Little Caesar

Plot synopsis:
Small-time Italian-American criminals Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello (Edward G. Robinson) and his friend Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) move from New York to Chicago to seek their fortunes. Rico joins the gang of Sam Vettori (Stanley Fields), while Joe wants to be a dancer. Olga (Glenda Farrell) becomes his dance partner and girlfriend at the local taxi dance club.Joe tries to drift away from the gang and its activities including running several speakeasys and illegal gambling casinos, but Rico (whom the gang now refers to by his nickname 'Little Caesar') makes him participate in the robbery of the nightclub where he works. Despite orders from underworld overlord "Big Boy" (Sidney Blackmer) to all his men to avoid bloodshed, Rico guns down crusading police crime commissioner Alvin McClure during the robbery, with Joe as an aghast witness.Rico accuses Sam of becoming soft and seizes control of his organization. Rival boss "Little Arnie" Storch (Maurice Black) tries to have Rico killed, but Rico is only grazed by a bullet during a drive-by shooting. Rico and his gunmen pay Little Arnie a visit, after which Arnie hastily departs for Detroit. The Big Boy eventually gives Rico control of all of Chicago's Northside.Some months later, Rico becomes concerned that Joe knows too much about him. He warns Joe that he must forget about Olga, and join him in a life of crime. Rico threatens to kill both Joe and Olga unless he accedes, but Joe refuses to give in. Olga calls Police Sergeant Flaherty and tells him Joe is ready to talk, just before Rico and his henchman Otero (George E. Stone) come calling. Rico finds, to his surprise, that he is unable to take his friend's life. When Otero tries to do the job himself, Rico wrestles the gun away from him, though not before Joe is wounded. Hearing the shot, Flaherty and another cop give chase and kill Otero. With the information provided by Joe, Flaherty proceeds to crush Rico's organization.Desperate and alone, Rico retreats to the gutter from which he sprang. A few weeks later, while hiding in a flophouse, he becomes enraged when he learns that Flaherty has called him a coward in the newspaper. He foolishly telephones the cop to announce he is coming for him. The call is traced to the phone booth where Rico is. He runs from the police and hides behind a large billboard. Refusing to surrender, Flaherty personally shoots at the billboard with a tommy gun. Ironically, the billboard shows an advertisement featuring dancers Joe and Olga. The police walk around the billboard to find Rico dying on the ground who with his last breath mutters, "Mother of mercy... is this the end of Rico?"

Tags: violence

Review:
Rico Bandello, a petty crook nicknamed LITTLE CAESAR, plots his rise to become crime boss of the Big City.Edward G.
Robinson, with his frightening eyes and large ugly mouth, makes this human scum fascinating to watch - a cheap little monster in expensive suits, a moral nonentity with a big gun.Douglas Fairbanks Jr does a fine job with what little the script gives him as Rico's longtime buddy; the bland nature of his performance contrasts nicely to Robinson's florid acting style.
Special mention should be made of William Collier Jr who gives a touching portrayal as the mob's getaway driver who loses his nerve and attempts to go straight.Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Lucille La Verne as the old crone who intimidates Rico near the end of the picture.With LITTLE CAESAR and PUBLIC ENEMY (1931) Warner Brothers established themselves as the Studio that could produce topnotch, gritty crime dramas.
If you know a little bit about his life story, you got your basic gangster plot for practically all films that followed, like Tony Camonte in SCARFACE.This film was the first of "the big three", together with PUBLIC ENEMY (1931) and SCARFACE: SHAME OF THE NATION (1932) and provided the blueprint for the modern gangster crime flic.
Robinson as Enrico Bandello in LITTLE CAESAR; James Cagney as Tom Powers in THE PUBLIC ENEMY; and Paul Muni as Tony Carmonte in SCARFACE.The interesting thing about these three sound classics is that the central anti-heroes are not the same (except in their willing use of violence).
Toward the end of the film there is an amazing shot of just his face, staring into the camera -- no words, no other characters, just Robinson as Rico, and you get a chance to see truly great acting!
LITTLE CAESAR (First National Pictures, 1930, released early January 1931), directed by Mervyn LeRoy, from the novel by W.R. Burnett, is not a movie dealing with the history of the pizza franchise, but a pioneer gangster melodrama of an underworld thug who rises to the leadership of a powerful gang.
