The Public Enemy Reviews and Ratings



  • May 21, 2008
    I watched this in a media lesson and now love Cagney. His unpredictable swagger is what made this film great. grapefruit anyone?
    even after writting essays on it i love it. A true great.
  • May 6, 2008
    This is an old classic
  • March 28, 2008
    this a a pretty decent flick. not as engaging or profound as many of the early gangster films were, but cagney was great as always and the movie had its bright spot. worth the watch.
  • March 21, 2008
    I did not really like this movie.
  • February 5, 2008
    Cagney at his most bad ass. Just an excellent film.
  • January 30, 2008
    Oh James Cagney, you scare the hell out of me 90% of the time. And that is why you are soooo incredible. I love you.
  • January 20, 2008
    watched it over, had quite an effect on me, the last shot with cagney is a work of art.
  • January 16, 2008
    Watch Jimmy Cagney and Jean Harlow do something amazing with a grapefruit.

    *snicker*
  • January 3, 2008
    cagney embarks on a life of crime and his presence cannot be denied. his breakout performance here burns right through the screen. harlow still needs some work to reach her own iconic status. the film is a bit dated but after 75 years still amazing to watch
  • January 3, 2008
    This film has James Cagney ramping up to top form. This is a good early gangster flick. This movie is worth seeing for the classic "grapefruit scene" alone. The ending is also a nice touch.
  • December 31, 2007
    One of the best movies of all time. Its a classic but it never gets old. Notm uch i can say that hasnt already been said a bazillion times. A must see for classic movie fans and a fun gangster flick from the good old days. CAGNEY IS THE BEST!
  • December 12, 2007
    the founded stone for james cagney's overnight success of his classic gangster status. this flick is adapted from a moralistic social stiric novel called "beer and blood" which is applied in the lines during the flick as well. one of the first movies tackles the mob tumult under ...( read more)the prohibition in the 20s.

    cagney's character tom is a hoodlum who's been meddling with the "wrong kind of people" since childhood with his pal matt, he's learned how to steal, intimidate and rob, generally an incorigible man who takes what he wants without hesitation. as tom's relationships with family, a spoilt younger son with mother fixation, hostile toward the paternal prestige: his father and senior sibling mike, thus he defies authority and contempts the government as he remarks on his brother's diligence on schooling "he's learning how to be poor!" and also his disapproval on patriotism which is serving your country in the war, he dismisses as getting medals for killing people, just as rotten as his success made by the brutal violence of blood, especially when mike shows tom his disdain on tom's unjust fortune by thrashing the beer cask aside...by contemporary standard, those family dramas upon postwar social condition seem dated, hardly to be resonated with empathy. but public enemy has its own relevant importance by being one of defining evidences of this decade's spirits as some historical residual with characters in simplistic archetypes.

    the mere timeless element which contributes "public enemy"' as one mighty unshakable classic is james cagney's conspicuously ballistic performance as the cocky gangster who growls and curses like a machine gun, a misogynist who smashes a grapefruit to mae clark's facecheek after quibbing "i wish you were a wishing well, so i could tuck a bucket and sink it"....also delivers the famous line "i aint so tough!" after being shot down to loblolly in the rain.

    jean harlow also makes her cameo as cagney's mistress after tossing away mae clarke out of abhorrence...harlow says her lines bluntly like "oh, my bashful boy...i could love you to death"...harlow is more like decorative vase as gangster's eagerness to boast his flamboyance. but harlow's wardrobe is glamous enough to nuance her screen time. one trivia is that the role tom was assigned to co-star ed woods but director demands the exchange as temporal trial, then woods' carrer became luckluster after public enemy, cagney remained ace still.

    typically the public enemy is enclosed with a moralistic ending just as your parents would preach: you would end up no good being a gangster.
  • December 5, 2007
    One of the all time great gangsta flicks
  • November 12, 2007
    Typical Cagney Brilliant
  • November 2, 2007
    Classified as a classic = Interested.
  • November 1, 2007
    the template of all the great gangster movies.
  • October 31, 2007
    Superb Cagney.Excellent Harlow.
  • October 31, 2007
    One of my 2 favorite Cagney movies. He could make you love a ganster.
  • October 13, 2007
    Here you can see Cagney's first lead role: he had made a few small routine pictures before this and Warners wisely had him play Tom Powers, thereby contradicting the original casting for Public Enemy. It was a very very right decision, as even an utter deadhead would have to adm...( read more)it he outshines EVERYONE in what is, after all, a solid and very respectable roster of support.
  • October 9, 2007
    Caney+Grapefruit=Legend
    Jean Harlow is quite the looker too. Nice Gams on that one.
  • October 2, 2007
    Cagney at his first and most FRESH era as a gangster that gets in over his head and ends with a bang. It is so good that I'm surprised that it isn't rated as one THE best gangster movies.
  • September 15, 2007
    The classic barriers of good and evil are very evident in this film, but yet the charisma of James Cagney's evil Tom Powers makes this film as entertaining and thrilling as any other of it's quality. The ending is so blunt and poignant that it will really hit home.
  • September 12, 2007
    I liked a lot of it, but the studio's moralizing at the beginning and end left a bad taste in my mouth.
  • September 6, 2007
    (review in progress)
  • August 8, 2007
    Cagney at his best. Brutal and engaging, which is saying something for the time period of its release.
  • July 27, 2007
    One of the classic old school gangster films, it's a little simplistic in it's characterizastion, but Cagney breathes life into the character with his usual intensity, and it features one of the most famous scenes in cinema history.
  • June 13, 2007
    Definitive Cagney. Worth seeing for the grapefruit scene alone.
  • May 8, 2007
    Classic gangster movie.
  • May 6, 2007
    One of the TOP classic James Cagney has ever down to show his true ganster! A must see film!
  • May 4, 2007
    A ganster film done right.
  • March 28, 2007
    Classic. It started the gangster theme, and launched James Cagney, one of my favorites.
  • March 10, 2007
    BEST MOVIE IN THE WORLD!!!
  • February 6, 2007
    The quintessential gangster film. This classic is the closest we we can get to the menace that still haunts American streets to this day. The Public Enemy is not a bad boy gone to pot, but a young man who ran out of options in an extremely unjust society. This is not to say that...( read more) crime is ever a great career choice, but we can see why some weaker individuals who do not use their brains for good, could get the wrong ideas and favor a life of crime. Crime is, of course, not the way out, but digs the victim of such thinking deeper and deeper in the hole. The ultimate outcome is that all criminals are going to be punished sooner or later.
  • February 6, 2007
    this guy is one of the first ganstas that is for sure
  • December 30, 2006
    It's a good film. The relationship between James Cagney's character and his brother stands out for me. Too short though, so leaves little time for much character development (which is strange seeing as the film is not plot driven atall).
  • December 29, 2006
    I enjoyed this, performances of James Cagney Jean Harlow
  • December 10, 2006
    Quite a poor movie to say the least..... Certainly not worth the time to watch it.
  • December 3, 2006
    I would like to see this, i think...
  • November 5, 2006
    james cagney is an amazing actor
  • September 26, 2006
    a true classic. the gangster genre owes everything to this
  • June 14, 2006
    Cagney's gangster breakthrough
  • June 13, 2006
    James Cageny at his best!

Summary


The Public Enemy Summary