The Last Days of John Dillinger

Originally Aired: May 10, 1954 Suspense #551, "The Last Days of John Dillinger," recreates the final chapter of America's most notorious public enemy. After escaping from an Indiana jail using a wooden pistol he whittled himself, John Dillinger forces Deputy Ernie to help him break free, demonstrating the cold calculation and violence that made him infamous. Van Heflin portrays Dillinger as a man both charming and ruthless, stopping at a roadside diner where he promises waitress Molly he'll return for her, then heading to Wisconsin to reunite with his gang and plan his next moves. As law enforcement closes in, Dillinger's world begins to crumble. A shootout at a Wisconsin roadhouse leaves his partner Baby Face Nelson to face the police while Dillinger escapes. Desperate to disappear, he turns to a Chicago plastic surgeon willing to give him a new face for five thousand dollars. But the botched operation leaves him disfigured, and even the doctor's competence comes into question when he reveals that Dillinger actually died on the operating table before being revived. With his face ruined and enemies everywhere, Dillinger's options are running out.