GREAT GUY AKA PLUCK OF THE IRISH.
James Cagney & Mae Clarke,
James Burke, Edward Brophy, Henry Kolker.
Dir: John G Blystone, 1936, Grand National.

SYNOPSIS:
Ex-boxer crusades against corruption in "weights and measures". Doesn't that sound exciting! The plot is so unmemorable that you forget it as you watch it. The flick is barely saved by Cagney's irascible charm and brief snatches of gigglesome comedy.

"When Mae Clarke and I played the grapefruit scene in the Public Enemy, we had no idea that it would cause such a stir. This bit of business derived from a real incident in Chicago when a hoodlum named Hymie Weiss was listening to his girlfriend endlessly yakking away at breakfast one morning. He didn't like it so he took an omelette and shoved it in her face. Repeating this on the screen would've been a shade too messy so we used a grapefruit half. I was not to hear the end of that little episode for years, whenever I went into a restaurant there was always some wag having the waiter bring me a tray of grapefruit."
- Jimmy Cagney.

REVIEWS:
"Rather tame racket film, Cagney's first independent venture away from Warner, he atones for thin production values."
- Leslie Halliwell.
"It's all typical Cagney stuff, and that's the trouble with it. He's doing the things he likes best but they're repetitious and apt to disappoint a public anticipating something finer from this star."
- Variety.