The ambitious criminal Rico (Edward G. Robinson) moves from the country to the big city in the east and joins Sam Vettori's (Stanley Fields) gang with his friend Joe Massara (Douglas Fainbanks Jr.). Sooner he becomes the leader of the gangsters and known as Little Caesar, and gets closer to the great mobster Pete Montana (Ralph Ince). In a robbery of a night-club, he kills the Crime Commissioner Alvin McClure (Landers Stevens) and his pal Joe witnesses the murder. When Rico orders Joe to leave his mistress Olga Strassoff (Glenda Farrell), she takes a serious decision.
Nobody can deny the historical importance of "Little Caesar", the movie shot in the American Great Depression that started the genre of movies of gangsters. However, the linear story in the present days is totally predictable and the performance of Edward G. Robinson is actually exaggerated and quite silly. I did not understand why Rico orders Joe to leave Olga, and I have already read some comments that give a homosexual connotation to his act, which sounds very reasonable. But the explanation based on the sexual preference, although explains many attitudes of Rico, is never clear in the story. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Alma no Lodo" ("Soul in the Mud")
Nobody can deny the historical importance of "Little Caesar", the movie shot in the American Great Depression that started the genre of movies of gangsters. However, the linear story in the present days is totally predictable and the performance of Edward G. Robinson is actually exaggerated and quite silly. I did not understand why Rico orders Joe to leave Olga, and I have already read some comments that give a homosexual connotation to his act, which sounds very reasonable. But the explanation based on the sexual preference, although explains many attitudes of Rico, is never clear in the story. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Alma no Lodo" ("Soul in the Mud")