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SummaryAn Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.

The Public Enemy

Metascore
Generally Favorable
80
User score
Generally Favorable
6.9
My Score
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
80
89% Positive
16 Reviews
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
TV Guide Magazine
Fascinating and brutally realistic, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, along with LITTLE CAESAR, BAD COMPANY, and SCARFACE, set the pattern for the gangster films of the 1930s.
100
Empire
Still a classic of the gangster genre, showing neither glorifying the life nor pulling it's punches.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.9
82% Positive
9 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
18% Negative
2 Ratings
  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
Nov 27, 2024
8
BigP4pa
Me gusta la forma en que se cuenta esta historia, es decir, te muestra a los protagonistas desde niños. También, como dato o si se quiere reflexión, hay veces que a los personajes que actúan mal se los muestra en su niñez como si los hubieran corrompido y por eso en su adultez son así. Pero aquí no, es decir, tiene una buena familia; él es así porque quiere serlo, siempre quiso ser un gánster. Su hermano, que es el contraste, vivió lo mismo pero decidió hacer las cosas de forma correcta. Ahora, sigue la historia típica que se puede imaginar en general, es decir, sube en la organización y tiene su declive. Pero aquí está la clave para que sea mejor película que el promedio y es su final. Probablemente, para mí es de los mejores finales que he visto. Excelente, crudo, visceral. Es clara la intención de que con esta crudeza lo que menos se quiere es dignificar delincuentes sino todo lo contrario. Ese final la convierte en una película muy buena y no solo buena.
Nov 27, 2024
7
gracjanski
solid movie with a nice insight into history. But it looks cheap and not epic enough. Cagney is convincing of course.
88
Slant Magazine
There’s little denying the power of Cagney’s presence, from the first moment he’s on screen, he radiates such a brash Fenian cockiness you can imagine kids at the time flocking out of the theater and cocking their caps just like him. It’s a performance so perfect in its intensity that any other quibbles about the film ultimately recede into insignificance.
80
Time Out
Cagney's energy and Wellman's gutsy direction carry the day, counteracting the moralistic sentimentality of the script and indelibly etching the star on the memory as a definitive gangster hero.
80
Los Angeles Times
If there are to be gangster pictures, let them be like The Public Enemy, hard-boiled and vindictive almost to the point of burlesque.
70
Time
Unlike City Streets, this is not a Hugoesque fable of gangsters fighting among themselves, but a documentary drama of the bandit standing against society.
60
IGN
Without Cagney, this movie would still be memorable, but probably only as a minor footnote to the better gangster films to come. With Cagney's smart acting, this movie is a decent watch.
See All 18 Critic Reviews
Jul 31, 2025
2
Archvile-UT
Фильм-пропаганда о гангстерах, примечательный разве что титрами с показом актёров, сценой с грейпфрутом и местью лошади за убийство гангстера. Очень не хватает динамики и экшена, да и персонажи скучные.
See All 11 User Reviews
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  • Warner Bros.
May 15, 1931
1 h 23 m
TV-PG
All his life he took what he wanted...Why not women? (Print Ad- Sarasota Herald, ((Sarasota, Fla.)) 16 June 1931)
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
National Film Preservation Board, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
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