One thing that Hollywood continually messes up is the history in movies set in historical times that are about actual people from the past. This is unfortunate since movies are potentially a great teaching tool. The excuse that film makers generally make for historically inaccuracy is that changes have to be made in order to make the movie interesting.
One historical personage is that of Lester Gillis aka George “Baby Face” Nelson. Nelson was one of the most infamous bank robbers of the 1930’s. His exploits were such that an historically accurate movie about him would be most entertaining especially since he was associated at various times with the likes of Al Capone & John Dillinger. However, this was not the path taken by executive producer Roger Corman in the making of 1995’s Baby Face Nelson starring C. Thomas Howell as the legendary criminal. This movie twists and distorts Nelson’s life story beyond recognition.
The problems with this movie begin with the casting. Martin Kove is cast as the infamous gangster John Dillinger despite the fact that Kove does not look or sound like Dillinger or, for that matter, like any kind of gangster. In this movie, Kove has long red hair with a mustache that is way much too thick to be Dillinger’s. Another questionable casting decision is that of F. Murray Abraham as Al Capone. Except for the fact that they both have black hair, Abraham looks nothing like Capone. C. Thomas Howell sports a mustache throughout the entire show as Nelson, yet the real Nelson preferred the clean shaven look. A related problem is that Nelson’s friend and accomplice John Paul Chase was renamed in the movie, “Paul Chance.” What is is the sense of casting actors who look nothing like the persons who they are supposed to portray?
After a perfunctory scene featuring Nelson as a little kid, the movie begins with Nelson already a bank robber who’s enjoying the high life. He meets and romances a dime store clerk named Helen Womack who he eventually marries. Nelson also serves for a time as an enforcer for Al Capone. In real life, Capone and Nelson came to an amicable parting of the ways. In the movie, Capone and Nelson are riding in a car when Capone starts screaming at Nelson, hits him in the mouth twice and then throws him out of the car.
One of the worst aspects of this movie is the way that law enforcement is portrayed. Law enforcement is clearly cast as the real bad guys with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in particular made to look bad. In this movie, FBI agents shoot people for the hell of it while gangsters like Nelson shoot people only for a reason. In this movie, Nelson is a heroic classy killer with his own code of ethics who was superior to the low lifes in the police and FBI. In real life, he was a cold blooded killer who killed for the sheer enjoyment of it. In the movie, Nelson is portrayed as a brave man who is a crack shot. The FBI agents can’t hit most anyone they shoot at except Dillinger’s girlfriend at the wedding of Baby Face and Helen. The FBI is also pictured as being basically a bunch of cowards who are not cool cats like Nelson and his friends.
The final scene of the movie where Baby Face Nelson finally goes down for the count against the FBI is a particularly bogus job by the film makers. In real life, 2 FBI agents spotted Nelson driving a stolen car with his wife and accomplice Chase with him. Once the agents started chasing him, Nelson pulled over and took out his guns and engaged in a battle with the agents. In the end, both Nelson and the agents died, but the wife and accomplice were able to make their getaway. In the movie, Nelson and friends are in their car headed towards the Canadian border where they are confronted by 10 FBI agents and a Canadian border guard. There is a massive shootout in which Nelson winds up dead and his wife and accomplice captured.
The bottom line is if you want a movie that is about the life and times of George “Baby Face” Nelson then this movie is worthless. To this day, Hollywood has never made a good, historically accurate, movie about Nelson despite the profoundly dramatic, not to mention tragic life he lived.