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James Cagney makes his breakthrough performance as a Chicago street kid who becomes a successful gangster during prohibition. I don’t usually like gangster movies, but director William Wellman (Wings, The Ox-Bow Incident) frames The Public Enemy as a cautionary tale with a moral ending — it doesn’t glamorize the lifestyle like so many more modern movies do. And while I may not relate with James Cagney’s cold-hearted killer of a character, I do relate with many of the other characters in his life, and even with the world in which he lives.

I don’t mean to short-shrift Cagney’s breakout performance here. He’s indeed charismatic, quirky and alluring. A less charismatic actor might have left audiences feeling alienated, but Cagney’s one of those actors we like even when he’s nasty. What hooked me in The Public Enemy, however, were the mother, brother, and best friend characters played by Beryl Mercer, Donald Cook, and Edward Woods. I stayed invested in Cagney’s character because they were invested in him. I feel it’s worth noting that the romantic interests in the movie, played by Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell, fail to humanize the character — though Blondell has a nice monologue about why she finds Cagney’s character appealing. In a way, that monologue serves as justification for his choices in life.

Wellman is inventive about his depiction of violence, often finding ways of keeping it off-screen — but always making an impact. Quentin Tarantino’s ear-cutting scene from Reservoir Dogs is an homage to a similar sequence in this movie. And the ending, grim but inevitable, almost makes the whole movie for me. They say Wellman had to fight to keep the ending, and I’m glad that he did. Gangster movies may not be my cup of tea, but I certainly appreciate this film’s role as a cornerstone of the genre. I think I need someone like the socially conscious Wellman to light the way with this kind of movie.

Also, for all the attention Cagney gets for introducing modern acting techniques that are ahead of the film’s time, I thought Robert Emmett O’Connor did the same in his supporting role of Paddy Ryan, Cagney’s boss. 

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Original Story

James Cagney, Edward Woods, and Robert Emmett O’Connor make a pact in “The Public Enemy.”