INTRODUCTION TO FILM
PUBLIC ENEMY
NAME PERIOD ______
BASED ON INFORMATION FROM THE TEXT:
1.WHAT YEAR WAS THE FILM PUBLIC ENEMY RELEASED?
2.WHAT STUDIO RELEASED THE FILMPUBLIC ENEMY?
3.WHAT NOVEL WAS THE FILM PUBLIC ENEMY BASED?
4.WHO WAS THE DIRECTOR OF THE FILMPUBLIC ENEMY?
5.WHAT OTHER GANGSTER FILM WAS RELEASED AT APPROXIMATELY THE SAME TIME AS PUBLIC ENEMY?
6.WHAT DID THE FILM PUBLIC ENEMY,GLAMORIZE AND EMPHASIZE?
A.
B.
7.WHAT CITY DOES THE OPENING SCENE PAN IN PUBLIC ENEMY?
8.WHAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT DOES PUTTY NOSE GIVE TOM AND MATT?
9.WITH WHOM(SALOON OWNER) DOES TOM AND MATT HOOK UP?
10.IN THE FILM PUBLIC ENEMY, ON THE EVE OF PROHIBITION, WHAT SIGN IS PAINTED ON THE LIQUOR STORE?
11.IN THE POTATO CHIP SCENE, WHAT DOES PADDY TELL TOM AND MATT ABOUT THE COMING OF PROHIBITION IN PUBLIC ENEMY?
12.IN PUBLIC ENEMY, WHO IS THE NEW CRIME BOSS THAT TOM AND MATT ACQUIRE?
13.IN PUBLIC ENEMYHOW DOES TOM’S BROTHER MIKE RETURN HOME?
14.IN THE BREAKFAST SCENE IN PUBLIC ENEMY, WHAT DOES TOM DO WHEN KITTY SAYS, “MAYBE YOU FOUND SOMEONE YOU LIKE BETTER?”
15.WHAT ACTRESS PLAYS THE MYSTERIOUSLY COOL BLONDE THAT TOM MEETSIN PUBLIC ENEMY?
16.WHERE IS PUTTY NOSE SITTING WHEN HE IS SHOT BY TOM?
17.IN PUBLIC ENEMY,WHAT DOES MIKE TELL TOM WHEN TOM VISITS THEIR MOTHER WITH A WAD OF BILLS?
18.HOW IS GANG LEADER NAILS NATHAN KILLEDIN PUBLIC ENEMY?
19.IN PUBLIC ENEMY,HOW DOES TOM AND MATT REACT TO NAILS NATHAN’S DEATH?
20.IN PUBLIC ENEMY,AS TOM PEERS THROUGH THE BLACK CURTAIN, WHAT DOES HE HEAR THAT SOUNDS LIKE MACHINE-GUN FIRE?
21.IN PUBLIC ENEMY, WHAT DOES TOM SAY WHEN HE ENDS UP IN A DRAIN?
22.IN PUBLIC ENEMY, AS TOM CRASHES TO THE FLOOR IN THE FINAL SCENE, WHAT SOUNDS LIKE A HEARTBEAT?
The Public Enemy (1931)
The Public Enemy (1931) is one of the earliest and best of the gangster films - the second one from Warner Bros. in the thirties. The film's screenplay (by John Bright and Kubec Glasmon), which received the film's only Academy Award nomination, was based upon their novel Beer and Blood. Unfortunately, the film wasn't even given a Best Picture nomination, nor was Cagney rewarded with a nomination for his dynamic performance.
Director William Wellman's pre-code, box-office smash was released at approximately the same time as another classical gangster film - Little Caesar (1930) that starred Edward G. Robinson as a petty thief whose criminal ambitions led to his inevitable downfall. The Public Enemy was even tougher, more violent and realistic (released before the censorship codes were strictly enforced), although most of the violence is again off-screen.
