LITTLE CAESAR | (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931)

One of the most popular and best received crime films ever; a seminal gangster film that began the craze for such
exciting looks at violent underground figures, though it was not the first crime film made–that honor goes to the
1912 D.W. Griffith film The Musketeers of Pig Alley, while the first crime talkie film honor goes to the crude 1928
Lights of New York directed by Bryan Foy–it also was from Warner Brothers.

The film’s low-budget and the lack of technological skills available at the time — is made up for by the rich acting
of Robinson, the mesmerizing story, and the stunning black-and-white cinematography provided by Tony Gaudio.
Writers Francis Faragoh and Robert N. Lee based the film on the novel by W. R. Burnett.

“Little Caesar” was the film that defined Edward G. Robinson’s acting career. His role as a small-time vain and vicious
hood who wants to “be somebody,” became a legendary role in film history. Robinson’s Little Caesar character is
supposedly modeled after Al Capone. Mervyn LeRoy’s pic about the rise and fall of this violent gangster is a fast-
paced vivid portrayal of the hood, and though outdated still remains of interest today for both historical reasons
and that it’s still entertaining.

The film opens with a quote from Matthew: “For all of them that take the sword shall perish by the sword.” The
next shot has Rico (Edward G. Robinson) and his nervous pal Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) chowing down on
spaghetti and coffee in a small-town diner after pulling a penny-ante stickup of a gas station. The ambitious Rico
brags “When I get in a tight spot, I shoot my way out of it, why sure. Shoot first and argue afterwards. You know,
this game ain’t for guys that’s soft.” Rico aims to emulate his big-time gangster hero Diamond Pete Montana
(dressed in style and wearing an ornate diamond pinkie ring) and be revered and famous like the crime boss. The
big talking little ruffian talks the reluctant Joe into moving to the city with him, despite his partner saying his
ambition is to be a dancer and gigolo and retire from a life of crime.

In the city Rico talks his way into joining with Joe the gang of Sam Vettori, the owner of the Palermo Club, and is
named by the boss Little Caesar for his braggadocio. In a heist of the gangster Little Arnie Lorch’s Bronze Peacock
gambling club and nightclub (where Joe was hired to be a dancer by the manager DeVoss), Rico knocks off the
feared police commissioner McClure who was in attendance. The gang escapes with the dough, but the driver Tony
Passa goes soft and is on his way to confess to a priest–when Rico knocks him off at the steps of the church. Then
the gang throws him a first-class funeral fit for a king. Meanwhile, Joe falls in love with hoofer Olga Strassoff (Glenda
Farrell) his professional dancing partner and tries to tell her he just can’t quit the gang. When the cops under
Sergeant Flaherty start putting the heat on Sam and he begins turning soft, the gang agrees that Rico should be
their leader. Still ambitious–Rico meets the big boss, Big Boy (Sidney Blackmer), a wealthy tycoon who pulls the
strings from behind the scene, and is given Diamond Pete’s lucrative north side of the town. But Rico’s ambitions
are still not quenched, as he wishes to take the place of Big Boy and run the entire city syndicate. But before that
can materialize, the insanely jealous Rico has to deal with his best pal Joe who wants to quit the mob to be a dancer
— which is astonishing to Rico, who calls him a “sissy.” Rico warns Joe that no one quits my gang and stays alive.
But Rico goes soft for his friend just before he’s about to kill Joe and Olga, and lets them off the hook. This results
in Joe ratting him out to the cops as the one who killed the police commissioner. After going on the lam for months,
Rico is cornered in an alley by Flaherty and is gunned down. Before he kicks the bucket he utters with his dying
breath ” Mother of God, is this the end of Rico?”

Little Caesar , like any of the early 1930s gangster films, provides a convenient starting point for discussing four
historical (and traditional) topics: the relationship between film and society, generic evolution, censorship and self-
regulation, and sound technology. I wish to stress the interdependence of these four aspects.

Many historians cite the gangster film as one of the Hollywood genres which emerged with the dissemination of
sound technology. The colloquial dialogue, jazz music, and sound effects clearly help delineate the genre, but
nonetheless, the gangster film began during the silent era. Sound technology merely provided the means for a
secondary step in the genre's evolution. The power of this "second phase" gangster film stems from its
contemporaneous setting and social commentary on violence, organized crime, Prohibition, the Depression, and
the urban environment. Addressing such topical subjects invoked the threat of censorship and led to the industry's
response of self-regulation. This in turn forced the genre to change once again. Since Little Caesar seems most
readily and specifically classified as a gangster film (as opposed to a sound film or a self-regulation film) I will focus
my discussion around the film as an example of the gangster genre.

