Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

utgard14 The movie that made Edward G. Robinson a star. He plays Rico, a small-time hoodlum who rises to power in the criminal underworld. Little Caesar is perhaps the most parodied of all the gangster films of the 1930's. Bugs Bunny cartoons especially had a field day with it. Whether it also was the inspiration for the naming of the pizza franchise I don't know. Robinson does a great job and he's backed up by a solid stable of supporting actors. Douglas Fairbanks is a little weak but not enough to drag the film down.The gangster drama is still around today, although much less prominently than its 1930's heyday. 1931 marked the beginning of a rich genre that would provide some of the best films of the 1930s and 40s. Little Caesar is part of the trinity of groundbreaking gangster films, along with The Public Enemy and Scarface. Most other gangster flicks would take their cues from these movies. Little Caesar is a strong, exciting film that's just fun to watch. It's one of those seminal films everybody should see at least once. Please check it out.

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.

Casablanca3784 By today's standards, "Little Caesar" could be considered corny but if one wants to put himself in 1931, the film is masterful. I call it the grandaddy of all gangster films and very reminiscent of the biography of Al Capone.Edward G.Robinson was more than just a "pretty face." This man could act up a storm. Recently I saw "Key Largo" and was very impressed by EGR's acting. Now I see where it came from--he was born to play hard boiled gangsters and why he wasn't nominated in '31 for Best Actor of the Year is beyond me.Lionel Barrymore took home the statue. Robinson was simply fantastic.I highly recommend your watching it on Turner or renting the DVD because you will see the beginning of the evolution of murder and mayhem on the silver screen. What the Volstead Act spawned. The roots of Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, "Pretty Boy" Floyd, "Machine Gun Kelly" and all the rest of the psychopaths that terrorized good people and honest businessmen.This movie is not only a movie but a history lesson as well.Because of our marvelous Constitution and Bill of Rights, a two bit hood like Rico could evade the law until.................see the film--it's great.

freemantle_uk Little Caesar is an archetypal gangster film from the early 1930s, a early example and it offered a breakout performance for Edward G. Robinson whom distinctive voice has been copied for Chief Wiggam in The Simpsons.Rico (Robinson) and his friend Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) are two small town hoods who move to the big city to make a name for themselves in the criminal underworld. Rico quickly raises up the ranks, earning the nickname "Little Caesar" and shows a skill for planning heists. Rico overthrows his boss Sam Vettori (Stanley Fields) and becomes one of the leading gangsters in the city. But of course with notoriety he becomes a target of other gangsters and the police, led by Sergeant Flaherty (Thomas E. Jackson), as well as alienated his old friend. g The best aspect of Little Caesar was Robinson, a very talented actor who was able to give his role real menace, someone who is willing to be very ruthless, willing to use violence and has a Machiavellian personality who will do anything to gain power. He is smart but has an ego which is his downfall. Robinson embodied his character, a rags to riches to rags story out a small time thug making it big. It is very much like Scarface in story.Director Mervyn LeRoy was able to some nice camera movements, particularly for the time where the camera was often stasis. He also made a very quick film, it is only 76 minutes and the pacing lightening fast. If anything the film was a little too quick, we do not get to establish how some events happen, like Rico and Joe just going to he big city, easily meet a gangster and then overthrow himself in the first 30 minutes. I would have like to have seen a little more background, a little more detail, like what where these two people like in the small town, what was this small time like, wouldn't they need to prove themselves to a major gangster to show they were worthy and committed to the crew before joining it, what was the internal politics of the crew and that wouldn't there be more of a challenge to Rico becoming the leader seeing he was a nobody a few months ago. LeRoy also uses some text screens to skip over long periods of time instead of showing up. But Little Caesar does everything it wants to put across in its short running time very well and I expect that it was made as a part of a double feature.Whilst Robinson was very good in his role, it was the role that made his career, the rest of the acting is typical of the early 30s, over-the-top with the delivery, very melodramatic and speaking in that 1930s hard boiled way. Still it was the standard of the time and I have seen a lot worst acting in films.Little Caesar is a good film, but it is not a gangster film that we know now. This film is a more a character study and a story how someone could rise to top just so they could fall even further. It is a solid piece of film making for the time.