History Film / ThePublicEnemy1931

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Explicitly stated in the opening title card.

''The Public Enemy'' is a 1931 [[UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode pre-Code]] Creator/WarnerBros gangster film directed by William A. Wellman. It's often seen as the film that made Creator/JamesCagney a star. It also typecast him as a tough guy and gangster, and he kept playing roles like that throughout TheThirties.

* PrettyInMink: Gwen Allen (JeanHarlow).

* PieInTheFace[=/=]FoodSlap: The film [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4R5wZs8cxI iconical scene]] has Tom smashing a half grapefruit into his girlfriend's face.

* RashandCalmFoils: Tom is the quick-to-anger gangster, while his older brother Mike is the calm, respectable type.

* DownerEnding: Tom's in the hospital due to his injuries from avenging a fallen comrade, and when it looks like he's about to redeem himself, he gets kidnapped by the surviving mob members. But then his family gets a call from a stranger, presumably one of Tom's pals, that Tom's coming home immediately! As the mother and sister tidy up Tom's room, his brother Mike opens the door [[spoiler: and watches Tom's dead body collapse before him]].

* RedOniBlueOni: Tom is Red, and his older brother Mike is Blue.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Tom's reaction to [Matt's death is to steal a pair of pistols from a merchant and charge into the rival mob's hangout.

''The Public Enemy'' is a 1931 [[UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode pre-Code]] Creator/WarnerBros gangster film directed by William A. Wellman. It's often seen as the film that made Creator/JamesCagney a star.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[LastWords I ain't so tough!]]"'']]

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarI: Tom's brother is injured in it.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Public_Enemy_3497.jpg
[[caption-width:350:[[LastWords I ain't so tough!]]]]

->''I know what you've been doing all this time, how you got those clothes and those new cars. You've been telling Ma that you've gone into politics, that you're on the city payroll. Pat Burke told me everything. You murderers! There's not only beer in that jug. There's beer and blood -- blood of men!"''

''The Public Enemy'' is a 1931 [[HaysCode pre-Code]] Warner Bros. gangster film directed by William A. Wellman. It's often seen as the film that made JamesCagney a star.

The "Public Enemy" of the film is Tom Powers, played by JamesCagney, a young man living in Chicago during Prohibition whose crimes progress from small-time theft to bootlegging and murder.

* WorldWarOne: Tom's brother is injured in it.

* WordWarI: Tom's brother is injured in it.

* WordWarOne: Tom's brother is injured in it.

* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler: Putty Nose's song is cut off at the same point as earlier in the film, when Tom and Matt were kids.]]
* NoHonorAmongThieves: When teenaged Tom and Matt botch a robbery, their boss Putty Nose ditches them. [[spoiler: [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves But when they see Putty Nose again during Matt's wedding and follow him back home...]]]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Tom's reaction to [[spoiler: Matt]]'s death is to steal a pair of pistols from a merchant and charge into the rival mob's hangout.
* SoundOnlyDeath: The camera cuts to Matt sitting at the side of the room when Tom shoots [[spoiler: Putty Nose]].
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler: The way Tommy's death is revealed at the end-- his corpse is delivered ''standing up'' to his family's front door.]]

[[caption-width:350:[[LastWords I ain't so tough!]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Public_Enemy_3497.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[LastWords I ain't so tough!]]]]

The "Public Enemy" of the film is Tom Powers, played by James Cagney, a young man living in Chicago during Prohibition whose crimes progress from small-time theft to bootlegging and murder.

* PrettyInMink: Gwen Allen

''The Public Enemy'' is a 1931 pre-Code Warner Bros. gangster film directed by William A. Wellman. It's often seen as the film that made JamesCagney a star.

* CampGay: The tailor who measures Matt for a suit, complete with lisp.

''The Public Enemy'' is a 1931 pre-Code Warner Bros. gangster film directed by William A. Wellman. It's often seen as the film that made James Cagney a star.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler: The way Tommy's death is revealed at the end.]]

->''I know what you've been doing all this time, how you got those clothes and those new cars. You've been telling Ma that you've gone into politics, that you're on the city payroll. Pat Burke told me everything. You murderers! There's not only beer in that jug. There's beer and blood - blood of men!"
-->'''Mike Powers, confronting his brother'''

'''''The Public Enemy''''' is a 1931 pre-Code Warner Bros. gangster film directed by William A. Wellman. It's often seen as the film that made James Cagney a star.

--->'''Kitty:''' Not before breakfast, dear.
---->'''Tom:''' I didn't ask you for any lip. I asked you if you had a drink.

* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster Tom Powers and Matt Doyle: they get all the girls, the snappy suits, and the cars
* DomesticAbuse The infamous grapefruit-in-the-face scene

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Tom adores his Ma, and she seems to willingly overlook his crimes

* ParentalFavoritism Ma Powers favors her 'Tommy boy' over elder son Mike
* PrettyInMink Gwen Allen

* TruffautWasRight