The Public Enemy (1931)

Starring: James Cagney and Jean Harlow
Grade: A-

In terms of the trio of gangster films that ignited the genre, The Public Enemy was better than Little Caesar, but it comes in second to Howard Hawks’s Scarface.

Summary

Following a foreword stressing how this film is based on a true story and how it won’t glorify the criminal, we open in the year 1909.

Two trouble-making kids in Tom Powers and Matt Doyle are as disruptive as they come when they’re together. Right away, we see Tom drinking beer and Matt trying to flirt with a grown woman. Tom tells him not to waste his time. Later, we see them getting chased by adults in a department store and pranking Matt’s sister Molly by tripping her while she tries to practice roller skating. Tom gave Molly the skates, but it was more than likely just to mess with her. Tom’s brother Mike comes out and orders Molly to give them back to Tom because he probably stole them. As Tom gives her shit about her father being in jail, Tom’s father overhears this, brings him inside, and spanks him. Later, they drop by the Red Oaks Social Club and give grown crook Putty Nose (Murray Kinnell) some watches they stole, asking for a profit. He gives them less than what they ask, but it’s to make up for their dues to the club, so they accept it.

In 1915, a now grown Tom Powers (Cagney) and Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) show up to the Red Oaks Social Club to talk with Putty Nose. Before they walk into the room, Putty Nose talks to a couple of his associates about using the boys because they won’t take that big of a cut. Tom and Matt enter, and Putty Nose asks about Tom’s straight-laced brother Mike (Donald Cook). Tom scoffs because Mike has the audacity to work on streetcars and go to school at night. The whole group goes into a private room to discuss the job they want Tom and Matt to help with. Apparently, Dutch knows the whole layout, so everything should be fine. Limpy Larry will be the lookout and if any cops show up, Putty Nose says he’ll protect them. Tom and Matt are unsure about this because this will be the biggest job they’ve done up until this point, but they start to get excited once they are both gifted guns by Putty Nose. That night, the group shows up to the Northwestern Fur Trading Company to rob the warehouse, and Tom and Matt are noticeably nervous. Upon finding some fur, Tom pulls back some to find a stuffed bear. Startled at the sight of it, he fires off some rounds at it by instinct. This causes the plan to go haywire. A cop is alerted, and he shoots Limpy Larry when he tries to escape. Tom and Matt shoot and kill the cop and run back to the club for cover. Sadly, they’re denied entry and are told that Putty Nose skipped out on them. Now, Tom wants to kick his ass more than ever before. Soon after, Tom and Matt attend Limpy Larry’s funeral.

In 1917, the United States has entered World War I. Tom and Matt drive and see Mike in uniform. Plus, he’s with Matt’s sister Molly now. Tom and Matt go to meet up with another gangster, Paddy Ryan (Robert O’Connor). They are delivery truck drivers and talk about how they could easily steal some expensive cigars they just dropped off, suggesting to Paddy they work with him on re-selling them. Paddy isn’t interested in fencing though because he has his own system, though he suggests they see a friend of his. He even tells them to call him if they get into a jam. Tom is surprised at Paddy being so helpful considering they’ve never done business before, but Paddy implies he may need them in the future. He also stresses the importance of having friends, using this as an opportunity to trash the two-timer Putty Nose. Tom gets home to see Ma (Beryl Mercer) crying. He finds out Mike has enlisted in the Marines. Tom goes upstairs to talk to Mike while he’s packing. They discuss Mike’s decision, Tom being the man of the family now and how he has to protect Ma, and how Mike wishes Tom were to stay home a bit more, despite the money he’s making. He knows Tom involves himself in some shady business, but he stresses how he should just do the delivery truck stuff instead. They get into an argument, and Tom accuses him of robbing the street cars he used to work on, prompting Mike to knock him down with a right cross. Tom falls onto the chair, breaking it. Once Mike leaves the room, Tom gets up and starts kicking the door.

