The Public Enemy

Directed by William A. Wellman, The Public Enemy follows James Cagney’s Tom Powers as he rises through the ranks to become a powerful and feared gangster in prohibition-era Chicago. There’s little doubt, ultimately, that The Public Enemy improves considerably as it progresses, as the movie’s first half, though watchable, suffers from a rather hit-and-miss vibe perpetuated by Wellman’s deliberate approach to Kubec Glasmon and John Bright’s episodic screenplay – with the film, during its less-than-captivating stretches, benefiting substantially from Wellman’s impressively stylish visuals and Cagney’s engaging, often electrifying turn as the hot-tempered central character. (Cagney is so good here, in fact, that the picture would still be worth a look even if it were otherwise awful.) It’s clear, then, that The Public Enemy grows more and more absorbing as it segues into its increasingly eventful and exciting third act, as Wellman’s punctuated this portion of the proceedings with a series of engrossing sequences that eventually lead into the action-packed (and predictably grim) finale – which does, in the end, confirm the film’s place as a landmark of the gangster-movie genre that still holds up remarkably well all these years later.

*** out of ****