As one of the few movies released during the early sound era to still hold interest today, the true success of LITTLE CAESAR is the casting of Robinson in the title role, referred to on many occasions as Rico, or his full name of Cesar Enrico Bandello.
They are a problem that sooner or later, we, the public, must solve." Unlike its rival, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, Rico is ambitious and power hungry from the start, and kills those who betray or stand in his way while Cagney's Tom Powers character is a cold-blooded killer who does away with some of his victims for the fun of it.Aside from Robinson's memorable performance and his occasional repeated catch phrase, "You can dish it out, but you can't take it," LITTLE CAESAR is full of classic scenes: Rico's introduction to "the boys" through the use of high range camera angles; the New Year's Eve robbery of a Bronze Peacock Night Club where Rico's best pal, Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbank Jr.) works as a dancer, and selected as a lookout for the gang by standing by the cigarette counter at the stroke of midnight; Rico's termination of a cowardly Tony Passa (William Collier Jr.) in front of the church steps after wanting to break from the gang and to seek help from his parish priest, Father McNeil; Rico's near machine-gun assassination attempt by a rival gang ordered by leader Little Arnie Lorch (Maurice Black) after purchasing a bundle of newspapers headlining his honorary banquet event; Rico's confrontation with Joe for betraying him for the sake of a woman, Olga Stassoff (Glenda Farrell), only to find he is unable to gun them both; Rico's reaching bottom by sleeping in a flop house, appearing dirty, teary eyed and in need of a shave; Rico eluding his capture by Flaherty; and the most famous closing line in movie history, "Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?" While portions of LITTLE CAESAR may appear primitive to contemporary viewers with its early use of sound technology, such as echos from spoken dialogue between the two main characters (Robinson and Fairbanks) in a diner, and others either in office or police station; or Vitaphone orchestration (by Erno Rapee) commonly heard in early talkies; or the lack of the sight of blood following the shooting of intended victims.
Robinson, which began playing on commercial television during the late night or mid-afternoon hours for several decades, continues to find a new audience whenever broadcast on Turner Classic Movies (sometimes as a double bill with THE PUBLIC ENEMY), where it was selected at one point in time as part of its weekly showcase, "The Essentials." Also distributed on video cassette and later DVD, LITTLE CAESAR is one vintage crime story that has stood the test of time.
However of the three gangster films I mentioned, my personal favorite would have to be THE PUBLIC ENEMY, as it's acting isn't quite as "over-the-top" and features a little more action and excitement.FYI--For an interesting error, watch Robinson's arm when he is shot towards the end of the film.
Both are sadly diminished by time with their formulaic conventions, weak supporting cast, and creaky early-sound production.When "Little Caesar" wants to project menace, we see Rico warn people "my gun's gonna speak its piece," only he doesn't really do much with it.
But in the end, what you get here is a thin story featuring a character who defies gravity and convention without doing very much of anything interesting.Maybe I should be more grateful to "Little Caesar" for paving the way to other, better gangster films of the 1930s.
The "Forward" that now appears on the beginning of the film was added for the 1954 re-release of Little Caesar and The public enemy (1931) as a combination package.The character Diamond Pete Montana was modeled on Jim Colosimo, who was murdered by Al Capone; and "The Big Boy" was based on corrupt politician William 'Big Bill' Thompson, Mayor of Chicago.
Robinson plays the OTHER iconic gangster in that OTHER iconic gangster film from 1931, "Little Caesar." But Mervyn LeRoy's film, though released before "The Public Enemy" by about four months, feels like a less remarkable rip off.
Most critics seem to think that the film wouldn't be anything without Robinson's performance--that's true, though I don't think it's all that much even with it.Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. plays Rico's best friend, providing the film with a much-discussed homosexual undertone.
Making waves in the crime world by his brutal actions in getting the job done Rico is given the honor to rip off the Bronze Peacock nightclub on New Years Eve run by Vellori's biggest mob rival Little Arnie Lorch, Maurice Black.
Along with James Cagney's role in "The Public Enemy", Robinson's portrayal here helped to exemplify the kinds of characters that for some time defined the genre.The story is not without interest in itself, as it follows the rise and decline of various gangsters and their followers.
Robinson plays Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello a small time hoodlum that becomes an underworld crime boss.