The lead character is portrayed as a sexually magnetic, cocky, completely amoral, emotionally brutal, ruthless, and terribly lethal individual. However, the protagonist (a cold-blooded, tough-as-nails racketeer and "public enemy") begins his life, not as a hardened criminal, but as a young mischievous boy whose early environment clearly contributes to the evolving development of his life of adult crime and his inevitable gruesome death. Unlike other films, this one examined the social forces and roots of crime in a serious way.
James Cagney's dynamic, charismatic and magnetic characterization of the murderous thug was his fourth film performance - this volatile role made him famous and instantly launched his celebrated film star career, but it also typecast him for many years. [Originally, the roles were reversed, with Edward Woods playing the lead role, and Cagney in a secondary role, but a switch occurred when the contract screenwriters suggested that a mistake had been made.] Unfortunately, the film also appeared to glamorize criminal activities such as bootlegging (although that was not its intent), and emphasized their high style of life with various floozies (portrayed by Joan Blondell, Mae Clarke, and Jean Harlow). Hence, the film hastened efforts of Hollywood's self-imposed Production Code in the early thirties to strictly censor films (with criminal and sexual subject matter) that depicted undesirable social figures or sexual subjects in a sympathetic or realistic way.
After the credits that feature each of the stars against a black background, an opening title card provides a disclaimer from Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.:
It is the ambition of the authors of 'The Public Enemy' to honestly depict an environment that exists today in a certain strata of American life, rather than glorify the hoodlum or the criminal. While the story of 'The Public Enemy' is essentially a true story, all names and characters appearing herein, are purely fictional.
The opening scene pans and dissolves across views of 1909 (pre-Prohibition) Chicago. After images of a congested downtown area, there are views of the stockyard, the blast of a factory whistle, a brewery, crowded and dirty streets, saloons, and a Salvation Army marching band. In the brewery which plays a central role in the neighborhood, beer flows freely into large beer mugs and pails. Wooden barrels of beer are hauled by a horse-drawn wagon, and beer is hand-carried (in pails hanging from a long plank) from a saloon across the busy street.
Exposed to this sordid scene of life on the South Side of Chicago are two poor Irish boys: Tom Powers (Frank Coghlan as boy, James Cagney as adult) with his neighborhood friend Matt Doyle (Frankie Darro as boy, Edward Woods as adult). Both boys act mischievously in a department store, and mean Tommy enjoys playing sadistic tricks on Molly Doyle (Rita Flynn), Matt's sister and one of the neighborhood girls, and she explicity states his well-known reputation: "You're the meanest boy in town...(Jail) That's where you'll be some day, Tom Powers!"
Tom is the son of a policeman, Officer Powers (Purnell Pratt) - a harsh father who often uses a wide leather razor strop to discipline his near-delinquent offspring. As Tom is belted across his behind by his half-uniform attired father, he resists crying and shedding tears, maintaining a tough guy, hard attitude. At an early age, both boys turn to petty thievery and shoplifting to escape the drudgery of lower class life. They fence stolen items (watches) at a so-called boys' club, the Red Oaks Club (a glorified pool hall) through sinister, Fagin-like, piano-playing "Putty-Nose" (Murray Kinnell), their mentor in the ways of crime. Other boys aimlessly loaf and lounge around at the club, or listen to Putty Nose playing dirty songs.
As they grow up, by 1915, they cross the same paths, but now they are graduating to more advanced, young-adult pursuits. [Cagney's entrance into the club is memorable - he spits, struts in, and tips his hat forward.] Tom's straight brother Mike (Donald Cook) works as a street car conductor during the day and goes to school at night, "learnin' how to be poor," according to Tom. Putty Nose offers Tom and Matt a "sweet" opportunity - a larger, more profitable heist and crime - the gun-wielding armed robbery of a fur warehouse. As the camera pans backward, a group of young thugs sit on Putty Nose's bed (with Tom's feet not even touching the floor) listening to the plan. Putty Nose presents both Tom and Matt with guns: "A Christmas present from Santa Claus, with best wishes for a prosperous New Year."
