00:00I read that Melvin Purvis had more arrests than anybody at the bureau at that time.
00:04What do you think made him so great at his job and accomplished this particular task?
00:08He holds that record to this day.
00:10He holds the record for taking down more public enemies than any other agent to this day.
00:16He was very popular with his men.
00:20He treated his men incredibly well.
00:22He was a very good leader.
00:24He had a great vision.
00:25He had great integrity.
00:27He was very capable of what he did.
00:28He had grown up hunting, coming from the country, and he was able to achieve extraordinary success at a very
00:39young age.
00:41I think he just had an inner integrity, which unfortunately he felt was compromised ultimately during his time in the
00:48bureau and resulted in him quitting.
00:50Yeah, it probably took a lot of balls for him to stand up to his boss saying, our men can't
00:54do this, right?
00:54Well, Hoover was a brilliant visionary, and ultimately his vision came to create the excellent organization that we have nowadays.
01:06But this is the birthing pains that we're seeing at this point.
01:08And in order to achieve short-term success, he requested of his men actions which Purvis certainly felt were morally
01:18abhorrent to his nature.
01:20And so in spite of his incredible success, I think that he felt that he paid too high of a
01:24price, and that's why he quit the bureau so soon after taking Dillinger down.
01:29You also described him as the Clark Gable of the bureau.
01:32Right.
01:33Can you elaborate on that?
01:34Right.
01:34Well, that was what he was called at the time.
01:36You know, I think, and Dick Tracy, I just remembered, somebody reminded me, was based upon Melvin Purvis as well.
01:45He just cut a very dashing figure compared to most agents of the day.
01:50He was very dapper.
01:51He wore the finest suits.
01:52He drove the finest car.
01:53He rode horses in the English riding style.
01:58He was a real gent, you know?
02:00Yeah.
02:00You also said there were some similarities between him and Dillinger.
02:04All I mean in that is just in the press's fascination with the two of them.
02:08Okay.
02:09You know, the press really put the both of them on the front of some of the newspapers.
02:15And this was actually something that was something which Dillinger enjoyed a great deal, and he was wonderful at marketing
02:22himself.
02:23Melvin Purvis, however, was very uncomfortable with that and always went out of his way to try to credit the
02:27agency as a whole and Hoover for any success.
02:30Okay.
02:31Obviously, you are very detail-oriented in your performances, and Michael Mann is very detail-oriented in his filmmaking.
02:37Yeah.
02:37How did you two come together, and did he help you get deeper?
02:40Is that possible?
02:41Absolutely.
02:42No, no, no.
02:42How?
02:42It's a wonderful experience working with Michael.
02:44He's a fascinating man and I think one of the finest filmmakers around.
02:47You know, he approaches every movie like an investigation.
02:51You know, he did make a great detective.
02:54He has an encyclopedic knowledge of each and every subject that he tells a story about.
03:00He's very thorough and incredibly articulate, you know, and very satisfying to work with such a man.
03:06And how was the training with the guns?
03:08That was enjoyable.
03:10You know, the guns were fairly simple to handle, you know, and Purvis was somebody who was very, very capable
03:22with weapons.
03:23Okay.
03:24Thank you so much.
03:24All right.
03:24Thanks.
03:25Thank you so much.
