What do you expect out of that title? As we all know being a "gangster" today is seen as something that is uh how should I put this, very cool. All of the glamorous things that follow suite with that include fast money, fast cars and even faster women and or men. A lifestyle that some say was created and distributed by rappers has actually been around longer than any single hip hop album. The glorious gangster life we see in the media today was perfected by early films such as "The Public Enemy" (1931) starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow and Edward Woods. The film follows a mislead young man Tom Powers(Cagney) who, since childhood, steals, gambles and finds torturing people somewhat gratifying if the end result is his own personal monetary gain. He also has a partner, Matt Doyle (Edwards) that shares his same goals but not necessarily his moral stand point.
Tom's older brother Mike is a clean cut stand up man who goes off to war and returns back home to a brother who has become a full fledged mobster. Tom was no longer a young man stealing skates for his neighborhood friend, he now was rolling with a team of money making savages who could blow up a bar full of people because they are pissed at the owner. A scene that stuck out the most was the one when tom is in a hotel room with his girlfriend at the time. He treated her terribly spoke ill and even threw something in her face. this scene showed his overall lack of respect for not only women but society as a whole. tom no longer felt the need to love this women because her actions ticked him off, he felt as though he could treat her anyway he felt and eventually leave her for a new blond bombshell portrayed by Jean Harlow. Harlow recognized their differences but Tom could not part ways with her. Mike continues to fight with Tom on a regular basis to get him to do right and to stop lying to their single mother. After a situation with Tom's boss gets out of hand he and Matt decide to cool it for a while but after walking outside at the wrong time one of their fates is taken away, and that even leads to an even bigger ending for the both of them.