During the robbery of the Northwestern Fur Trading Company, an inexperienced and shaky Tom is startled by the sight of a huge stuffed bear's head. He panics and impulsively fires several shots into it. A policeman who has been alerted by the gunfire shoots and kills one of thieves on the street by the getaway vehicle. The robbers see their buddy's corpse lying on the dark street. To escape, they open a window and slide down a rain pipe to the street where Tom retaliates and shoots (off-screen) the police officer. After running back to the club, they find that two-timing Putty Nose has treacherously deserted them and "beat it." They are advised: "You'd better lay low for a while. The heat's on." [The closest Tom ever comes to saying "You dirty rat" (one of Cagney's fictional famous lines) is "Why, that dirty, no-good, yellow-bellied stool!"] He resolves to seek revenge: "I'm gonna give it to that Putty Nose right in the head the first time I see him."
By 1917, the US enters the Great War, and Tom and Matt are working as truck drivers. They seek other opportunities and join up with wheeler-dealer saloon owner Patrick J. "Paddy" Ryan (Robert Emmett O'Connor), whose voice of wisdom appeals to them:
I'm older than you and I've learned that nobody can do much without somebody else. Remember this boys, you gotta have friends...I'm glad you've come to me. As far as Paddy Ryan's concerned, there are only two kinds of people - right and wrong. Now I think you're right. You'll find that I am, unless you cross me.
The fact of elder son Mike's noble enlistment in the war in Europe as a Marine upsets Ma Powers (Beryl Mercer), and she begs younger son Tommy not to abandon her: "Tommy, promise me you won't go. You're just a baby!" Since his father has died, the task of raising Tom has fallen to his pathetic, clinging mother and to his respectable brother. In the upstairs bedroom, Tom speaks to his favored brother as he packs to leave home, and receives a lecture:
Tom: I suppose you think I oughta go too.
Mike: No, maybe it was selfish of me Tom, but somebody's gotta stay here and take care of Ma. You earn more money than I do, and they'd have called me first anyway.
Tom: You always did get all the breaks.
Mike: Don't take it like that Tom. You've got to be the man of the family now. And while we're on the subject, I wish you'd try to stay home a little more.
Tom: I got to work, ain't I?
Mike: Oh sure. Listen Tom. I was in a place today and I heard somebody say something.
Tom: And what of it?
Mike: Well, they were saying, it seems as though they were pointing a finger at you and Matt.
Tom: Who was? (rising angrily) What right do you have to say anything about me?
Mike: Now take it easy.
Tom: You're always hearin' things. You'll get too much in your nose someday and you'll wonder how you got it.
Mike: Oh, for crying out loud. I heard a couple of guys talking about ya, as much as to say you were in on some crooked work. What am I supposed to do? Run?
Tom: Well, you ain't askin' me, you're tellin' me. And I don't know a thing, see?
Mike: All I've got to say Tom is, that you've got a good job now. You don't need these rats you're runnin' around with.
Tom: I suppose you want me to go to night school and read poems. I've been hearin' a few things myself.
Mike: (grabbing his shoulder) There's nothin' to hear about me!
Tom: Aw, that's all you know. You ain't so smart! Books and all that stuff don't hide everything.
Mike: You're a liar Tom, you're coverin' up.
Tom: 'Coverin' up?' For what? For you? Why you're nothin' but a sneak-thief.
Mike: What did you say?
Tom: You heard me, a petty larceny sneak-thief. A nickel snatcher. Robbin' the streetcar company. (Mike slugs his brother, sending him crashing into a table and onto the floor. After slowing getting up, Tom kicks the door but doesn't directly retaliate against Mike)
Following the war in 1920, on the eve of Prohibition, the storeowner of the Family Liquor Store has painted a sign on his window: "Owing to Prohibition, Our Entire Stock Must Be Sold Before Midnight." The liquor store shelves are emptied as staggering party-goers on foot stock up with brown paper-wrapped packages. Some of the purchases fall to the ground and smash on the sidewalk. People load up a limousine and a flower delivery van with bottles. Even a baby carriage is filled with booze, displacing the infant of a young couple.