Name any gangster movie from the later years and you are bound to find something that was inspired by it, for in its short running time of a mere seventy four minutes, Little Caesar established several clichés that would stick with the genre for decades.After all, everyone is familiar with the 1970s version of Scarface which sees a penniless hoodlum rise from the gutter to become a major underworld crime figure due to ruthless ambition and sheer arrogance, but Little Caesar (and to an extent the original version of Scarface) did it first.
Little Caesar (1931)In many ways, this is where it started, and it gets judged against the better Warner gangster films that followed (including some truly amazing movies with Cagney or Muni).
Robinson's presence as Little Caesar himself, making his buddy, played by Douglas Fairbanks Jr., look like the amateur he sort of was.
When Rico orders Joe to leave his mistress Olga Strassoff (Glenda Farrell), she takes a serious decision.Nobody can deny the historical importance of "Little Caesar", the movie shot in the American Great Depression that started the genre of movies of gangsters.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. will have probably written his performance off in this out of embarrassment by 1933, and ditto for Glenda Farrell who did much better work later on.The film's strengths are its visual style, at times very inventive, and Robinson's performance, culminating in his dying words stolen no doubt at gunpoint from Nero 'Is this the end of Rico?'A famous picture and worth seeing, but Cagney and Harlow in the Public Enemy is probably your best bet of the two..
Little Caesar is probably the critically least highly regarded of the trio of films,--Scarface and The Public Enemy being the other two--that kicked off the gangster cycle of the early thirties.
Despite the obvious drawbacks of being an early talking film with a mostly silent background for the soundtrack (except for the bullets) and some snappy dialog ('30s style), LITTLE CAESAR holds the attention like a magnet because of EDWARD G.
And snarl he does with most of his terse dialog, "yeah!"Most of it is played in the sort of acting style common to films of this period, but it still fascinates and demands attention with a plot line outlining the rise and fall of a ruthless and arrogant gangster who looks somewhat like Al Capone.
Robinson vividly gets across his character with a snarl in his voice that seems a little melodramatic after awhile (almost a parody of a gangster) but suits the style of this lurid underworld melodrama directed with style by Mervyn LeRoy.DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR.
Although a bit dated, it still holds up 75 years after its initial release.Rico (Robinson) and his pal Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) are a couple of small time hoods.
For any student of early sound films (are there any left?) Little Caesar is the original recipe for mob gangster movies of the modern era.
This had a major and direct influence on classics like the godfather, the Scarface remake and Some like it Hot.Edward g Robinson delivers the kind of performance only a handful of actors ever could.There are some scenes in here shot by the great master LeRoy that capture a time like few other movies ever have..
As he sets his sights on the top boss job held by Pete Montana, Rico knows the heat is closing in - fast.Though not the first gangster picture to hit the big screen, Little Caesar is undeniably one of the genres landmark pictures.
The gangster genre by and large up to this point in 1931 consisted of mob characters behind bars, the sight of Rico about town amongst the noisy hustle and bustle surely would have depression jaded cinema goers, director Mervyn LeRoy exploits this by utilising opened the eyes and ears of the paying public.I wasn't around back then so have no on the spot frame of reference, but the professional critics point to many allegories that reside within Little Caesar's structure.
Robinson's portrayal, big bulging eyes and snappy slang phrases (this themselves must have really hit a chord with the viewersback in the day), Robinson gives the performance that so many have imitated over the years, where he probably defined the archetype in the process.It does look a little dated now, but of course that is only natural, but this is a powerful film that rises above merely being a hoodlum based piece.
From the opening scene with Edward G Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks Jr in the diner, before either gets involved in crime, this film grabs you and will keep you interested till the end.They knew how to make a picture in 1931 (but have obviously forgotten in 2007).
Take a great performance like Robinson's and run with it, keep the story going, and get to the point in something under 90 minutes.Having endured in theaters for over 50 years through numerous reissues, until VHS videos made reissues obsolete, LITTLE CAESAR will continue on DVD, on cable, anywhere classic movies are shown.
Congratulations!'Little Caesar', a superior gangster film that defined the career of Edward G Robinson.
The movie that started Warner's gangster-cycle has dated a lot since it came out over seventy years ago.The acting is perhaps a bit too hammy for modern tastes,but the performance of Edward G.Robinson still retains its power.Some of director LeRoy's storytelling devices may seem as cliche after being used in countless movies dealing with organized crime,but in the early thirties there had never been anything like it.
