"I'VE KILLED MEN...BUT NEVER A GOOD ONE"
With this quote, Prohibition Era gangster Charlie Birger summed up his adult life. As a bootlegger, gang leader and murderer, Charlie ruled the criminal world of poverty stricken Southern Illinois during the 1920s. But to the people of Little Egypt, as Southern Illinois came to be known, he was also a "Knight of Another Sort:" a community leader who was equally known for his generosity and good deeds, as he was for his violence. He became a "Robin Hood" character; an outlaw who ultimately was seen by many as a champion for the common man; standing up against a system that was seen as unjust. His brand of "machine gun" justice appealed to a populace who largely felt helpless in the face of a society that had seemed to abandon them.
On April 19th, 1928 at 9:48 a.m., Charlie Birger became the last man to be publicly hanged in Illinois. Until the end, Charlie maintained that he was a generally good man. He seemed to use the above quote to justify any murders he may have committed. However, while waiting for his date with the hangman, Charlie became increasingly agitated and seemed to lose confidence in this view of himself. At one point, he unsuccessfully attempted to take his own life in his cell. Yet, when he walked to the gallows on his last morning on Earth, he did so with a smile on his face and his head held high. His last words were "It's a beautiful world."
What happened to result in this change? Was it the dose of morphine that his jailers administered to him prior to the hanging? Or...was it something else?
BUT NEVER A GOOD ONE is an independent film that takes a speculative, supernatural look at the last night of Charlie Birger. Shooting in and around Bellingham, WA, it brings together the combined talents of filmmakers from Washington and Las Vegas, using personnel from independent film companies Nocturnal Combustion, Dark Heart Visions, Revolutionary Productions and The Ruse Films. Slated to shoot in September, 2011, BUT NEVER A GOOD ONE will be the introduction to an entire series of supernatural themed stories called THE TALES OF LITTLE EGYPT and promises to create a complete mythos of Gothic Americana. This is the chronicle of its making.
On April 19th, 1928 at 9:48 a.m., Charlie Birger became the last man to be publicly hanged in Illinois. Until the end, Charlie maintained that he was a generally good man. He seemed to use the above quote to justify any murders he may have committed. However, while waiting for his date with the hangman, Charlie became increasingly agitated and seemed to lose confidence in this view of himself. At one point, he unsuccessfully attempted to take his own life in his cell. Yet, when he walked to the gallows on his last morning on Earth, he did so with a smile on his face and his head held high. His last words were "It's a beautiful world."
What happened to result in this change? Was it the dose of morphine that his jailers administered to him prior to the hanging? Or...was it something else?
BUT NEVER A GOOD ONE is an independent film that takes a speculative, supernatural look at the last night of Charlie Birger. Shooting in and around Bellingham, WA, it brings together the combined talents of filmmakers from Washington and Las Vegas, using personnel from independent film companies Nocturnal Combustion, Dark Heart Visions, Revolutionary Productions and The Ruse Films. Slated to shoot in September, 2011, BUT NEVER A GOOD ONE will be the introduction to an entire series of supernatural themed stories called THE TALES OF LITTLE EGYPT and promises to create a complete mythos of Gothic Americana. This is the chronicle of its making.
