BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Tad Pole . . . Enrico Bandello laments before deciding to flatten LITTLE CAESAR's love triangle by gunning down his long-time companion Joe and Olga (the dame for whom Joe has forsaken Enrico in his hour of greatest need). But Enrico doesn't know how to "quit" Joe, either, sealing his own doom. Decades before the supposedly "ground-breaking" flick BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, the same plot pervades LITTLE CAESAR for all to see, if they care to really look. If you subtract this meaty gray subtext from LITTLE CAESAR's scant 78-minute running time, is there even anything worth noting left? One might argue that the remaining coherent thread tying parts of this tawdry tale together is its vehement pro-Prohibition message. Crime czar Alvin McClure seems hell-bent upon a night of illegal drinking himself at the Bronze Peacock when he's gunned down (perhaps because his ale-addled reaction time is no match for then Tea-Totaller Enrico's). So what's the first thing "call-me-Rico; R-I-C-O" does when he finally lets himself fall under the influence of Demon Rum? He rings up his chief persecutor, Flaherty, of course, and "LITTLE CAESAR" is soon history.

dougdoepke First National must have spent all of ten bucks on the production. The sets are spare, the "streets" ghostly, while the gloom hangs heavy. Looks like the main expense was the nightclub scene that really comes alive with crowds and lighting. Good thing there's Robinson, otherwise the film would be thoroughly forgettable. As the snarling Rico, he delivers tough guy in spades, while climbing the ladder of criminal success. Actually, the violence totals much less than you might expect. Mostly it's gangsters dropping in on each other to size up the competition.Okay, the biggest reviewer issue seems to be whether Rico is gay or not. Mark me down in the affirmative. As others point out, there're simply too many hints to ignore. Besides it makes his tough guy all the more interesting, especially when he would jeopardize his criminal empire by making the decidedly non-tough Joe (Fairbanks) his "trusted" companion.Anyway, the movie creaks with age, has a ton of sometimes silly dialog, plus too much wooden acting (e.g. Fairbanks), but still showcases a central performance that remains a classic of its kind.

tieman64 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. More importantly, they were fairly cheap to produce, requiring relatively simple sets and small casts. And whilst the makers of modern gangster flicks routinely spend millions recreating period details and elaborate cityscapes, these early film-makers simply stuck a camera outside and filmed the naked streets. Indeed, some of the biggest pleasures of these early gangster films can be found in their simple establishing shots, which allow us to eavesdrop upon 1930s traffic jams, shops, pedestrians and cities. These establishing shots, banal capsules hanging free from their respective stories, offer a nice contrast to the more romanticised period details of modern gangster movies. Compare, for example, how nostalgic Leone and Coppola's street scenes feel in "Once Upon A Time In America" and "Godfather 2".What's most striking, though, is how little the gangster genre has changed over the years. Thematically the genre has charted no new territory. There's nothing in "Goodfellas", "Public Enemies", "Once Upon A Time In America" or "American Gangster", for instance, that you can't find in any of these early Warner Brothers features. The differences are only cosmetic: more swearing, more violence, more blood, faster editing, more nudity etc. Though the genre has evolved aesthetically, technology progressing and attitudes toward sex and violence relaxing, it still conforms to old narratives, content to reinforce the existing order of things.Juxtaposing modern gangster films with early WB machine gun operas, one is also immediately confronted with how superficial the typical "rise and fall" gangster narrative is; young kids or hoodlums join a gang, rise through the ranks, become powerful and then lose all their power or violently die. This has the double effect of both highlighting the infectious allure of criminality, whilst also pointing out that those who partake are ultimately doomed. A film like "Goodfellas" is itself peppered with nothing but scenes hijacked from these early films, albeit jazzed up with frenetic editing and countless rock and roll tunes. Indeed, the message of "Goodfellas" is itself the falsity of "Goodfellas"; a kind of postmodern renunciation of truth.But what's more interesting is the way all these gangster movies make a connection between the success of the criminal and the success of the businessman. This romanticism continued throughout the 60s and 70s, with gangster flicks like "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Godfather Saga", all films in which the criminal becomes representative of a very capitalist ideal.The result is that, far from being stories about anti-establishment heroes bucking the system, gangster movies began to reveal themselves as being quaintly conformist. Rather than subversively undermining it, Hollywood's gangsters are in gleeful acceptance of the status quo, these films stressing that gangsters are no different from the corporate criminals whom they rob. Criminals, in other words, are merely engaging in an alternative method of business. Don Corleone, Henry Hill, Noodles, Tony Montana, Bonnie and Clyde, like any business, ultimately all want money. And why do they want money? Simply to better enjoy life.During this period, a few iconoclastic directors - Godard, Fassbinder, Kubrick, Altman - played against convention. Altman's "Thieves Like Us", for example, is explicitly about the dreary conformity of the gangster; like any ordinary homemaker, they simply want enough cash to refit their kitchens and pay off their mortgages. Also offbeat was Kubrick "Clockwork Orange", a film which never gets branded a gangster flick (it's hero was modelled after gangster regular James Cagney). Here, a criminal called Alex and his gang of droogs exist almost entirely outside of capitalist logic, committing crimes for no financial purpose. They rape, pillage and destroy, but have no desire to accumulate. Oddly, Alex's gang only falls apart when his droogs get greedy and desire to rob a woman purely for financial gain. They later become police officers.But such films are oddities. When "The Godfather" was released it forever cemented the romantic comparison between the gangster and the American businessman. In these films, organised crime is rendered as nothing more than another family business, subject to profit and loss, risk and calculation, promotion and firing. "Goodfellas" continues this point of view, but brings the business down to the blue-collar day-to-day workings of the organisation. Scorsese's gangsters are workers whilst Coppola's are the owners, but both viewpoints serve to covertly appeal to megalomania and power. Compare with Brian De Palma's brilliantly nutty "Scarface", which turns power and accumulation into something pathetic. There, all gangsters are castrated, impotent goofs, each bent on fulfilling what is really an unquenchable, existential Lack (be it with penises, money or machine guns). The crime movies of Altman and Fassbinder are even more subversive.Today, free from the Hays Code, modern day gangsters now also have the luxury of much happier endings. Directors are no longer obliged to tack on a "crime doesn't pay" ending, and so we have Brando dying gracefully of old age, DeNiro waxing nostalgic for the golden days and Henry Hill getting to live in the suburbs rather than die. These films are all brutally nostalgic, mourning the loss of a time when anti heroes regularly bucked the system, perhaps because we secretly want to ourselves.8/10 – Each new corporate scandal further dissolves the lines of separation between criminals and big business, both groups, be they owners, middle management or lower level employees, ultimately in ruthless pursuit of the same thing: the acquisition of wealth and the accumulation of toys.

