David Hast: Scott, have you seen Little Caesar?
Scott Vander Werf: I first saw Little Caesar years ago and then recently rewatched the 1931 classic gangster film and with Edward G Robinson.
DH: Yes, well it was, it was the first of the classic gangster films. It came out a few months before The Public Enemy with James Cagney, but Little Caesar was beginning of 1931, you know, fairly early in the pre-code era. First of all, was the movie that made Edward G. Robinson a star. And it became really like the template and the prototype for gangster movies and the gangster characters that followed. His voice, you know, can you do an Edward G. Robinson?
SVW: I can’t.
DH: You know, he's like, “yeah, tough guy, eh?” [movie clip] His voice is the ultimate like prohibition era gangster cliche. It's been endlessly parodied, right, from Looney Tunes cartoons, Chief Wiggum and the Simpsons is done in Edward G. Robinson's voice. Hey, Little Caesar, the title of this movie is the name of a pizza chain.
SVW: Well, and on top of that, I was thinking about this after watching it. And this is really apropos to like our generation and how we grew up. There were comedians, even ones whose main thing wasn't impersonations,even just regular comedians would do that voice and they would do, you know, Edward G. Robinson. And it was known in the 1970s, even into the 80s. It was a culturally aware thing, even though this movie is from 1931. It lasted that long. It became that iconic, that voice and that character.
DH: And that kind of iconic template that he created, you know, I think Cagney, they all did it on their own as well, Cagney's The Public Enemy came out just a few months after Little Caesar, but when we think of the classic gangster movies of the thirties, it's Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, and they sort of established the whole storyline and structure in the main character. So in this movie, it's a Caesar Enrico Bandello, AKA Rico. He's basically, when the movie starts, he's a small-time hood who robs gas stations with his buddy Joe. And wanting more. He decides to head to the big city, which I think is supposed to be Chicago in this. You later on, they talk about him taking over the north side. That sounds like Chicago.
SVW: And the fact that at the time with everything that was going on Chicago was it was sort of the epicenter, even though there was there were gangsters and the mafia were all over the East Coast as well. In the in the country's mind, was really Chicago was the center with Al Capone.
DH: He is he's kind of a knockoff on Al Capone. So that's Chicago. And he signs up with this mob, which he quickly takes over, pushing out the head of the mob. And then he moves up to the next level and pushes out Diamond Pete Montana to take control of the whole North Side. And you can see that he's aiming to be boss of the whole city.
SVW: And one of the only things that gets in really gets in his way. If he didn't have the ego that he has, he probably could have succeeded better than he did.
DH: Yeah, and then there's an important point in the plot where he's got his friend who he robbed the gas stations with who he wants to be active in his gang, but the guy is kind of going trying to go straight. And there comes a point where he's confronting them and you see how Rico always will just kill people. He's ruthless gangster. He's hesitant to do that with Joe. So that's an important point in the movie but Little Ski Little Caesar really sketched out the basic idea for the gangster film that that went on through the 30's and was later expanded on and made more sophisticated in movies like the Godfather, Goodfellas…When you see Little Caesar now it seems a little primitive and I don't think it's the best of even the classic gangster films but it's still where it all started.
SVW: And in it and you really do see that you see the building blocks so it's so apparent. That the films that you mentioned, the Godfather films and Goodfellas, but then all of the other mafia-related gangster-type elements in TV shows and any, whether it was a movie that was good or bad, it has the elements from Little Caesar.
DH: Right, so even, would you say even the Sopranos and shows like that?
SVW: Oh yeah, definitely.
DH: Yeah, because I mean, to some extent, there's an aspect of realism about how gangs worked. And there's even some things that...get referred to in later gangster films, one that I noticed watching it again this time, The Roaring Twenties, which is one of my favorite gangster films. It's a Raoul Walsh film from 1939 starring James Cagney that has a famous ending where Eddie Bartlett, the James Cagney character, is on the skids and he ends up shot down on the steps of a church and dies and that's end of The Roaring Twenties.In Little Caesar, Rico guns down one of his gang on the steps of a church and he falls just almost the same way that Cagney falls eight years later in The Roaring Twenties. So, you know, they're doing things that are later on they're copying things out of Little Caesar. Little Caesar, interestingly, you know, we look at it now and to us it's not shocking at all, but they did, again, this is a pre-code film made before the production code and once the production code came into effect, Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, several other gangster type movies were completely pulled out of release. You could not see that movie because this is all before, you know, home video, right? The only way to see a movie is in a movie theater. It wasn't in a movie theater for the next 20 years.
SVW: And we've been having conversations about the pre-code films, watching some of them. And what would be the elements that would be forbidden in this film? I was trying to search for them. Other than the violence, you know, the way that the violence is portrayed, I couldn't really find anything that prurient, you know, in the film.
DH: Right. I mean, we look at it now and say, what could they have objected to? But just things like his girlfriend, right? Which is, there's a kind of a...fairly touching scene in there where he, I don't know, there's just different things that are that are that are bad should we talk about the second film?
SVW: Well what about some of the the supporting performances we've got Georgie Stone as Rico's right-hand man in the gang stone went on to play Earl Williams in the front page and he was in Five Star Final which we talked about in our last episode.
DH: And, yeah, he's the most interesting one of them his buddy Joe is played by Douglas Fairbanks junior who's always okay. And Glenda Farrell is Joe's girlfriend and she's okay. These aren't my favorite actors. But this Georgie Stone was an interesting guy. Yeah, he plays Earl Williams in the front page. So that's, and went on to, he's just one of those character actors. You might know him if you saw him.
