LogFAQs > #968672780

30. Little Caesar (1931)
Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy
Runtime: 1h 19m
Score: 269

ssbm: 17
Snake: 20
Mythiot: 20
John: 22
plasma: 22
rockus: 23
Vis: 28
Karo: 28
seginus: 29
Tangy: 30
Poke: 30

ssbm
Rating: C

This movie is pretty much the baseline gangster movie, in my opinion. Doesn't do anything spectacular, but doesn't mess up anywhere. It's kinda like the fodder line for this ranking: anything below Little Caesar, I have at least one major problem with. Rico's a fun character to watch as he rises from the depths to the top. You can really tell how much he adores fame and wealth and power. I especially liked the scene where he poses in front of the cameras at the feast and quite a few people are like "oooh, suboptimal move." The ending's pretty good too, where Rico literally gets baited in the news and traced down his number (which I'm pretty surprised they had back in the 1930s).

The friendship between Rico and Joe is pretty interesting. I have no idea why they are friends, but the movie establishes pretty well that Rico only sticks his head out for Joe. It climaxes where Rico really needs to kill Joe, but he just can't. Both Joe and another character named Tony are pretty interesting characters. They're both gangsters that attempt to get out of the business. They both have another character who frequently pushes them to get out of the business.

My only real issue with the movie is that Rico's rise seems really quick. He takes over Sam's position of running the gang because...he physically did the work. Despite the fact that he botched The Bronze Peacock robbing by shooting McClure. I think a few more scenes for Rico's origins as a gangster would go a long way.

Snake
Its iconic opening scene sets the tone. This film hooked me much more immediately than Public Enemy did, with Robinson's performance being one of the best on the list. Little Caesar has a ur-example of the gangster's rise to power, and this example is rarely ever challenged from scene one, giving us one of the greatest gangsters ever put to screen.

John
Probably the best of the big three original crime films. The straight man Joe and criminal in-over-his-head Rico kinda set the stage that made things like Donnie Brasco able to exist so successfully years later. It's a little simple, and the characters aren't exactly deeply rounded, but its excellently shot and the relationship between Joe and Rico, as well as Rico's performance in general, really kinda sells it all.

plasma
Better than Dominos and Papa Johns, but this one still tasted flat to me. From the opening scene, I knew exactly what I was getting: a paint-by-numbers tragedy about an egomaniacal mobsters rise to power and inevitable fall. Im sure this movie was revolutionary for its time, but it never surprised me aside from one impactful moment toward the end (which Ill get to in a moment).

Plot-wise, Little Caesar is a mixed bag. At times I was bored, at times I was amused, at times I was lost. The main problem is that events seem to happen without proper setup. I dont recall Rico having any clever, detailed scheme for rising to powerit simply happens. After he shows up in Chicago, he joins the local mob, kills the crime commissioner, intimidates some high-ranking people, and thenboom!he controls Chicagos Northside. Now maybe I wasnt watching closely enough, but it felt like Ricos entire rise to glory benefitted from plot convenience, lucky timing, and a few ballsy moves. Never felt like a true struggle.

I also didnt like the supporting cast. The performances themselves are fine, but this movie is stuffed to the gills with forgettable characters. We meet one scumbag after another, and none stand out. While The Public Enemy knocked it out of the park when it came to characterizing its lesser characters, Little Caesar lost me the moment it hastily and underwhelmingly introduced the members of Ricos new gang early on. Things didnt get any better when the various crime bosses were introduced, and throughout the movie, I kept wondering, Who are these clowns? Why should I care?

Thankfully, Rico is a standout protagonist. Edward G. Robinson is fantastic here, and every time hes on screen, he gives the film a much-needed pulse. His swagger, his delivery, his various quirkshe owns this movie and actually salvages it. Even though I failed to enjoy the plot, I became invested in Ricos personal journey, which culminates in a surprisingly powerful scene in which he spares his old partners life and pays a steep price for it (This is what I get for liking a guy too much.). Seeing a brute like Rico show loyalty and heart won me over in the end. C-

rockus
Not my favorite 1930s gangster picture but Edward G. Robinson undeniable kills it here, and its difficult not to respect the movie for launching the trend of gangster movies of the 1930s and 40s. Its easy to see how it catapulted Robinson into stardom and why studios wanted him to return for similar crime roles later on in his career.

Vis
Going into this ranking, the only thing I really knew about this movie was Is this the end of Rico? as an iconic movie line. And after watching the film, theres a reason why that line is the only thing I knew. Organized crime movies, by virtue of their subject matter, have an inherent intrigue about them, so the differences really come down to a combination of the overarching story, and the acting therein. In the case of this film, I just hated the acting. Everyone in the cast felt like one-note caricatures, and there was so little emotion being shown that I felt almost no reason to care about anyone. Rico, as the main character, had the flattest, most boring delivery of lines I could possibly imagine, and his cop antagonist was somehow even worse. It just made the plot feel duller by association.

Karo
The rise and fall of arrogant mobster in a storyline that regrettably has little to do with pizza.
The movie is a dull and generic affair featuring many caricatures but few actual characters, with a story that is poorly realized and poorly directed, relying heavily on the performance of Caesars actor to have any impact whatsoever. Of particular note is a part where Caesar has to whack a snitch in his crew and the result is a rushed scene with no dramatic tension that is over so fast you can barely tell which character it is he killed. The film is so dull that it is hard to maintain any interest of any kind across even this very short runtime.

seginus
Eddie Robinson plays the archetypal "nyeah, see?" mobster with a delivery so cheesy they named a pizza chain after him. He probably deserves some credit for helping kickstart the 'angry short' trope, which becomes a staple character build in the genre. He puts in a memorable performance, unfortunately, the rest of the movie has less personality and in hindsight, Caesar's rise/fall seems uneventful next to the more elaborate 'gangster Icarus' stories on the list.

Tangy
This was a slog if Ive ever seen one. The only redeeming part of this flick was Edward Robinson as the titular character. Going in I had no idea that this was the guy that got parodied constantly in pop culture. So it was a neat surprise at least. That said, his whole schtick started getting old quickly and with nothing else to prop up the movie it just ended up falling flat for me.

Poke
Something had to go in this slot, even though I didn't hate any film on this list. A testament to the quality of films that made it and the genre is a great one. But I just had the other films higher. Is it a bias against older films? Well...stay tuned (or not, if other ones drop first).