Inimigo Público

"The Public Enemy" is one of the starting points of the great season of gangster movies, a very interesting work. It is not the story of the rise and fall of some big boss of crime. Tom Powers (James Cagney) and Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) are just small time crooks, and so they remain throughout the movie. Only, they make the big money that the circumstances of prohibition offer to any criminal. Tom is just a semi-illiterate, naturally violent thug. He is not even professional. He kills just out of stupidity or desire of a pointless revenge, that ultimately will severely damage himself. Further evidence of his cheap personality is shown when he instantly falls for the vulgar, tasteless girl Gwen (Jean Harlow). By the way, Harlow looks remarkably unattractive (to our modern eyes, at least). Was it a choice of director Wellmann? Matt is slightly better than Tom, but clearly he has not the guts to cross his mate.

In my opinion a major credit of the film is that it systematically avoids cliché. Neither Tom nor Matt are outcomes of poverty and social injustice. They come from simple but honest, decent and loving families. But they are both bad (that's the word) and they use the freedom and opportunities of their democratic country to make evil.

In "The Public Enemy" we find probably the first instances of the beautiful stylish cinematography and clever camera-work that will become the trade-mark of later gangster and noir movies. Some scenes are unforgettable, like the final one, or that under the rain, or that of Cagney abusing the girl. The brief scene of the killing of the horse is pure cinematic genius.

In the film there are also some naiveness and clumsiness, though. The way Tom undergoes the personality of his good brother is far-fetched. It is not clear why a gangster in a hospital, wounded in a gun-fight, is not under strict police control. The behavior of Tom's boss in the ending is illogical. Moreover, the part where Tom and Matt are kids is too long (we audience are all eager to see Cagney!), and action is a bit scarce for a gangster movie.

"The Public Enemy" was Cagney's breakout film, and really he makes a powerful and accurate job. Actually, a strong acting is provided by the whole cast. The director William A. Wellmann handles the movie with sound talent.

"The Public Enemy" is a beautiful and historically important movie. I recommend it to any cinema-lover

The Public Enemy, along with Little Caesar and Scarface, set the standard for the gangster film. Though films about crime had been done in the silent era, sound was what really ushered in this particular genre. I've always maintained that musicals and gangster films are the only two movie genres that date from the sound era.

Of course this film about a young man's rise to prominence in the bootleg liquor business during Prohibition made James Cagney a star. Interestingly enough Edward Woods was originally supposed to be Tom Powers and Cagney was cast as best friend Matt Doyle. After some footage had been shot, Director William Wellman scrapped it and had Cagney and Woods exchange roles. Stars get born in many and strange ways.

Some critics have complained about Beryl Mercer's part as Cagney's mother, saying she's overacts the ditziness. I disagree with that completely. In the prologue section with Cagney and Woods as juveniles, there is a two parent household. The boys have a stern Irish father and a mom who'd spoil them if she could. The older kid who is later played by Donald Cook has more the benefit of the two family home and both influences. That and the fact that World War I leaves him partially disabled prevents him from thinking about the gangster trade. Cagney misses the war and is spoiled by mom.

I knew a woman like Beryl, in her own world with a stream of nonsensical chatter to keep out the reality of things. Her portrayal for me rings true.

Oddly enough in The Roaring Twenties Cagney is a veteran who enters the rackets because he can't get a legitimate job and its easy money.

Both The Public Enemy and Little Caesar are short films, edited down to the essentials so the viewer ain't bored for a minute. Warner Brothers sure knew how to do those gangster flicks.

In the early days of the talkies, a somewhat panicky film industry drafted in players from the theatre in the hopes that they would be the best suited to the new medium. If anything though these stagey hams only added to the awkwardness of those early sound movies. However a couple of years on a new kind of star began to emerge, those with unique voices, full of character, not necessarily realistic but injecting some smart-sounding talk into cinema after the silents.

James Cagney wasn't originally supposed to be the lead in The Public Enemy. He was cast as the sidekick, but director William Wellman soon realised he was the better man for the top job. And it's not surprising that he stood out, despite a lack of experience. It's not deep acting ability (although he would demonstrate that later in his career), it's presence; a raw, captivating charisma. He brings a compelling life to the part of Tom Powers, much as Edward G. Robinson did in Little Caesar six months or so earlier. But whereas Robinson was more of an Al Capone figure, Cagney is more the lean, young street brawler than the cigar-chomping kingpin. The gangster genre had found the perfect actor for another of its archetypes.

Scripted by Kubec Glasmon, John Bright and Harvey Thew, The Public Enemy is at the forefront of the then-popular mob movies, mainly thanks its brutal presentation of gangland. There were plenty of movies in which hoods gunned each other down with far more abandon, but in The Public Enemy the violence is more shocking through its context. The picture begins by showing the protagonists as kids. This was ostensibly to demonstrate the origins of criminality, but by giving us that glimpse of childhood, the later fates of the characters seem all the more grim and tragic. Cagney's doting mother remains a presence throughout the movie to keep this angle going.