In 1920, Prohibition is about to commence. Privately, Paddy Ryan hangs with Tom and Matt and talks about Prohibition and the lucrative possibilities of bootlegging, enlisting the two young men to help. Later, Tom and Mike drive a gasoline truck to a secluded area and fill the tank with barrels of alcohol hidden in a booze warehouse. They get a massive cut from Paddy and are as happy as ever. Tom gets fitted for a suit and is told by the tailor how the guys that pulled the job will probably make upwards of $150,000. Thankfully, they are those guys. Rich and comfortable, Tom and Matt go to a club one night. Upon entering the club, they see two women with two men sitting at a table. The two men are drunk and asleep though, prompting Tom and Matt to steal their girls. In fact, Tom even has security kick out the men. Later, Paddy meets with Mr. Leehman, and they agree on a deal. Leehman owns a defunct brewery, but he plans on reopening it. They want Tom and Matt to be enforcers for him, and they happily accept. Paddy is also enlisting mobster Nails Nathan (Leslie Fenton) and his gang to help. Nails Nathan introduces himself to everyone and assures Leehman they’re going to make a lot of money. He also implies a heavy use of force, which Leehman doesn’t seem too excited about. Tom and Matt go about their job as planned and enfore their will on those trying to buy. They show up to a bar, but one bartender they know says business isn’t too hot. Tom and Matt both order a beer from the guy, but Tom spits it in his face once he realizes it isn’t their beer. The guy argues it’s cheaper. An enraged Tom tells the other patrons to leave, turns on all the taps to drain out the beer, and tells the bartender he’s going to buy from them. Otherwise, he’s going to have someone come back and beat the holy living hell out him.

Just as Mike gets back from war, he is told by Officer Pat Burke (Robert Homans) about what Tom has been up to. Burke knows everything about Tom including the girls he’s been hanging around with, Nails Nathan, Paddy Ryan, and the bootlegging business that’s made him rich. This begs the question why this “officer” hasn’t done anything about it, but I digress. The Powers family, along with Mike, all have dinner together at home. They all toast to Mike’s health, but Mike has his eyes locked on Tom. Tom and Matt pressuring him to drink from the keg on the table causes Mike to snap. He calls out Tom for lying to Ma about him going into politics, takes the keg from the dinner table, and launches it across the room in anger. Tom points out that Mike’s hands aren’t clean either because of all the people he killed in war and him and Matt leave to stay at the hotel they frequent.

Mike’s presence doesn’t matter. Tom and Matt are rising in the criminal underworld and making too much money to stop. Unfortunately, they may go too far in their pursuit of power, with danger looming around the corner.

My Thoughts:

The pre-Code era of Hollywood churned out some iconic films. One of them was the star-making gangster film coming out the same year as Edward G. Robinson’s Little Caesar in The Public Enemy. Though I’ve mentioned it before, these films are famously known for being two of the most influential gangster movies of all time, along with Scarface the following year in 1932. The Public Enemy made James Cagney a star and even with very little knowledge of his career beforehand, it doesn’t take a genius to see why.

Even in one of his first major starring roles, Cagney has a magnetic screen presence, putting together a vicious performance where he takes control of the film as soon as he enters it. He completely wrestles it away from co-star Edward Woods in what could have easily been a buddy film. Think about it, though the film’s title is in reference to Cagney’s Tom Powers, the story is about both best friends and their rise and fall in becoming gangsters. Yes, the focus is more on Tom, but it has to be noted that Matt was along for the ride for a majority of the film and was a big part in our protagonist’s life. It didn’t matter though. Cagney takes the movie by force, and Tom Powers becomes one of his most memorable characters of all time. His vengeful, hate-fueled attitude is the stuff of legend. Even though he’s 5’5”, he plays this sawed-off little menace to society to perfection. This type of gangster is much different to the types he plays in future films. Here, he is the up-and-comer and is very inexperienced. He grows up as a hoodlum and prefers the criminal lifestyle at an early age because of the quick money he can get from it. He loves the “live fast” mentality and is eager to move up in the business, talking or working with whoever he needs to, to build up his income.

