USA 79m Dir: Mervyn Roy Key Cast: Edward G. Robinson
Based on: Little Caesar by W.R. Burnett (Novel)
Little Caesar is one of the very earliest gangster films and and helps to establish a formula modern audiences are familiar with. It's legacy can be traced through to Scarface, The Godfather and GoodFellas.
Small time criminal Rico (Edward G. Robinson) dreams of earning fortune and respect and moves to a new city with partner Joe (Douglas Fairbanks Jr) who would rather be a dancer. Gradually Rico works muscles his way into the criminal gang and becomes more and more powerful but his obsession of trying to get Joe to leave his wife and return to a life of crime leads to his downfall.
Robinson is superb as Rico, a character who happily guns down people even when not strictly required too. The way he just marches into a room, faces the big fish and confidently takes power from them is incredible and mesmerizing to watch. At the same time though there's a real weakness to him- he just wants power and respect and there are moments when he finally achieves it that make him look like a bashful little boy.
The other weakness is Joe. There's an argument that there's a homosexual subtext to the character- the author of the novel the film is based on, W.R. Burnett, even wrote a letter of complaint to the producers about this subject. It's never explicit though and seems to be taken from the fact that Rico never shows any interest in women and actively criticizes Joe for being interesting in a woman, plus one moment where he is sat on a bed close to one of his henchmen. The moment that perhaps sells this argument most is when Rico can't bring himself to shoot Joe- it doesn't feel like friendship would really be a strong enough force to stop this otherwise ruthless murderer but love perhaps might be.
Another highlight of the film for me is police officer Flaherty, played by Thomas E. Jackson. The film really succeeds in tipping the film on it's head and making you root for Rico, who is undoubtedly a villain, and hope the policeman fails. Flaherty is a fantastic presence in every scene he's in- he always knows about the organization and who's involved and just needs the evidence to prove it but that doesn't stop him showing up constantly and giving Rico a blast with his acid tongue. When Flaherty finally has what he needs his treatment of Rico seems unnecessarily brutal but it feels exactly right for the slimy character.
It's always fascinating to see a film that inspired a genre, especially when it's so well made and with some great performances.
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