Jim Smith’s book offers analytical critiques of some of the most influential films that shaped the genre of gangster cinema. In his study of The Public Enemy, he points out the film’s unique focus on the social and economic ills surrounding American life in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Smith evaluates the psychological nature of Tom Powers, explaining that the audience is allowed to experience Powers’ childhood. He notes that viewers are able to meet Powers as a young boy, observe his familial relations and, in one scene, even catch a glimpse of an interaction with his largely absent father. Smith emphasizes the importance of this scene, claiming that the cruel beating of Powers by his policeman father is an indication of society’s fruitless attempts to force younger generations to conform.

He also comments that Powers’ introduction to the audience as a child is particularly important. The audience experiences the “formative” (33) incidents of Powers’ life. Those experiences are intended to have explanatory power, offering real rationale as to why Powers develops a somewhat hostile and rebellious temperament. Thus, The Public Enemy, according to Smith, is a film “genuinely attempting to examine the process whereby people are led into a life of crime” (33).

Notably, Smith reviews the importance of other childhood interactions, particularly the relationship between Powers and Putty Nose. According to Smith, Putty Nose guides a young Powers into a life of crime. This demonstrates that society bears some responsibility for Powers’ subsequent development into a gangster. As Smith notes, “for an individual to be responsible to his society, society must be responsible to the individual’ (34).

This piece would be particularly constructive to my paper, because it explains Tom Powers’ psychological and emotional background. The audience is able to identify with certain aspects of Powers’ childhood, and consequently, specific qualities of his character. A viewer can see him or herself reflected in Powers. Thus, significantly, Smith’s writing shows how the film’s depiction of Powers’ childhood humanizes him, depicting a gangster as an unfortunate product of his social and economic environment, rather than as a cold-hearted, removed, and unexplainable social phenomenon.