The first big-time gangster talkies, Mervyn LeRoy's LITTLE CAESAR is still considered the model for all crime movies, dated though it looks and sounds today. In fact, watch Pacino in the GODFATHER series or in SCARFACE (1983) and you see shades of Edward G. Robinson's mini-monster Rico Massara, alternately seething and raging and prophetically and nicknamed Little Caesar by the gang leader whose power Rico grabs for himself. “Grab” is the operative word in all of LC’s dealings, and he never stops grabbing until a policeman's machine gun puts an end to Rico. The film's violence is tame by today’s standards, but in '30 it must have brought moviegoers out of their seats. (Trivia note: Director LeRoy, whose final film was THE GREEN BERETS in 1967, filmed two versions of Rico's famous final words: "Mother of God, is this the end of Rico?" and "Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?" Although "God" comes directly from the novel, "mercy" was used to avoid offending moviegoing churchgoers.)
LITTLE CAESAR (1930)
Godfather of the Godfather movies
The first big-time gangster talkies, Mervyn LeRoy's LITTLE CAESAR is still considered the model for all crime movies, dated though it looks and sounds today. In fact, watch Pacino in the GODFATHER series or in SCARFACE (1983) and you see shades of Edward G. Robinson's mini-monster Rico Massara, alternately seething and raging and prophetically and nicknamed Little Caesar by the gang leader whose power Rico grabs for himself. “Grab” is the operative word in all of LC’s dealings, and he never stops grabbing until a policeman's machine gun puts an end to Rico. The film's violence is tame by today’s standards, but in '30 it must have brought moviegoers out of their seats. (Trivia note: Director LeRoy, whose final film was THE GREEN BERETS in 1967, filmed two versions of Rico's famous final words: "Mother of God, is this the end of Rico?" and "Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?" Although "God" comes directly from the novel, "mercy" was used to avoid offending moviegoing churchgoers.)