Early on however, we see the real Tom Powers. When finally given a chance to prove himself with a dangerous mission, you can see the nervousness in his face. Matt is more outright about it, but what separates Tom from him, and makes Tom the obvious star and leader of the two, is how he carries himself. He’s just as freaked out as Matt, but he refuses to give in to his internal feelings because this is what he wanted. He shows us that he has to push through. Otherwise, everything will fail, and he’ll go back to the bottom. Mostly, his annoyance with his goody two shoes brother Mike is what drives him. Mike gets all the credit in the world for whatever he does, but Tom pushes through as a gangster to provide for his family almost in spite of him. Yes, he prefers making money as quickly as possible and this is what sends him into the direction of being a star criminal, but we see even in his early years that Tom doesn’t get along with Mike. He hates his judgmental attitude towards him and his constant accusations of his criminal activity (regardless of if he’s right or not), and it pushes him even further into the direction he’s going in. This is very realistic. For many at a young age, the older, pushier influence of peers and those that are older usually approach the younger generation in the wrong way by overdoing it with know-it-all conversations, and it backfires more often than not. I’ve seen it firsthand growing up, and I know I’m not alone in this.

Because of this, it should not surprise us how this fuels Tom to strive harder than Matt to take them both to the next level, especially since Matt seems cool with just being along for the ride. That’s the difference between the two best friends. Matt doesn’t have the edge Tom does. Matt is loyal and loves the lifestyle and what it gives him, but there’s something that puts Tom above him. There’s an influence he has over Matt, and it’s evident. At one point, Matt’s wife asks him if he’s leaving that night and there’s this striking shot of the two looking across from each other, but an out-of-focus Tom is seen in the middle of them from afar. Matt’s loyalty and Tom’s leadership forces him to leave, even though we know it’s not the right move. This basically shows us who’s the leader and man in charge. What is it about Tom that makes him the unequivocal badass he is? Is it his quick-to-react personality? Is it his willingness to turn to violence and his inability to take shit from anyone? Is it his intensity and conviction while on the job (and in life) compared to the easygoingness of Matt? Is it the aggressiveness of James Cagney? I have no qualms in saying it’s all of the above.

Tom’s aforementioned quick-to-react thinking is his undoing in the end, but it’s a quite the feather in the cap to complete the tragedy of his character arc. Plus, that scene where he breaks into Schemer Burns’s hideout by his lonesome to kill those motherfuckers by himself was a goosebumps-filled moment, excellently shot with beautiful cinematography to boot to make it one of the most memorable sequences of the decade. The haunting silence of Tom slowly walking towards the shop in the heavy rainfall was magnificent.

Some of the more engrossing scenes in The Public Enemy are the tension-filled one’s with Tom’s family and Mike. You can feel the hostility in the air and the dilemma their careers put them in when trying to do what’s right by their family. Ma just wants them at peace and together, but they know they have to support their family with their father being deceased. Unfortunately, they fall on complete opposite sides of the coin. Tom, though a violent gangster, has his heart in the right place. He always provides for the family at home, especially when Mike was at war. Though Ma’s obviousness to Tom’s dealings may be a bit unbelievable, I don’t think she cared because she loved her son no matter what. The same was true when his dealings with criminals were outed by Mike in front of everyone. Despite Mike being so strait-laced where it’s a little annoying (you should’ve seen his overreaction to Burke telling him that Tom has been “lying to his mother” and calling it his worst offense like there isn’t much bigger fish to fry), Donald Cook’s performance was an attention-grabbing one. Once he came back from war, you could see how he develops into weary, worn-out man, though still holding on dearly to his morals and refusing to give in to Tom’s success when it could’ve been so easy to. It makes him a lot more compelling as a character in that second act.

