“Dark, beautiful, like the black bird in that song,” says John Dillinger to Billie Frechette, dancing to the notes of a touching torch song intoned by one of queens of contemporary jazz, Diana Krall. “Bye Bye Blackbird,” with music by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Mort Dixon, was first performed by Gene Austin in 1926. Dillinger was imprisoned in a reformatory in Indiana. He entered on September 15, 1924, and remined there until his transfer to the state prison on July 16, 1928.He was released the 23rd of May 1933 and was killed in front of the Biograph Theatre of Chicago on July 22, 1934.

To comment on that short and fiery period of criminal liberty, Michael Mann uses seven songs by Elliot Goldenthal (who returns to his court 14 years after Heat), along with nine other compositions for a total of seventeen songs published on the soundtrack by Decca Records. To create the atmosphere of the era Mann turns to big band jazz (Benny Goodman lets loose with “King Porter Stomp,” 1935, in the wardrobe scene) and, above all, to Billie Holiday. Lady Day, at the center of Mann’s thoughts since the inception of the film, dominates with three pieces (“Love Me or Leave Me,” 1941, “Am I Blue?” 1941, “The Man I Love,” 1939); even at the cost of ignoring the chronology, since in 1933 the singer was an eighteen year-old at the debut of her recording career.

If Mann chooses anachronism of digital high definition to make us stay “inside” the streets and houses of the Great Depression, even the use of a guide track like Otis Taylor’s “Ten Million Slaves” (from the album Respect the Dead, 2002) goes in the same direction: the roughness of urban electric blues and the country easiness of the banjo epitomize the film’s two souls. “Ten Million Slaves,” heard in the trailer, accompanies Melvin Purvis’ relentless pursuit of Pretty Boy Floyd (and even this is anachronistic, given that the event occurred after Dillinger’s death); then in an instrumental version during the escape after one of the robberies. The multi-instrumentalist Taylor, a Chicagoan like Mann, is also in play with “Nasty Letter” (from Truth Is Not Fiction, 2003), during the escape from the Crown Point jail. In this scene Dillinger hums Gene Autry’s “The Last Round-Up,” reprised in its original during the credits.

As for Goldenthal’s score, the New York composer said he sifted through tons of American blues with Mann, but together they decided on an approach not directly connected to the sounds of the period. Another important inspiration was the dual nature of the film: the desolate fields of the Dust Bowl vs the glittering lights of Chicago; the old-school activities of the public enemies vs the new, organized crime of Nitti and D’Andrea. Goldenthal’s is a soundtrack that aims directly at the heart: it’s deeply perceptible in the songs on the CD like “Drive to Bohemia,” “Billie’s Arrest;” in the poignant “Love in the Dunes,” “Phone Call to Billie,” “Plane to Chicago” (reminiscent of Leoncavallo’s “Vesti la giubba”), “Gold Coast Restaurant,” and the magnificent “JD Dies” for the final act at the Biograph (here are strong references to The Thin Red Line composer Hans Zimmer, thanked in the closing credits, and to Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi of El Almein, in particular the “Corale per i caduti”). But Goldenthal also adds his typical “Heat” style to the hymn “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah” by the Indian Bottom Association Old Regular Baptists (as Dillinger gazes at the horizon after his accomplices escape) and revives an unpublished track from Heat, “Hanna Shoots Neil,” for the arrival of the weapons in the prison tailor shop.

Public Enemies does not deviate from Mann’s modus operandi even in the use of recycled songs from other soundtracks: in this case, John Powell’s “Beam” (from The Thin Red Line) accompanies the death of Walter Dietrich; “After the Shooting” by Johan Söderqvist and old acquaintance Gustavo Santaolalla (from Things We Lost in the Fire) is in the first love scene between Billie and Johnny.

For the rest: “Chicago Shake” and “Ballroom Bounce” by the Bruce Fowler Big Band (Fowler is Hans Zimmer’s orchestrator) accompany two scenes of ordinary criminality for dinner; Al Bowlly’s “Close Your Eyes” (1933) as a side dish during the bar conversation between Anna Sage and Martin Zarkovich; and for dessert, Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground,” laden with sorrow and spiritual blues, sharpens the details of the scene in which JD visits the police station as a ghost, admiring the file on him without any of the agents noticing his evanescent presence.

​

SCENES AND MUSIC

• After escape, packing at farm – Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah by Indian Bottom Association Old Regular Baptists
• Chase in the woods – Ten Million Slaves by Otis Taylor
• Dinner song – Chicago Shake by The Bruce Fowler Big Band
• Second dinner song – Ballroom Bounce by The Bruce Fowler Big Band
• Dance with Billie – Bye Bye Blackbird by Diana Krall
• Walking into the hotel & coat check – King Porter Stomp by Benny Goodman ; His Orchestra
• Billie talks with John first love scene – After The Shooting by Johan Soderqvist and Gustavo Santaolalla from  the soundtrack Things We Lost in the Fire directed by Susanne Fier
• Kiss, love scene – Love Me Or Leave Me by Billie Holiday
• Bank robbery –  Ten Million Slaves by Otis Taylor
• Tucson hotel, after racetrack – The Man I Love (Life from Carnegie Hall) by Billie Holiday
• In car after broke out of jail – Nasty Letter by Otis Taylor
• Radio song – Am I Blue? by Billie Holiday ; Her Orchestra
• Talk about going to Caracas at the shore/dunes – Bye Bye Blackbird by Diana Krall
• Anna Talks with Zarkovich fixing her deportation[Background Music at bar] – Close Your Eyes by Al Bowlly with Lew Stone and His Orchestra
•JD at Police's Office – Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground by Blind Willie Johnson
• Weapons comes in to Jail's dressmaker – Hanna Shoots Neil by Elliot Goldenthal
• Walter Dietrich Dies – Beam by John Powell from Thin Red Line's Soundtrack
• Closing credits and After The Escape – The Last Round Up by Gene Autry
 

