The Public Enemy

Jimmy Cagney etched his place in cinema history in one of his first films as he plays vicious beer baron Tom Powers in this hugely influential gangster flick. Apart from Jean Harlow, most of his co-stars and even his director (William Wellman) have been forgotten, even though the performances are quite naturalistic for a flick that was made 90 years ago. And, yes, The Public Enemy is the picture where Cagney squishes a grapefruit in Mae Clarke’s face. That iconic moment hasn’t aged well, but most of the movie has. So get ready to root for the (very) bad guy who ain’t so tough as the 384th Ellises’ Analysis zips through a brief episode like the 2 mugs we are. Well, Actually: What killed Jean Harlow amounts to kidney failure. Hey, tough guy, does coffee sound like a good addition to your meal of grapefruit and casual assault? Well, whether yes or no, Sparkplug Coffee is the tops and they’re offering a 20% discount when you use our promo code (“top100project”). Twitter, yeah? Yeah! We are @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis Our website is top100project.com Ryan also dishes about sports motion pictures on Scoring At The Movies