Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Starring Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell
Produced by First National Pictures
Rico is a small time hood in a tiny little 'burb. With his pal Joe in tow, he steals and extorts from gas stations and diners, never getting the payout he wants.
Never, that is, until he moves to the big city and joins Sam Vettori's's crew. Suddenly he's hanging out at swanky clubs and getting big scores. But he still wants more. He doesn't want to be a soldier. He wants to be the boss.
Meanwhile, Joe is trying to leave a life of crime behind. He wants to be a dancer and has found the perfect two-stepping partner in Olga. But we all know what happens when you try to get out.
Soon, the bodies start piling up. Can Rico claw his way to the top? And will he allow Joe to escape the life?
Little Caesar is the type of film that rises or falls based on its lead performance. Either the actor makes it work and gets you invested, or the film is a failure.
Fortunately, Little Caesar features Edward G. Robinson in the starring role and he delivers a character that is one of the iconic gangster characters of all time.
It's a harder feat to pull off than you might think because Rico is irredeemably loathsome. From the first frame, he's a bad guy driven by greed and ambition. His first instinct is to pull a gun and start shooting. When he meets his mob bosses, there's no respect. He simply eyes their jewelry with all the charm of a vulture waiting for its prey to die.
Robinson throws himself into the role and has charisma to spare. You don't want to see him succeed necessarily, but you can't look away. He turns the journey into a NASCAR car crash where you feel every flip and tumble.
The secondary story about Joe who is trying to crawl out of the shadows of his former life gets little attention here. Joe is played by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (yes, the son of that Douglas Fairbanks). Its resolution is literally plastered on a billboard. In another film, that might be a problem. Here, it is really only used to highlight Rico's one good quality: his loyalty to his best friend. Under the mob's code of conduct, Rico should have killed Joe a half dozen times, but he doesn't and that's worth something.
Little Caesar is a fun and prototypical take on the Depression-era gangster, establishing the "myeah see" line delivery that marked the Warner Bros. cartoons of my childhood. It's more than worth a watch.
**** out of *****
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