   CREDITS

• Art Direction – Pat Barry

• Bass – Ann Atkinson, Bruce Morgenthaler, Chris Kollgaard, Francis Wu, Mike Valerio, Nico Abondolo

• Bassoon – Ken Munday, Rose Corrigan

• Cello – Andrew Shulman, Cecilia Tsan, Tina Soule, Chris Ermacoff, Dennis Karmazyn, Jen Kuhn, Larry Corbett, Stephanie Fife, Tim Landauer

• Clarinet – Charles Boito, Gary Gray

• Composed By [Original Score], Orchestrated By –Elliot Goldenthal

• Conductor [Orchestra] – Jonathan Sheffer

• Copyist [Music Preparation] – Eric Stonerook

• Edited By – Bob Badami, Chris Brooks, Curtis Roush, Katrina Schiller, Philip Tallman, Steve Durkee

• Engineer [Additional] – Brandon Mason, Frank Wolf

• Engineer [Additional], Other [Music Coordination] – Angie Teo

• Executive Producer [Soundtrack] – Bryan Carroll, Kathy Nelson

• Flute – Dan Higgins, Steve Kujala

• Harp – Katie Kirkpatrick

• Horn – Brad Warnaar, Brian O'Connor (2), Dan Kelley, David Duke, Jim Thatcher, Kristy Morrell, Steve Becknell

• Mastered By – Vlado Meller

• Oboe – Chris Bleth

• Orchestrated By – Robert Elhai

• Orchestrated By [Additional] – Bruce Fowler , Jeff Toine

• Orchestrated By [Additional], Copyist [Music Preparation] – Mark Baechle

• Other [A & R Direction For Decca Label Group] – Brian Drutman

• Other [Album Direction For Universal Pictures] – David Buntz

• Other [Chairman, Decca Label Group] – Chris Roberts

• Other [Director Of Scoring For Universal Pictures] – Tiffany Jones

• Other [Executive In Charge Of Music For Universal Pictures] – Harry Garfield, Kathy Nelson

• Other [Music Business Affairs For Decca Label Group] – Sheryl Gold

• Other [Music Business Affairs For Universal Pictures] – Phil Cohen

• Other [Music Consultant] – Aran Mann, Becca Mann, Fred Sokolow, Jessie Mann, Kurt Mangum, Patrick Ferris, Zach Cowie

• Other [Music Coordination] – Jules Cazedessus, Shinnosuke Miyazawa

• Other [Package Coordination] – Tom Arndt

• Other [Package Design] – Frank Famularo

• Percussion – Bob Zimmitti, Dan Greco, Ray Frisby

• Piano – Bryan Pezzone

• Producer [Score], Orchestrated By [Additional] – Teese Gohl

• Producer [Soundtrack Producer] – Michael Mann

• Recorded By, Mixed By – Joel Iwataki

• Saxophone [Baritone Sax] – Greg Huckins

• Synthesizer [Programming] – Richard Martinez

• Timpani – Greg Goodall

• Trombone – Bill Reichenbach , Charlie Loper, Phil Teele, Steve Holtman

• Trumpet – Malcolm McNab, Rick Baptist

• Tuba – Doug Tornquist

• Viola – Andrew Duckles, Brian Dembow, David Walther, Matt Funes, Roland Kato, Shawn Mann, Thomas Diener, Vickie Miskolczy

• Violin – Alan Grunfeld, Ana Landauer, Bruce Dukov, Darius Campo, Dave Ewart, Endre Granat, Eric Hosler, Eun Me Ahn*, Helen Nightingale*, Jackie Brand, Joel Derouin, Josefina Vergara, Julie Gigante, Kevin Connolly, Liane Mautner, Lily Ho Chen, Marc Sazer, Natalie Leggett, Neel Hammond, Phil Levy, Richard Altenbach, Roberto Cani, Roger Wilkie, Songa Lee, Tammy Hatwan*, Tereza Stanislav, Tiffany Yi Hu

​

PUBLIC ENEMIES Original motion picture soundtrack CD By Decca Records ‎–B0013072-02

​

• Ten Million Slaves (performed by Otis Taylor) (4:07)

• Chicago Shake (performed by The Bruce Fowler Big Band) (3:08)

• Drive to Bohemia (1:10)

• Love Me or Leave Me (performed by Billie Holiday ft. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra) (3:20)

• Billie’s Arrest (2:19)

• Am I Blue? (performed by Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra) (2:50)

• Love in the Dunes (1:48)

• Bye Bye Blackbird (performed by Diana Krall) (3:44)

• Phone Call to Billie (1:42)

• Nasty Letter (performed by Otis Taylor) (5:04)

• Plane to Chicago (3:22)

• Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah (performed by Indian Bottom Association, Old Regular Baptists & Elliot Goldenthal) (1:35)

• Gold Coast Restaurant (2:04)

• The Man I Love (performed by Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra) (3:05)

• JD Dies (3:54)

• Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground (performed by Blind Willie Johnson) (3:19)