Jackson Booth-Millard I had seen many clips of this film, and I knew it was a classic gangster movie, it was great to know that it was the first ever to have spoken dialogue, and I was definitely going to see it because it was in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, from director Mervyn LeRoy (Mister Roberts). Basically Caesar Enrico 'Rico' Bandello (Edward G. 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). Joe tries to get away from the gangster lifestyle and any involvement in their schemes, but he is made to participate in the robbery of the nightclub he works in, along with Rico who was given orders from underworld overlord 'Big Boy' (Sidney Blackmer) not to open fire and create bloodshed, but he kills Crime Commissioner Alvin McClure (Landers Stevens), his shocked friend witnessed it. Gang leader Sam is accused by Rico of being soft, and he is allowed to take control over the crime ring, and with this happening an assassination attempt on him is organised by rival boss 'Little Arnie' Storch (Maurice Black), but it fails and he is only grazed, so they visit him and his gunmen, after the men quickly leave for Detroit, and Rico gains control of Chicago's Northside as well. With Joe gaining a good reputation as a dancer and hardly seeing his former friend, and he is visited by the now gang lord who is concerned he knows a lot, he is told to forget about Olga and return to the life of crime, and he is threatened if he does not accept, he refuses anyway, and following this Olga calls Police Sergeant Flaherty (Thomas E. Jackson) so he can talk. Rico and his henchman Otero (George E. Stone) shortly after the call come round, Rico aims his gun to kill Joe before he can spill about the crime activities, but he cannot bring himself to pull the trigger, and when Otero tries to kill him Rico wrestles to take his gun, and in the scuffle Joe is wounded with a gunshot, this is heard by Flaherty who chases and kill Otero running out. Joe provides the information to the police and Flaherty is determined to bring down Little Caesar and his empire, and knowing that he is a wanted man Rico disappears to a life on the streets, and sometime later he sees the news that he is branded a coward, enraged he foolishly calls the cops to announce he is coming back, and the call is traced, Rico tries to escape but is gunned down and killed behind a billboard by Flaherty, and ironically it has an advertisement poster featuring Olga and Joe. Also starring William Collier Jr. as Tony Passa, Ralph Ince as Diamond Pete Montana and Armand Kaliz as De Voss. Robinson gives a fantastic leading performance, he may not look like the typical kind of character that will climb in the crime world to become the kingpin, but he proves a sly and ruthless criminal and steals every scene, the other cast members such as Fairbanks Jr. and Farrell are good as well. The story is pretty easy to follow, a lowlife crook slowly becomes the most wanted man in the city, based on the real life mobster Al Capone, there is a great script with witty dialogue, and many memorable moments with guns shooting and criminal schemes, and of course the final catchphrase, this is absolutely a must see classic crime drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Writing, Adaptation. Caesar Enrico Bandello was number 38 on 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains, and "Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?" was number 73 on 100 Years, 100 Quotes. Very good!