Movies: Gangsters set to invade Bicknell

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Where Johnny Depp goes, the Bicknell International Film Festival follows.

Aiming to capitalize on the buzz over Depp's rendition of John Dillinger in "Public Enemies," organizers at Bicknell -- which bills itself as "the world's smallest international film festival" -- decided to go with a gangster theme for its 14th annual event, which runs July 24 and 25, in the small Utah town just west of Capitol Reef National Park.

Gangster movies are the urban equivalent of the Western, said James Anderson, longtime festival co-director and former owner (with his wife, Nan) of Bicknell's Wayne Theatre, where the event takes place.

"It's usually the classic good-vs.-evil story," Anderson said. "In most gangster movies, somebody gets their due or there's a Robin Hood aspect of it."

The festival, which touts "better living through bad cinema," will screen three B-grade gangster flicks:

"Lady Gangster" (1942) » about a bank robber's girlfriend (Faye Emerson) under pressure from the D.A., a radio host and her boyfriend's partners in crime (one of whom is played by a young Jackie Gleason). "There are so many inconsistencies," Anderson said. "It's set in the '30s and they're driving '40s cars."

"Killer Dill" (1947) » a comedy about a door-to-door salesman (Stuart Erwin) who's the exact double for a notorious gangster. The mistaken-identity scenario has "been used over and over and over again as a vehicle," Anderson said, with stars such as Edward G. Robinson, Danny Kaye and Roberto Benigni mining it for laughs.

"Ma Barker's Killer Brood" (1960) » about the supposed criminal mastermind (Lurene Tuttle) whose boys were in cahoots with everyone from John Dillinger to Baby Face Nelson. "This movie was just so bad and so perfect for BIFF," Anderson said. "It's not quite 'The Terror of Tiny Town' [the infamous all-dwarf Western], but it's pretty close."

BIFF isn't just about the movies, though. The two-day event boasts opening- and closing-night parties, a panel discussion, a swap meet and the ceremony for the prestigious "Wayne's Award." The kickoff is a parade from Torrey, eight miles away on State Road 24, to Bicknell -- the only parade in the world known to reach speeds of 55 mph.

What's new this year is the ownership of the Wayne Theatre in Bicknell, which is believed to be the smallest town in the United States with an operating movie theater.

Last October, the Andersons sold the 62-year-old theater to Tory Davis, a recent Torrey transplant who had worked 12 years as a business analyst at Zions Bank in Salt Lake City.

"I was looking for an exciting new adventure in my life," Davis said of the theater purchase.

Davis has boosted the theater's schedule to five days and two movie titles per week and added a new sound system. Davis promises the BIFF experience won't change. "It's all about having fun," Davis said.

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