Thomas Schatz, in Hollywood Genres , borrows from Christian Metz and Henri Focillon to analyze the evolution of
genres. He proposes four stages (from Focillon): "experimental" which establishes visual, structural, and thematic
conventions; "classical" which reifies the conventions and uses them to directly address cultural values; "refined"
which adds visual and structural flourishes but maintains cultural values through reified thematic concerns; and
"baroque" which employs self-reflexivity, intertextuality, and most importantly, deconstructs themes and cultural
values. I need only address the first three stages for Little Caesar .

The silent gangster films like D. W. Griffith's Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912), Howard Hughes's The Racket (1927),
and Josef von Sternberg's "trilogy" of Underworld (1927), The Dragnet (1928), and Thunderbolt (1929), and the
early sound films like Thunderbolt (which began production as a silent but also released in a sound version) and
Bryan Foy's The Lights of New York (1928) easily fit the "experimental" label. They developed the basic conventions
of the genre, but failed to establish a strong and direct connection to the culture.

By the early 1930s, sound technology posed few problems; the "blimped" camera allowed exterior shooting and
mobility and sound-on-film guaranteed synchronous projection. The Depression entered its worst period.
Prohibition drew to a close and, as it did, gang wars escalated; the St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929 focussing
public attention on the organized power and violence of the gangster. This combination of events provided the
necessary background for the "classical" phase. Films of this stage, which Little Caesar initiated, include two other
"standards": Public Enemy (1931) and Scarface (1932). Together these three films express the visual, structural, and
thematic values most closely associated with the genre and clearly comment on the culture of the early 1930s.

Little Caesar tells the story of the rise and fall of a petty thief, Rico Bandello, with ambition to become a crime lord.
He achieves his goal, but dies under the hail of machine gun fire. Little Caesar celebrates the gangster, establishing
Rico romantically; as a "tragic hero" according to Robert Warshow. As a "tragic hero" he must die, and he dies
because of a tragic flaw. Warshow sees Rico's tragic flaw, like all gangsters, as a too strong drive for success and
self-assertion.

Organized crime differs from organized business only in its means and cultural stigma. Both function as rational
enterprises and permit a man to become "self-made," well-known, admired by his peers, and share in the wealth
of America. Rico desires the same American dream Western culture assumes we all share: upward social and
economic mobility and individual recognition. Denied a legitimate route to power and success, but cursed with his
"tragic flaw," Rico must employ means deemed "illegal." His violent deeds turn the American dream of success into
an American nightmare of success.

Little Caesar also depicts society's efforts to maintain social order and similarity against Rico's criminal drive for
success and individuality. Rico must fall from the top of the criminal ladder and then die to emphasize what happens
to those who challenge society. Exactly what constitutes the "crime" for which he must fall and die? His breaking
of the law or his too strong drive for personal success? Both: Rico must die legally and ideologically. Rico doesn't
die simply because he transgressed the law of society, he dies because he aggressively asserted himself as an
individual and as a success. Gangster films, like all genres, maintain the status quo and make it ideal. Little Caesar
shows that crime doesn't pay and that an over-riding desire for wealth, power, and individuality is culturally
unhealthy.

This social commentary remained part of the gangster genre since its "classical" stage, but never in deeper relief
than during the early 1930s. The economic plight of millions of American citizens seemed to find an answer in the
gangster's method. An audience, enduring the Depression and the backlash of Prohibition (organized crime greatly
expanded in urban centers), could vicariously participate in a gangster's rise to wealth and power. Yet the generic
demands for the gangster's legal and ideological death would re-assure an audience that those means would
ultimately prove untenable. The status quo must prevail even during the double crisis of the Depression and
Prohibition.

The enormous popularity of the gangster films coupled with their romantic depiction of achieving success and fame
during the Depression, led to the "classical" stage's quick demise. By refracting so strongly the cultural climate of
the day, they posed a threat to the status quo. In 1934, the Catholic Legion of Decency formed, in part to combat
the popular depiction of the gangster as a folk hero, and the Hays Office created the Production Code of America
essentially for the same reason. Consequently, the "classical" stage lasted only four years (1930–34). With the
threat of censorship, boycotts, and self-regulation, the gangster film evolved into two "diluted" species: what Schatz
labels the "gangster-as-cop" variation (e.g. G-Men [1935] and Racket Busters [1938]) and the "Cain-and-Abel"
variation (e.g. Manhattan Melodrama [1934] and Angels With Dirty Faces [1938]). Both forms constitute the
"refined" stage. They permit stylistic flourishes yet maintain, however watered-down and disguised by style, the
same themes and cultural values of the "classical" stage.

Little Caesar stands as a perfect example of the short-lived "classical" period. Rico functions as the prototype of all
subsequent gangsters. His career trajectory allowed audience identification and provided a warning to embrace the
status quo. That the type of film Little Caesar initiated flourished only briefly, attests to the strength of that
identification and the calling into question of American cultural values during times of crisis.