SVW: Yeah, so the other film is also starring Edward G. Robinson, The Little Giant, 1933.
DH: Well, this is fun because, you know, Edward G. Robinson went on to play other gangster films. He played a lot of serious roles. He's in a lot of different kinds of movies. But now and then he did a comedy and he was great at comedy. And this is a terrific, well-written comedy that really shows off that side of Edward G. Robinson. And it's a very good example of pre-code comedy. And what's fun about it, The Little Giant, that it refers, “little” is in the title, just like Little Caesar. He's basically playing a parody of himself as the Rico character from Little Caesar.
SVW: Although at the very beginning of the film, you realize he's the complete opposite of Rico in the sense that he's at the top of the mountain in terms of being a crime boss. But he's going to turn his back on it. He's going to go straight. He just wants to live the good life.
DH: Yeah, this guy's good hearted unlike Rico. You don't see the ruthlessness in him at all.So they're playing it for laughs because presumably he's just like Rico. He's a guy who shot his way to the top and took over the bootlegging trade in the big city.
SVW: And we do see him exert his muscle at some point in the film where he brings in the gang.the end, But it's done for comedic effect as opposed to for violent drama.
DH: Right, although some of the things they're doing are actually incredibly violent. So, the plot of this one, like you said, he plays a guy who gives it all up. He plays Bugs Ahern, who's a big city gang boss during Prohibition. And they start off the movie with Franklin Roosevelt gets elected. And one of the things Roosevelt had said he was going to do was end Prohibition because it wasn't working to prohibit alcohol and also all the crime that got associated with it. This guy Bugs, just on the spot, as soon as he hears this, he said, that's it, we're done. I'm breaking up the gang.I'm quitting the business.He opens up a safe in his office and starts handing out big money to all his gang members, which is the first evidence to show what a, quote, “nice guy” he is. And just decides to leave his whole old life behind. move out to California and live with other rich people, because he makes sure we understand.He's given away a lot of money, but he's still really rich. And he thinks that these other rich people going and living with them will basically, he says, I'm going to go mingle with the upper classes. I'm going to be a gentleman. And he thinks it's going to improve him because he thinks they're good people.
SVW: And of course, this is an example where this is totally against the whole mindset of the mob and of gangsters. If one source of income is evaporating, they just turn to some other sociopathic, psychopathic, criminal way of making money.They don't give up their bad ways.But of course, this is comedy.
DH: I mean, the real story, of course, this movie was made in 1933, so I guess at that time, they still didn't know what was going to happen.But we've been talking about gangster movies into the present day right we see how the mob got into the drug trade and all kinds of other stuff when illegal alcohol went away he just says goodbye to everyone, even his girlfriend he's got this girlfriend is sort of a touching scene right it's not is not as funny but he writes or a check for $25,000 which in 1933 that's like half a million dollars I mean just gives you this check and she's like I can't take this is like I come on “ya yearned it” you know. “You've been great.”And because he is leaving everything behind that even includes his love life. He just takes one friend with him. So, and then what happens is they go out there, there's humorous stuff. They think they've got to like wear tuxedos and watch polo matches. His friend who he takes with him, they looks at the polo match and he's like, “okay, so why?”It's like, polo? I don't think of polo as an American thing at all, I guess maybe rich people in the 30s still did it.
SVW: And then he meets a different type of crime family.
DH: Yes, so he meets, he falls under the sway of this family, the Cass family, who he thinks are very sophisticated and good people, aristocrats, and he falls in love with the daughter, Peggy, but in fact, they're actual total scammers. And at first Peggy's just laughing at him like, he's kind of a rube stupid. He moved here from the from the big city and he doesn't he's unsophisticated. But then when they find out he's who he really is, they find out he's this gangster…
SVW: Well, no, they don't they don't find out he's a gangster. First, they think he's actually he's a wealthy guy and they're going to scam him and he's new blood. He's all well. And that's why they and then she, you know, she like throws herself at him or is receptive of his good graces and they're gonna, and they do, they scam him. They basically scam the mob boss for a while until they find out that he is Bugs Ahern and when they find out that he's Bugs Ahern, they quickly make plans to leave town, because they realize this guy could kill them.
DH: Right, but they've already scammed him out of a huge amount of his money. She's gotten engaged to him. But he gets tipped off by Mary Astor the lovely Mary Astor who goes on after this movie to a great career in cinema right…in the Maltese Falcon and anyway Mary Astor is the is the good character
SVW: Who is renting who's renting her house to Edward G Robinson's character to Bugs.And he's in she's pretending to be a rental agent and what she doesn't tell him is that her father had lost money and that she's renting that she's using the rent to pay off back taxes so she can keep the house.
DH: Right and you can see that they're actually falling in love too but she tips him off and then off it goes from there with the with him bring out his gang and all that
SVW: It's a really well-written comedy and it in it and seeing it in contrast to little see the Caesar really shows you what a great actor Edward Robinson was
DH: yeahhe had the ability to be, I he can be really scary and then he can be really funny. So yeah, a good pair to watch, you know, see the very first great gangster film, Little Caesar, and then follow it up with a hilarious parody of the same movie, The Little Giant.
SVW: All right, well thanks for joining us.
DH: Thanks, Scott.
