Day 2 The Public Enemy (1931)
The second film for this week is the gangster film that made a star of Jimmy Cagney and remains an entertaining story of bootleggers during prohibition. It is also interesting to see a film about prohibition that was made before it was repealed.
Random thoughts: It’s interesting to note that Cagney was originally supposed to play the main character’s sidekick, but was recast in the lead role at the last minute. Edward Woods, who was demoted from the lead to the secondary role, had a relatively short career in Hollywood thereafter while Cagney became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. The famous grapefruit scene from this movie isn't quite as jarring as I remember it, but the ending is still pretty powerful.
It’s interesting that The Public Enemy and Scarface both have a scene where the tough guys force a beer proprietor to buy their beer over those of the competition.
“I aint’ so tough”
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