of her Indian heritage. Billie leaves him at the restaurant however when John begins talking to associates of Frank Nitti, Al Capone's right hand man and confidant. He finds her later, and states plainly what he will do for her and how he will treat her if they are to have a relationship: he also stands up for her by beating a drunkard verbally abusing her. With this act, and impressed by his respect and straight-forwardness with her, Billie leaves with him.
Melvin Purvis gets a lead on where Dillinger is staying and sets up an ambush at the motel he believes he is in. While checking out "Dillinger's" room, Purvis finds what looks to be an ordinary husband and wife. Though their identification checks out, Purvis seems to recognize the husband and has an agent watch the door after he leaves. But when the agent sees someone approach the door he is ambushed and killed by the "husband". After the man escapes, due to the rest of the agents' incompetance, Purvis realizes the killer wasn't Dillinger but Baby Face Nelson. After this incident, Purvis demands that Hoover bring in professional lawmen who know how to catch criminals dead or alive. Though Hoover had hoped for more pristine agents, he agrees.
While he and Billie are enjoying the luxuries across the States, the police finally find Dillinger and arrest him and his gang in Miami. In prison, Melvin Purvis comes to meet Dillinger. Dillinger goes on to tell Purvis how killing is different up close in personal as opposed to the way he killed Pretty Boy Floyd. Purvis tells Dillinger that he will more than likely be executed, and won't be a problem much longer. He is soon taken back to Indiana where he is imprisoned and awaiting execution. However, he gets in contact with a criminal lawyer, who gets Dillinger an appeal, keeping him in the county jail rather than sending him to state prison. Shortly after the appeal, Dillinger and a few inmates escape from prison using a fake gun. Dillinger is unable to see Billie as she is under tight surveillance by Purvis' men. Soon he finds that Frank Nitti's associates are now unwilling to help or involve themselves with him due to his notoriety causing the law to crack down on their Chicago business. He is instead goaded into a bank robbery job by an acquaintance. Even though Baby Face Nelson is involved, whom he doesn't like, Dillinger agrees. The robbery goes fine until Nelson impulsively kills a nearby police officer, alerting more of the robbery. A shootout occurs in which Dillinger is wounded and the acquaintance who convinced him to do the job is shot in the head before the gang escapes. They retreat to Nelson's wilderness lodge hideout at Little Bohemia, where Dillinger's wounds are dressed. Here Dillinger tells Red Hamilton that they will have to abandon Nelson and the gang and lay low for a while.
Purvis and his men apprehend the acquaintance (who is still alive) and torture him against the wishes of the doctors to find the rest of the gang's location. They arrive there and Purvis, with little time to think, organizes a poor ambush. This starts with them killing three innocent people leaving the lodge and alerting the gang. Dillinger and Red escape seperately from Nelson and the rest of the gang. While they are pursued, Red is shot and severely wounded, but is helped the rest of the way by Dillinger. Purvis angrily chases down Nelson after he killed his partner. After a lengthy car chase, Purvis and his men kill Nelson and the rest of the gang. In a nearby town, Red dies despite Dillinger's efforts to treat his injuries, and leaves Dillinger to think about Billie.
Dillinger later manages to steal Billie away from her home without the agents knowing until later. They spend a long night together, where Dillinger tells her he plans to do one last job that will pay enough for them to escape together for good. However, when Dillinger drops her off at a hotel he thinks will be a safe place for her to hide, she is re-captured by the FBI in front of him, leaving him torn and helpless to save her. An interrogator viciously beats Billie for his whereabouts, until she mocks him by stating that he could've caught Dillinger when they captured her, but was too frightened to search for him and hints at what Dillinger will do to him once he finds out about her treatment. Before the interrogator can further assault her, he is restrained by his colleagues and Purvis rescues her. In jail, she sends Dillenger a letter, telling him not to come rescue her, but to lie low and that she will see him again when she gets out.
Purvis enlists the help of prostitute and Dillinger acquaintance Anna Sage, threatening her with deportation in order for her to cooperate. She agrees to set up an ambush that will lead to Dillinger's capture. Dillinger has taken refuge alone with Anna and her friend Polly. He is also planning on joining Alvin Karpis in a train robbery that will make them $300,000 a piece. The day of the ambush, Dillinger tells Sage his plans to see a movie in town, which she passes onto Purvis. He first accompanies Polly into town and, while waiting for her, enters the "Dillinger Squad" room of the police department. He moves around casually looking over their progress and the information they have on him as no one in the room takes notice of or even recognizes him. At night Dillinger, Anna, and Polly go to see a Clark Gable gangster movie "Manhattan Melodrama" at the Biograph Theater. Once the movie is over, Dillinger and the women leave as Purvis and his agents begin to follow him. The agent who had beaten Billie prepares to kill him but Dillinger sees him before he can shoot. When he draws his gun to attack the lawmen he is shot several times. Charles Winstead, one of the men who shot him, listens to Dillinger's last words before he dies. Winstead tells Purvis he couldn't hear what he said: Purvis, who seems somewhat overcome by the deed, leaves to inform Hoover that Dillinger is dead.
Later on however, Winstead meets Billie Frechette in prison. He claims that he did in fact hear John Dillinger's dying words. He had apparantly told Winstead to "Tell her 'Bye bye, blackbird'", referencing the song John and Billie had danced to when they first met. Winstead leaves as Billie weeps quietly. The closing text reveals that Melvin Purvis quit the FBI shortly afterwards and committed suicide later in his life, Billie lived out of the rest of her life in Wisconsin following her release in 1936, and most of the Public Enemies were caught or killed later on.
Starring :
James Russo ... Walter Dietrich David Wenham ... Harry 'Pete' Pierpont Christian Stolte ... Charles Makley Jason Clarke ... John 'Red' Hamilton Johnny Depp ... John Dillinger John Judd ... Turnkey Stephen Dorff ... Homer Van Meter Michael Vieau ... Ed Shouse John Kishline ... Guard Dainard Wesley Walker ... Jim Leslie John Scherp ... Earl Adams Elena Kenney ... Viola Norris William Nero Jr. ... Toddler on Farm Channing Tatum ... Pretty Boy Floyd Christian Bale ... Melvin Purvis