The Public Enemy

You remember the moment: Gangster James Cagney is sitting at the breakfast table with his girlfriend. When the conversation doesn’t go his way, he shoves a grapefruit into her face. It’s the most famous scene in The Public Enemy, a film about hip, glamorous gangsters engaged in a violent power struggle. The movie, whose cast includes Jean Harlow, Joan Blondell, Edward Woods and the beautiful (fruit-smeared) Mae Clarke, cemented Cagney’s tough-guy persona and set the benchmark for gangster films for the next 40 years.

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• Public Enemy
• James Cagney
• Mae Clarke
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Based on the book Beer and Blood and set during America’s Prohibition Era, Public Enemy was originally released in 1931. Subsequent versions edited out, then restored, controversial elements (namely a gay tailor, a couple rolling around in bed and a seduction). Today’s screening at Domy Books should include all the good stuff. 8:30 p.m. 1709 Westheimer. For information, call 713-523-3669 or visit www.domystore.com. Free.
Mon., May 12, 8:30 p.m., 2008