Grapefruit
What is the "grapefruit scene"?
shareAllright, honestly please see the movie. Borrow, steal, buy, what ever but watch the movie. It is a great one. But anyway the infamous grapefruit scene is where James Cagney's character Tom Powers is sitting at the breakfast table with his then girlfriend. Displeased with her attitude he takes a grapefruit from the table and slams it into her face. He walks away and she cries.
All in all, one of the most bad assed scenes of all time. Womens groups at the time hated the scene, bitched that it was derrogatory to all women and raised a stink that amounted to nothing more than according to the trivia section, for years later scores of Cagney fans would send him over a grapefruit when they spotted him at a restaurant.
Watch the movie. Savour the scene and when ever you delve into a delicious grapefruit, crack a smile and think of The Public Enemy.
possibly THE most famous scene in cinema history for those who watch classics and consider movies from the 30s to be masterpieces that surpass all from then on...along with the "wishing well" line, my favorite from all films...
"I'm the Police Chief, I know everything..."
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The scene is supposed to illustrate how awful the character is but, for some people, it elevates him to hero status.
shareIt's a funny scene, plain and simple.
shareIt's not meant to be funny. It's a cruel and humiliating thing to do to someone...hence illustrates what a bastard Cagney's character has become.
shareMaybe it's not meant to be, but it is. And I heard that it was originally a joke that James and Mae were playing on the crew just to see how they would react, it wasn't supposed to make it into the final cut of the film but I'm glad it did.
shareTo you, maybe it's funny. The director had a fantasy of smashing a grapefruit into his wife's face when they fought at breakfast because she was always so stone-faced when they argued. He thought Cagney doing that to Mae would be a good way to portray Tom's violence and temper. That's what I read.
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