Robinson as Rico, a tough-minded man who is determined to make something of himself, and so he, along with his friend Joe Massara(played by Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) goes to the big city, where they join a gang, and Rico quickly rises to the top, taking it over, and calling himself Little Caesar.
Robinson) moves from the country to the big city in the east and joins Sam Vettori's gang with his friend Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks)...I have to say this was a fun, enjoyable film, and it clearly inspired many other gangster films of its era.
If anything the film was a little too quick, we do not get to establish how some events happen, like Rico and Joe just going to he big city, easily meet a gangster and then overthrow himself in the first 30 minutes.
But Little Caesar does everything it wants to put across in its short running time very well and I expect that it was made as a part of a double feature.Whilst Robinson was very good in his role, it was the role that made his career, the rest of the acting is typical of the early 30s, over-the-top with the delivery, very melodramatic and speaking in that 1930s hard boiled way.
this film charts the meteoric rise of a low level gangster to a crime boss in the underworld,and his downfall.Edward G.Robisnson Plays said Gangster.Robinson certainly is a distinctive actor,especially his voice.it certainly seems appropriate for that of a gangster.this is really the first gangster genre film from that era i have seen, and i like it a lot.the dialogue of the era is,and more specifically of the genre is certainly interesting,and somewhat amusing,by today's standards.it's hard to believe people actually talked that way and even spoke some of those words.anyway,i like the film,and would recommend it.8/10.
It was those very things that made him the premier gangster of the 30's.....and as his career matured he tempered his performances.The story revolves around Rico and his compatriots as they move up in the world......some are left behind either by choice (as with Fairbanks) or they simply are "rubbed out" as Little Caesar climbs the crime corporate ladder.
Even four years after 'The Jazz Singer (1927),' Hollywood was still adapting to the "talkies." Mervyn LeRoy's 'Little Caesar (1931)'  along with 'The Public Enemy (1931)' and 'Scarface (1932)'  was one of the pivotal films in the development of the gangster genre {popular in the 1930s, and later a considerable influence on film noir}, but it also suffers the pitfalls of many early sound films.
Fittingly, Rico meets his end under a billboard featuring Joey Massara and Olga Strassoff - the title - "Tipsy Topsy Turvy" - just what Rico's world had become.As one of the earliest gangster films, "Little Caesar" set a tone for the genre and led to other successful movies, most notably James Cagney's "Public Enemy".
Finally, it doesn't seem fitting that a man with Rico's sense of self importance and grandeur would allow himself to descend into the squalor of a ghetto flophouse; surely he had enough money to maintain some dignity in exile if necessary.All of this aside, "Little Caesar" merits viewing for it's impact on early film making and the creation of the criminal/gangster genre.
Warner Brothers released a slew of gangster movies in the early 1930s, films like "The Public Enemy", "Little Caesar", "Scarface" and "White Heat" laying down the template for virtually every gangster picture that followed.Born in an age of urban poverty, overcrowding, and disease, these flicks immediately proved popular with audiences.
The releases of "The Public Enemy" and "Little Caesar" gave rise to the gangster movie, which has proved, over the years to be one of the more powerful, successful types of film to be produced.These films also gave us two new "MovieStars".
But it is the gangster film for which they will forever be linked."Little Caesar" is the story of a Chicago hood who is not afraid to seize control from his criminal boss, and fight against the law to get his way, and rise to the top of the mob.
Robinson plays Cesare Enrico 'Rico' Bandello, aka, Little Caesar and the film documents his rise to the top of the Chicago underworld and his subsequent crash to a skid row boarding house.
E.G. Robinson is bad a.s.s. The first "talkie" gangster movie to capture the public's imagination, Mervyn LeRoy's Little Caesar started a cycle of crime-related movies that Warner Bros.
And, probably has seen the scene where Robinson says, "Is this the end of Rico?" But I had always avoided the film because I am no fan of gangster movies (or for that matter Hollywood's other obsession of the 1930s -- the lives of rich people).
Robinson) and his friend Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) are small-time criminals who are seeking their fortunes in Chicago, and while Rico, also nicknamed Little Caesar, joins Sam Vettori (Stanley Fields) and his gang Joe is more interested in becoming a professional dancer, and he gains a partner and girlfriend with Olga Stassoff (Glenda Farrell).
Robinson plays Caesar Enrico Bandello - otherwise known as "Rico" - a small time thug who lusts for the power that befits the crime kingpins of the city.