Still a classic of the gangster genre, showing neither glorifying the life nor pulling its punches.
Comment
10/30/07
The Public Enemy (1931)
100 %
Reviews Counted: 25 Fresh: 25 Rotten:0 Average Rating: 8.3/10
Runtime: 84 mins
Synopsis: In William Wellman's classic crime film THE PUBLIC ENEMY, James Cagney does a star turn as Tom Powers, a trouble-ridden individual who rises from the position of cheap thug to that of a powerful Prohibition gangster. When his best friend is murdered, Powers self-destructively seeks deadly... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Eddie Woods, Beryl Mercer, Joan Blondell
Reviews
Top Critic
Cagney's energy and Wellman's gutsy direction carry the day, counteracting the moralistic sentimentality of the script and indelibly etching the star on the memory as a definitive gangster hero.
02/09/06
Top Critic Top Critic
The film's juiciest scene has the misogynist Tom squeeze a half a grapefruit in his nagging girlfriend Kitty's (Mae Clarke) kisser.
12/15/07
There's no lace on this picture. It's raw and brutal. It's low-brow material given such workmanship as to make it high-brow.
10/30/07
Top Critic
Its success proved, if by then there was any doubt, that audiences will go for a charismatic lowlife over a dull hero any day of the week, a lesson Hollywood never forgot.
04/09/06
The implication is that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of guys like Tom Powers, little criminals living fast and dying hard.
02/20/06
The film set the template for the likes of "Scarface" and "GoodFellas."
01/20/06
Contrary to popular opinion, the best moment in the film isn’t when Jimmy Cagney shoves a grapefruit in his girlfriend’s face.
02/11/05
...it was Cagney's film from beginning to end, to win or to lose, and he came out one of the biggest winners in Hollywood.
01/30/05
Overripe, rigid, and at times clunky ... and that's part of the enjoyment.
11/10/04
Top Critic
Now a classic, this is the movie in which Cagney famously crams a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face.
03/10/03
News
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posted by RT Staff October 31, 2007
This week, Ridley Scott's American Gangster starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington hits theaters. With its...
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