William Wellman was ideal for such a project, since it's violence that brings out his inventive side. A little bit of action goes a long way in a Wellman movie. When Donald Cook punches Cagney, Cagney falls and crushes a chair. At other times the director has a bit of nasty business take place off screen, something which only the new sound technology would fully allow, cunningly drawing attention to the wider context. Involving the audience is another trick. For key moments he'll change the angle so that Cagney is almost staring into the lens, bearing down upon us.

And with those piercing eyes, commanding tone and short, sharp movements, Cagney is ideal for such an aggressive visual style. And yet these very strengths would present him with one drawback. As stars began to emerge that seemed so intrinsic to the tones and tropes of one genre, typecasting set in hard. The Public Enemy is an awesome debut for Cagney, but it also formed a constricting mould this intelligent and versatile actor would struggle to break.

... They both saw something in James Cagney. Jolson saw Cagney in a stage production he liked so much that he bought the rights. He would only sell the film rights to Warner Brothers if Cagney (and Joan Blondell) reprised their roles. The result was the film "Sinners' Holiday", and Cagney and Blondell stole the picture out from under the actual leads. Yet Cagney remained in supporting roles afterwards. . Bill Wellman was the director of 1931's "Public Enemy" about two boyhood friends who become Prohibition era hoods. Originally, Edward Woods was supposed to play the more volatile of the two, but Wellman quickly figured out that relatively unknown James Cagney was the versatile dynamo he needed for the lead, and the roles were reversed. To do otherwise would be to imagine Little Caesar with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. As the gangster with a fast rise and a hard fall instead of Edward G. Robinson.

There was no production code at the time, but even for 1931, this film is jarringly violent. Tom Powers (Cagney) is shown growing up in Chicago with a brutal father, a moralizing older brother, and an enabling doormat of a mother. Not finding any role models at home, Powers and his childhood friend Matt find them - and easy money - by befriending the neighborhood gangsters. They also find early betrayal - a score they settle later. When Prohibition becomes law, the real money and the real violence begin. Meanwhile, Tom's brother has returned from war a broken man, just reinforcing Tom's view that his brother is a chump. The violence escalates to the shocking conclusion. And all I can say is that you'll never listen to the song "Forever Blowing Bubbles" quite the same again.

One leg of the plot that just seems rather wedged in, but is interesting and even amusing today is Jean Harlow as Tom's love interest. This is before she went to MGM for the remainder of her career and short life. She just doesn't have her trademark screen persona down yet and strangely enough she is supposed to be a ....Texan???? She sounds like somebody from Brooklyn who was being voice coached to sound like the Queen of England, but she can't quite make the jump.

This film would probably be just a 5 or 6 out of 10 without Cagney - an interesting and adequate precode. Seeing Cagney explode on the screen for the first time in the lead makes it jump to an 8/10.

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

The script is loosely adapted from "Beer and Blood", an unpublished book from John Bright and Kubec Glasmon on the life of Dean O'Banion, Al Capone's biggest rival. We see a variety of references to Irish mobsters, including Samuel "Nails" Morton, who was famously killed by a horse. Just like the real-life mobster, Samuel "Nails" Nathan of the film is avenged when the horse is shot.

This is, of course, Cagney's breakout role. And what better role for him? Prior to "Public Enemy", he had been a hoofer on the New York stage. This experience really solidified him as a notable actor, as he had control over his movements that others might not have. Interestingly, he was originally cast as the good guy -- the last minute switch probably saved this movie as well as marked the decision that would catapult Cagney to stardom. (Some scenes were even filmed with Cagney in the other role before director William Wellman realized his mistake.)

As for how the dance background helped his acting, critic Lincoln Kirstein noted Cagney "has an inspired sense of timing, an arrogant style, a pride in the control of his body and a conviction and lack of self-consciousness that is unique. No one expresses more clearly in terms of pictorial action the delights of violence, the overtones of a subconscious sadism, the tendency towards destruction, toward anarchy, which is the base of American sex appeal." Beautifully said.

Playwright Robert Sherwood expressed how Cagney's character was the ideal anti-hero. He wrote that Cagney "does not hesitate to represent Tom as a complete rat -- with a rat's sense of honor, a rat's capacity for human love; and when cornered, a rat's fighting courage. And what is more, although his role is consistently unsympathetic, Mr. Cagney manages to earn for Tom Powers the audience's affection and esteem."

In its own time, the film was thought of as a bit too violent, and there are a few moments that might still be considered shocking today. However, with the changing norms between the 1930s and today, what really stands out is the misogyny that barely earned a mention upon release. The most memorable scene, of course, is Cagney smashing a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face. But his abusive language to her, suggesting his desire to drown Clarke, is hard to take and still remain empathetic with the gangster.

There are very few films that can be said to be really inspirational to the gangster film. This one, Howard Hawks' "Scarface" (1932) and "Little Caesar" (1931) are at the top of that short list. If it is not evident enough from watching the film itself, the special feature interview of Martin Scorsese should cement the deal. Author TJ English feels this is "perhaps the most influential gangster flick in the history of American movies", but that may be overstating it a little.

Some credit must be given for "Public Enemy" succeeding and remaining a top film, however. As strange as it sounds, there were at least 25 gangster movies in 1931 and at least 40 in 1932. So being among the one or two remembered almost a century later is actually quite a feat. Even William Wellman, who directed a staggering nine gangster films between 1928 and 1933 is really only remembered for this one.