Jimmy Cagney: The First Public Enemy

Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Universal, Action, Adaptation, Drama, Period, Casting, Filmmaking, Upcoming Releases

Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, isn’t the first gangster flick Hollywood has made and it certainly won’t be the last. Detailing the 1933-34 efforts of the FBI to thwart Depression-era criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd, the movie will take viewers into the massive manhunt and the rampant crime that marked this period of American history. Stories of these legendary criminal figures and others (Bonnie and Clyde is one good example) have long lit up the silver screen.

The very first Public Enemy list was created in 1930, the term coined by Frank J. Loesch. At the top of the list was notorious gangster Al Capone. This became the start of the Public Enemy Era, but it also became the start for a much more benign era in Hollywood: gangster movies.

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