Another intriguing element to the story was seeing how Tom can’t strong arm Mike like he does everyone else. He routinely loses arguments and fights to Mike, who refuses to back down to Tom’s gangster attitude. He can see right through him. You can tell Mike still sees his troublesome little brother and disturbed young man from years ago and does everything in his power to try and bring him out of the darkness before it’s too late. Their back-and-forth relationship is just as exciting as the gangster stuff, and it made Tom a much more interesting character than he already was just because of Cook’s forceful performance as Mike. Going along with this, I adored the second scuffle the brothers get into where Tom eats a punch from Mike after talking shit. Frustrated, Tom tears up the money he was trying to give his family and throws it in Mike’s face. Clearly, he can’t beat Mike one-on-one, but he has no problem in showing him how spiteful he can be to prove a point. You can feel Tom seething in anger because of Cagney’s electric performance.

It’s not talked about a lot in the grand scheme of things, but my favorite scene had to be when Tom and Matt find out about the horse that killed Nails Nathan when he was riding it. In the most knee-jerk reaction of all time, Tom and Matt buy the horse and shoot the fucking thing for revenge. It was so outrageously unexpected, it was hysterical. This should show you who Tom is as a person. Even the animals aren’t safe from him!

I do have some problems though. All the women characters were useless and added virtually nothing to the story. Jean Harlow was horrible, and her character was badly written. We get that she likes the “bad boy” type, but you don’t have to go on a monologue explaining your character description. It makes her scenes sound like a bad play. Also, the character of Gwen was wildly unimportant to the story as a whole. It just gave us another blonde for Cagney to get angry with. It didn’t accomplish much at all and neither did the stuff with his first girlfriend Kitty, other than the iconic grapefruit scene. I didn’t understand why Gwen refused to break up with him either. She does this weird speech refusing his suggestion but once they are interrupted and Tom leaves, she’s visibly angry about the whole thing and throws something. We never go back to this either. This is pretty much the end of her character arc, if you consider it one. Obviously, most female characters from this time period were handled poorly, but this one stood out more than usual. Even so, the twist with Paddy Ryan’s girlfriend being a creep to a drunken Tom was an interesting development, though their needed to be a follow through on it. I would’ve loved to see Paddy’s face if he found out and how he would subsequently react to Tom about the whole thing, considering how much he respected him and was willing to quit racketeering to get him back from Schemer Burns.

There’s also this weird thing where when the characters argue, they talk 100 mph, and you can barely decipher what they’re saying. At times, you can’t help but laugh. As soon as one character makes a point, the other character will try and match him with a tougher retort by talking even faster. You just can’t help but chuckle because it gets kind of ridiculous. You ever see those parody sketches of a 1930s or 40s film, and they make fun of how fast the characters talk to each other? Well, The Public Enemy proves this detail to be 100% accurate.

Though a lot of the shootout scenes happen offscreen to where you can’t see the killings directly, which is kind of annoying, there’s one scene where it worked on a first-rate level. Of course, I’m referring to the killing of Putty Nose. The dramatic effect of him pleading for his life and playing a song on the piano he used to play for the kids, with the camera panning over to Matt by the door as he watches Tom shoot him, was a spectacular scene. It’s a killing that wouldn’t have nearly the same effect had it happened for all of us to see. Obviously, the rest of the film overdoes this effect but in this particular instance, it’s a remarkable death scene that adds to a litany of extraordinary, ahead-of-their-time sequences. Another one of these was the ending. I can say with confidence that this is one of the greatest finales to a gangster film we may ever witness. It’s on the list, and if we didn’t get the pretentious, holier-than-thou epilogue immediately following it, it would be much higher on said list. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s a haunting, perfectly executed way to end the tale that was told.

The Public Enemy is James Cagney in all of his glory. Though his best work comes way after the legendary 1931 film, you can see the star in the making. Without a doubt, this is one of the best films of the decade. There’s a reason it’s always looked back upon so fondly.