60: The Public Enemy

USA  83m  Dir: William A. Wellman  Key Cast: James Cagney

You'd have though Mae Clarke would have begun to reconsider her taste in men after being perfectly accepting of grave-robber Frankenstein but her next partner (now playing the role of Kitty) was gangster Tom Powers (James Cagney) who is a violent and volatile man who smashes a grapefruit into her face. Even in reality Clarke's men don't seem to me hugely better as her ex-husband timed the grapefruit scene and would repeatedly enter screenings of the film, watch said scene and leave again until the next showing. 

The Public Enemy is part of a run-of gangster films in the 1930s and is based on a book called Beer and Blood by newspaper men John Bright and Kubec Glasmon. The two men witnessed some of Al Capone's murderous gang rivalries in Chicago during the prohibition era and therefore many of the characters with the book and film were based on real people. This gives an element of realism to the film and I found it really interesting from a historical perspective as it shows how the power of these gangs rose after the start of prohibition. 

I actually thought the first half of the film was the best. It open with two kids, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle who are clearly neer-do-wells. We see them grow-up to become Cagney and Edward Woods respectively where they engage in petty theft and end up killing a police officer during one of their crimes. When prohibition begins they  become enforcers for bootleggers and soon become wealthy. I thought this was all fantastic, a really good crime story with Cagney especially making for a fantastic gangster. It's also interesting to see him face-off against his conscripted brother who is very much against his illegal activities. 

After this there's a fairly slow-section with the friends casually going around the city splashing their cash and flirting with girls, with Powers showing just how awful a person he is with the infamous grapefruit scene. When the gangster they work with dies in an accident a gang rivalry ensues and this is the cause of the inevitable downfall of the two men. Powers is so full of pride he ignores instructions and leaves the safehouse and the pride comes before a fall at the hands of the rival gang. 

The film likes to pretend it's telling a moral story with a written prologue and epilogue on screen saying the likes of "the hoodlums of the underworld must be exposed and the glamour ripped from them". It's a commendable message but it doesn't really reflect the content of the film which on the whole does glamourize the gangster life and clearly depicts that the downfall was only down to the character's poor choice and certainly wasn't inevitable. The epilogue feels like they are really saying "we know it's looks cool but please don't become a gangster". 

It's easy to compare this with the other well-known 30s gangster flick Little Caesar. This feels more real and more violent and does a better job of showing a rise up through the underworld but it doesn't match Rico's dramatic downfall in Little Caesar.