In the next remarkable scene, the potato chip scene at Paddy's bar counter, Paddy informally tells Tom and Matt that the coming of Prohibition will bring other financial benefits - multi-million dollar profits for illegal bootleggers. As Tom and Matt quietly lean against the counter, drinking coffee and eating food, Paddy (in a zooming closeup) quickly and greedily shoves handfuls of potato chips into his mouth, with the excess crumbling out, as he lures them into the lucrative liquor business. Paddy wants them to keep on the look-out for federal stashes of impounded liquor that can be stolen:
Don't you think that booze ain't gonna be valuable. I heard today that alcohol's going to thirty dollars a gallon. The Real McCoy is hard to get. All you gotta do when you deliver a good shipment is size-up the layout and let me know. I can use some of it. I know two or three others that'll buy all that I can't handle. It means real dough. A three-way split. I said we'd get together sometime, didn't I? Well, the time has come. Now!
In their next gasoline "delivery" job to a U.S. Bonded Warehouse, Tom and Matt actually drain beer from impounded beer barrels into their gasoline tank, and soon share a generous cut of the profitable proceeds. Paddy encouragingly prods them: "I'll make big shots out of you yet." After the two enterprising young men acquire new-found wealth, they outfit themselves with smart-looking, tailor-made clothes, amorally enjoying life's pleasures. With fast money comes a flashy roadster car and the fast life, and they celebrate at an extravagant swanky nightclub. As they enter, a brass orchestra plays "Toot Toot Tootsie," they soon find themselves dancing with attractive fast women, Matt with blonde floozy Mamie (Joan Blondell) and Tom with Kitty (Mae Clarke).
The two acquire a new crime boss named Samuel "Nails" Nathan (Leslie Fenton), who has plans to manufacture illegal booze (through the Lehman Brewing Company) and distribute it. Tom and Matt, as feared criminals, are "the official signers and sealers," forcing and terrifying speakeasy owners into buying their illegal booze (rather than from rival competitor Schemer Burns), as Nathan explains to them: "It means they buy our beer, or they don't buy any beer."
When Tom's brother Mike returns home as a wounded veteran of World War I, Mike learns from Officer Pat Burke (Robert E. Homans) that Tom has moved out of the house and is "runnin' around with a couple of gals at the Washington Arms Hotel. Well, the worst part of it is that he's been lyin' to his mother. He's leavin' her think that he's made an honest success. Why sure it's only a question of time when he's gonna be caught...Beer, bootlegging, he's one of Paddy Ryan's gang...A wicked business." Tom's mother is naively unaware of his criminal activities
For the welcome home dinner, Tom and Matt thoughtlessly contribute a huge keg of beer for the occasion and place it in a central, conspicuous place on the dinner table where it blocks the characters' views of each other. Mike, who appears emotionally impaired by his war wounds, refuses to share in the beer drinking (even Ma has a beer). In an outburst, Mike criticizes his brother's illicit activities during the "swell celebration":
Tom: So beer ain't good enough for ya, huh?
Mike: (rising violently) You think I'd care if there was just beer in that keg? I know what's in it. I know what you've been doin' all this time. You got those clothes and those new cars. You've been tellin' Ma you're goin' into politics, that you're on the city payroll. Pat Burke told me everything. You murderers! There's not only beer in that keg. There's beer and blood. Blood of men. (Mike heaves the keg into a corner where it smashes a table)
Tom: You ain't changed a bit. Besides, your hands ain't so clean. You killed and liked it. You didn't get them medals by holding hands with them Germans.
As Tom departs, he tells his good-hearted mother to send his clothes (after laundering) to the Washington Arms Hotel, where he has moved into an apartment with Matt and his girlfriend.
In one of the most vividly remembered and vicious scenes in film history, the breakfast scene in Tom's apartment the next morning, he walks sleepily to the breakfast table in his striped pajamas. He is in a foul mood, bored, grouchy and irritable after a demanding phone conversation with Nails Nathan. (Matt and Mamie can be heard dallying in bed in the adjoining room.) In contrast, Tom has grown tired of his relationship with moll girlfriend Kitty. At the table, she greets him without a smile. He asks her for a beer for breakfast and she talks back: