CATCH A CLASSIC
Little Caesar & The Public Enemy
MOVIES!, Beginning at 7 p.m.
Enjoy a double feature of two classic films released within a few months of each other in early 1931 that helped set the template for what audiences going forward would expect from a gangster film and etched various gangster-movie archetypes into the public’s imagination. They also solidified their little-known-at-the-time leads as Hollywood legends (who, despite acting in many other varied kinds of roles, remain forever linked, or even typecast, as these tough-guy criminal characters). First up is the Oscar-nominated Little Caesar, starring Edward G. Robinson and released in January 1931. The 37-year-old Robinson, not gifted with matinee-idol looks, powerfully introduced himself here as a first-class star of the silver screen with his mesmerizing performance as pugnacious Caesar Enrico “Rico” Bandello, a hoodlum with a Chicago-sized chip on his shoulder, few attachments, fewer friends and no sense of underworld diplomacy as he rises to the upper echelons of organized crime. With Little Caesar, moviegoers would begin to hail similar hard-hitting social-consciousness dramas that would become a Depression-era mainstay of Warner Bros., including tonight’s next film: the Oscar-nominated
The Public Enemy (pictured), released by the studio in April 1931. Just as Little Caesar established Robinson as a star and forever linked him with his title character, The
Public Enemy did the same for James Cagney thanks to his explosive breakthrough performance here as streetwise tough guy Tom Powers, who tries to rise in the ranks of organized crime. Set near the beginning of Prohibition — and produced while it was still in effect — the film is a virtual time capsule of that era, bristling with 1920s style, dialogue and desperation.