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Little Caesar (1931)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
28 August 1931 (France)
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Plot:
The ambitious criminal Rico (Edward G. Robinson) moves from the country to the big city in the east...
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Awards:
Nominated for Oscar.
Another 1 win
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NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
AFI's 100 Years ...100 Movie Quotes
(From Extra. 4 November 2009, 4:45 AM, PST)
A Gangster's Demise: Jarrett vs. Rico vs. Dillinger
(From Rope Of Silicon. 3 July 2009, 4:53 PM, PDT)
(From Extra. 4 November 2009, 4:45 AM, PST)
A Gangster's Demise: Jarrett vs. Rico vs. Dillinger
(From Rope Of Silicon. 3 July 2009, 4:53 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
It Gets Lonely at the Top
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Cast
(Complete credited cast) | Edward G. Robinson | ... | Little Caesar / 'Rico' |
 | Douglas Fairbanks Jr. | ... | Joe Massara |
 | Glenda Farrell | ... | Olga Stassoff |
| William Collier Jr. | ... | Tony Passa |
| Sidney Blackmer | ... | Big Boy |
| Ralph Ince | ... | Pete Montana |
| Thomas E. Jackson | ... | Sergeant Flaherty (as Thomas Jackson) |
| Stanley Fields | ... | Sam Vettori |
| Maurice Black | ... | Little Arnie Lorch |
| George E. Stone | ... | Otero |
| Armand Kaliz | ... | De Voss |
| Nicholas Bela | ... | Ritz Colonna (as Nick Bela) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
79 min
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Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Vitaphone (Western Electric Sound System)
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The film was reviewed in Photoplay Magazine in December 1930 (on the newstands in November), and ready for release in December 1930, but Warner's brass felt it was not a Christmas picture. It officially debuted at the Strand Theatre in New York City on 31 January 1931.
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Goofs:
Continuity: In the diner scene, Rico jumps from reading the newspaper to eating his spaghetti between shots.
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Quotes:
Sgt. Tom Flaherty:
So somebody finally put one in you.
Caesar Enrico Bandello: Yeah, but they just grazed me though.
Sgt. Tom Flaherty: The old man will be glad to hear it. He takes such an interest in you.
Caesar Enrico Bandello: You tell him the cops couldn't get me no other way, so they hired a couple of gunmen.
Sgt. Tom Flaherty: If I wasn't on the force I'd have done the job cheap.
Caesar Enrico Bandello: Did you ever stop to think what you'd look like with a lily in your hand?
Sgt. Tom Flaherty: No, I never did.
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Caesar Enrico Bandello: Yeah, but they just grazed me though.
Sgt. Tom Flaherty: The old man will be glad to hear it. He takes such an interest in you.
Caesar Enrico Bandello: You tell him the cops couldn't get me no other way, so they hired a couple of gunmen.
Sgt. Tom Flaherty: If I wasn't on the force I'd have done the job cheap.
Caesar Enrico Bandello: Did you ever stop to think what you'd look like with a lily in your hand?
Sgt. Tom Flaherty: No, I never did.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in Little Caesar: End of Rico, Beginning of the Antihero (2005) (V)
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Little Caesar which popularized both the gangster film and Edward G. Robinson is a great study in the criminal mindset and the ruthlessness it takes to get to the top of that world. After all in White Heat look at the epitaph James Cagney gave to his career.
We meet Robinson and a friend Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in some greasy spoon in the middle of nowhere. Fairbanks wants to go into dancing, but Robinson knows exactly what he wants. He wants to rise to the top of the criminal world. Not for riches or fame, but simply raw naked power. As he says to have a bunch of guys working for you who will do ANYTHING you say. The more men you have doing that, the more powerful you are.
And the film is a study in the rise and fall of Robinson in his chosen field. But the top is a lonely place.
It's been said there's an undercurrent of homosexuality running in Little Caesar between Robinson and Fairbanks by some critics. I've never subscribed to that point of view. In doing what he's doing Robinson essentially cuts himself off from all kind of human contact. His only other attachment is the fawning George E. Stone from his gang.
Robinson needs Fairbanks as a friend and confidante. We all need that, someone we can unbend with and show our true feelings, even if it's confiding our criminal ambitions.
But as the plot develops Fairbanks who's been on the fringe of Robinson's activities, meets Glenda Farrell and they fall in love. And through her partially Fairbanks develops a conscience about what he's seen.
How Robinson deals with it and what becomes of everyone involved is for those interested in viewing the film. But after over 70 years, Little Caesar holds up very well because of its universal theme.
Loneliness at the top is an occupational hazard for all ambitious people. It's never expressed in such raw terms as in the gangster film genre. But it's still used. Used in fact in both the Paul Muni version of Scarface and in Al Pacino's version as well.
Mervyn LeRoy did a fine job in directing this groundbreaking piece of entertainment. Robinson's portrayal once seen is never forgotten.