Public Enemy, The

US gangster film (1931), directed by William Wellman (1896–1975). It imprinted James Cagney on the public's imagination as the archetypal mobster and set the standard for the genre. The story of the rise and fall of a hoodlum is told with pace and a significant undertow of moral judgement. The film is notorious for the scene where Cagney shoves a breakfast grapefruit into the face of his girlfriend.