An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Tom Powers and Matt Doyle are best friends and fellow gangsters. Their lives are frowned on by Tom's WWI veteran brother Mike and by Matt's straitlaced sister Molly. From their teenage years into young-adulthood, Tom and Matt lead increasingly lucrative lives, bootlegging during the Prohibition era. Tom becomes more and more brazen in what he is willing to do and intolerant of those who disagree with him or cross him. When a mob boss dies in a freak accident, a rival bootlegging faction senses weakness among Tom and Matt's gang, which is led by Paddy Ryan. A gang war ensues, resulting in Paddy suggesting that Tom and Matt lay low. Tom's basic nature leads him to decide, instead, to take matters into his own hands.—Huggo
At a young age, pals Tom Powers and Matt Doyle begin a life of crime. At first it's just shoplifting for Putty Nose who fences whatever they can steal. They graduate from petty thievery to big-time crime when they're drawn into a plan to rob a bank but the job goes bad and a policeman is killed. Tom and Matt find they're on their own. With the U.S. entry into World War I, Tom's brother Mike enlists in the Marines while Tom stays home to take care of their elderly mother. They really start to make big money with the introduction of Prohibition, when they start working for mobsters Paddy Ryan and Nails Nathan. When Nathan is killed in a horse-riding accident, rival mobsters try to take over his businesses, leading to a gang war.—garykmcd
James Cagney created his career-defining role in William A. Wellman's 1931 landmark gangster movie, "The Public Enemy," also starring Jean Harlow, Mae Clarke, and Joan Blondell. The film, which was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Screenplay," traces the rise and fall of Prohibition-era mobster Tom Powers (Cagney). From his childhood corrupted by the beer hall, pool parlor, and false friends, to his adulthood as a henchman of ruthless but innately decent bootlegger Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmett O'Connor), Tom rises to the top of the heap, with all the accoutrements of success: custom-tailored tuxedos, fancy cars, and gorgeous girls. But fate soon takes Tom down another path. His degeneration from brash kid to vicious low-life is brought home in the now-legendary scene in which he smashes a grapefruit in the face of his latest mistress (Mae Clarke).
Tom's bad way of life is constantly set up against his brother Mike's, who has a job during the day and goes to night school. Mike will enroll in the Marines to fight in WWI. He will come back and will constantly try to put Tom back on the right path.—Natacha Godaillier
Tom Powers (James Cagney in a career-defining role) and Matt Doyle (Edward Woods), two tough young kids growing up poor in Chicago, work for Putty Nose, a fence. He sets up a robbery deal for them, promising to get them out of trouble if anything goes wrong, but when they bungle the job he abandons them. During Prohibition, they find a new ally, Paddy Ryan, who sets them up in the illegal brewery business. When Mike, Tom's older brother returns from World War I, he berates Tom for his dealings with gangsters and Tom angrily leaves home. The gang's big boss, Nails Nathan, uses Tom and Matt to pressure the local speakeasies, which are caught between rival gangs, into using only the beer that they sell. Tom grows into a ruthless gangster. One day he takes out his frustrations on his girl Kitty, shoving a grapefruit in her face and dumping her in favor of glamorous Texan Gwen Allen. Later, celebrating in an expensive night club, Tom spots their old pal Putty Nose. Tom and Matt follow him to his apartment, where Tom kills him. When Nails dies after a fall from a horse, his death precipitates a gang war. Paddy sends the gang into hiding, but Tom refuses to stay. He and Matt are ambushed by the rival gang as they leave, and Matt is killed in the shootout. Tom vows revenge and single-handedly takes on his rivals. He kills several, but he is wounded himself and collapses outside in the pouring rain. He survives, but the gang kidnaps him from the hospital and delivers his bandage-wrapped dead body to the door of his mother's house.
