Johnny Depp

It is a good thing Wikipedia is free. Every time a movie like “Public Enemies” comes out – a movie based on historical events and real people – I inevitably wind up at Wikipedia reading up on the folks I have just seen depicted. With Michael Mann’s new film about John Dillinger (based on the book, “Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34″), there are countless criminals and lawmen with their own links and back-stories. At first the objective is just to figure out how far Mann and company deviated from real life, but before long it is simply damned good reading!

The tricky part about watching “Public Enemies” is to keep in mind that the actual John Dillinger was in all likelihood not quite as charming or likeable as Johnny Depp is playing John Dillinger. You also have to remind yourself that Michael Mann is a fantastic filmmaker and, that being the case, his sympathies and opinions about Dillinger and his gang, or Hoover (Billy Crudup) and the F.B.I. for that matter, can quite easily become yours if you let them. It is a tightrope of sorts that you have to walk as you watch “Public Enemies.”

By all means, enjoy the story. Soak up the history and form your own opinions. Root for Dillinger (Depp) if you want to. Just remember that the actual gang and the things they did, the things the FBI did back in the 1930s … there were no ending credits, and there was no Michael Mann or Johnny Depp.

“Public Enemies,” thanks to history, certainly is not lacking for storyline or characters. Dillinger and his various co-criminals were men who totally embraced the idea that robbing banks was a decent way to make a living. Along the way however, whether they intended to from the beginning or not, they ended the lives of numerous people (mostly security guards and cops). To Mann’s credit, he does not hide that fact and “Public Enemies” shows one such murder in the opening moments. Even, then, if you go in hoping against reason that the movie-Dillinger can meet some sort of happy ending, such notions are erased quickly. The movie rule (even if you’re the hero, you don’t get to kill innocent people and survive the film) obviously applies in real life, too.

We know going in how the story ends; John Dillinger was gunned down by the F.B.I. leaving a movie theater. So, where’s the drama?

The drama in “Public Enemies” stems from Mann’s ability to make you forget you already know the ending. It stems from Depp’s charismatic performance as a criminal who can’t help it; he likes robbing banks! He likes being a fugitive, and he’s pretty good at it too. If Dillinger smirked to himself with self-satisfaction half as much as Depp does in “Public Enemies” then he was probably a happy camper. The tension comes from F.B.I. Agent Melvin Purvis (an even keeled Christian Bale) and his tireless pursuit of Dillinger. Anxiety seeps into the audience more than a little when Purvis and his team are more-or-less ordered to do what it takes to get answers from people like Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), Dillinger’s girlfriend, and they torture her.

Drama is not the problem with “Public Enemies.”

Length, on the other hand, is an issue. 140 minutes is a touch long, although I was never bored. Perhaps the biggest problem with “Public Enemies” is that it mostly left me wanting to know more.

I suppose, though, that is precisely why I am glad Wikipedia is free.

SHELTON — A man accused of robbing two banks recently did so out of desperation for cash to sustain his long-standing drug habit, and a movie trailer provided him with the inspiration, according to police.

Shawn Gullberg, 26, of 305 Coram Ave., told police that a commercial advertising the movie “Public Enemies,” starring Johnny Depp as the infamous bank robber John Dillinger, gave him the idea for how to make money for drugs quickly, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Detective Ben Trabka said the robberies of the Wachovia Bank at 320 Coram Ave. June 13 and a Bank of America at 1 Trap Falls Road Friday were “clearly drug-related.”

“(Gullberg) has a heroin and a crack cocaine problem, and that was the reason for both robberies,” Trabka said. “He claims he has had drug issues for the past several years.”

Trabka said Gullberg “should have learned more about Dillinger’s history,” as Dillinger’s untimely death should serve as a warning to most would-be bank robbers.

On June 13, police got a report that a white man with a sunburst tattoo on his neck had robbed the Wachovia Bank and fled on foot. A teller told police the robber passed her a note that said, “This is a robbery. I have a gun, and if I need to use it I will. Give me all your money,” court documents show.

The teller handed over money from her top drawer, but the robber demanded more, and she then gave money from her second drawer, police said. The bank estimated the robber got $4,700 in that heist. Police got a surveillance image of the robber, but that case remained unsolved until after the second robbery.

On Friday, police got a call of a robbery of the Bank of America. After a chase, Gullberg was taken into custody when a police dog found him hiding in the woods in Trumbull. According to police, Gullberg had a large roll of $50 and $100 bills, and a large pile of cash had been buried under leaves.

Police seized about $15,495, a cell phone, duffle bag, baseball cap, pellet gun, white T-shirt, red bandana and hooded sweatshirt as evidence, court documents show.

In the second robbery, Gullberg faces charges of first-degree robbery and first-degree larceny. In the first, he is accused of first-degree robbery and third-degree larceny.

Police said Gullberg fit the description of the Wachovia Bank robber, but he didn’t have a neck tattoo.

Police also captured Gullberg’s girlfriend, Katherine Vadnais, 22, of 305 Coram Ave., minutes after the second robbery. She is charged with aiding and abetting first-degree robbery and first-degree larceny.

Vadnais gave a statement to police in which she indicated she had put a fake tattoo on her boyfriend’s neck. Police searched the couple’s residence and found a tattoo kit, court documents show.

When questioned by police, Gullberg told police he has a problem with “heroin, crack cocaine, and any other drug” he could abuse. He told police his drug problem “has been getting worse and worse.”

During an interrogation, Gullberg mentioned seeing an advertisement for the movie about John Dillinger, and that he thought it’d be an easy way to make money, according to police.

“I guess I was not really thinking that well, due to the drugs,” Gullberg told police, court documents show.

Gullberg allegedly told investigators that he had spent time in prison with a bank robber who got caught because of a neck tattoo. He said he asked his girlfriend to put a fake one on him right before the first holdup.

Describing the first bank robbery to police, Gullberg said, “I was in a drug state of mind, not really thinking clear, like I was there but I wasn’t.”

Gullberg told police he got about $2,800 in the first robbery, and told them, “I spent the majority of the money on drugs,” court documents show.

He told police he actually watched from a window in his home as police arrived at the scene of the first robbery, and he shaved his face so he wouldn’t look the same.

Gullberg has a criminal record, and was discharged from state prison in October 2008, according to the state Department of Correction. Judicial branch records show convictions for reckless endangerment, conspiracy to commit burglary, conspiracy to commit larceny and first-degree larceny. Some of the convictions stemmed from burglaries at Quinnipiac University, in which electronics were stolen from dormitory rooms, according to police.

He was on probation at the time of the Shelton bank robberies.

Gullberg is being held in lieu of $300,000 bail, and is due in court July 27.

Why is he sexy? For starters, there’s his quirky style (he lives in France, dresses like a rock star, is not afraid of a little eyeliner) and his devil-may-care spirit (didn’t take a single singing lesson to prepare for his role in the upcoming musical Sweeney Todd). Most of all, there’s something heart-melting about how gaga he is for his gaggle – daughter Lily-Rose, 8, and son Jack, 5, his kids with longtime girlfriend Vanessa Paradis. “Suddenly you meet your reason to live,” Depp, 44, told London’s Daily Mail about being a father. “They make me happy.”