The Public Enemy (1931)

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Kubec Glasmon (by) and
John Bright (by) ...

Release Date:

23 April 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Plot:

A young hoodlum rises up through the ranks of the Chicago underworld, even as a gangster's accidental death threatens to spark a bloody mob war.

Plot Keywords:

Prohibition | Gangster | Grapefruit | Chicago | Gang War

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

James Cagney	...	Tom Powers
Jean Harlow	...	Gwen Allen
Edward Woods	...	Matt Doyle
Joan Blondell	...	Mamie
Donald Cook	...	Mike Powers
Leslie Fenton	...	Nails Nathan
Beryl Mercer	...	Ma Powers
Robert Emmett O'Connor	...	Paddy Ryan (as Robert O'Connor)
Murray Kinnell	...	Putty Nose

Also Known As:

Beer and Blood (USA) (working title)
Enemies of the Public (UK)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Brunswick)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | New Zealand:PG | Sweden:(Banned) | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

James Cagney based his performance on Chicago gangster Dean O'Bannion, and two New York City hoodlums he had known as a youth.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: As the trucks are leaving the Lehman Brewery, the shadow of a boom mic is visible on the trucks as they drive out the gate.

Quotes:

Tom Powers: [Tom stumbles from a gun fight gone wrong with the rival gang. He's barely walking and soaked from the rain] ... I ain't so tough.
[Tom collapses in the gutter]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in One Last Laugh (2008)

Soundtrack:

Maple Leaf Rag

As a tsunami, nothing was able to stop Cagney once he was aroused, and no one even thought to try…

"Public Enemy" brought two things to the screen: the little tough guy, fast-talking, unscrupulous gangster characterization by James Cagney which was to follow him throughout his entire screen career, and the grapefruit scene…

Though "Public Enemy" created the Cagney image, he had already appeared in two other gangsters films for Warners, as a murderer prepared to let someone else pay for his crime in "Sinner's Holiday," and as a double-crossing hoodlum in "Doorway to Hell."

"Public Enemy," however, was a bigger-budget production, directed by William Wellman, and it contained all the elements of success… It is the story of two brothers who become Chicago booze barons in the Twenties... One was Cagney, the other Edward Woods…

It is sometimes claimed that the story of "Public Enemy" is based on that of "Little Hymie" Weiss, leader of the North Side Chicago gang after the murder of Dion O'Banion by the Capones in 1924… What is more likely is that the Cagney characterization is based on "Little Hymie"; the plot itself is pure fiction…

When Cagney, in his striped pajama, sat opposite Mae Clarke at breakfast and decided he had had enough of this boring broad, he wasted no time… He picked up half a grapefruit and planted it full into Clarke's face… It was a piece of screen action which has lasted down the years as the ultimate in violence from the gangster to his moll…

Of course, it isn't – it just seems that way… Since then gir1s have been slapped, kicked, beaten up, run over, shot, stabbed and raped, all in the tradition of mobster violence…

But at the time this scene was daring, and the more daring because it was totally unexpected… We remember Mae Clarke in "Public Enemy," yet forget that Jean Harlow was in it, too… There may have been good reason… The New York Times, reviewing the film in 1934, commented: "The acting throughout is interesting, with the exception of Jean Harlow, who essays the role of a gangster's mistress."

Cagney made violence and a life of crime magically seductive, and "Public Enemy" made him Warners' number 2 gangster, second only to Edward G. Robinson…