Iconic means pertaining to images. There's not a lot of plot to this movie, but the imagery blows you away; and stays with you forever. The rise and fall of Rico is a very simple story. He gets to the top by stopping at nothing. His readiness to shoot to kill, almost for the fun of it, scares half the gangsters into submission, and inspires the devotion of the other half. That's the mechanics of his rise. The role of the mysterious Mr Big in the ultra-luxurious pad at the top of the heap is unexplained. Nothing is shown of bootlegging (Rico is teetotal --- until his fall: is there a message there?) or prostitution. There's a cheap early hold-up, followed by an extremely unsubtle cash raid on a night-joint. The protection racket means that Rico's predecessor can spend most of his time playing solitaire. He's too fat, dumb and lazy to keep his seat. Rico appears to have no interest at all in women, but he is vain; he seeks fame and publicity, and has a fatal weakness for his good-looking former gunsel, Douglas Fairbanks Junior, a "sissy" dancer under the thumb of his female partner. It's the explosive performance of Robinson that carries this picture, but also the vivid imagery of the trappings of gangsterhood: the ugly mugs, the hand-irons, the swell banqueting, the comically illiterate speechifying, and the even sweller gangster funeral procession, the sub-human dialogue, the long, low automobiles that scoot round street corners, the rat-ta-tat of the tommy guns drilling holes in china-shop windows and through hoardings. The cigar-chomping. The lean, sardonic cop. The first talkie of its style, and still one of the best.

Little Caesar, made in 1931, was released only a few months before The Public Enemy with James Cagney, and together they set the standard that all future crime films would be judged. Edward G Robinson takes the acting honours by miles with a mesmerising performance as Rico.

The film is is clearly influenced by the life of Al Capone, and Chicago in general in the 1920's. For 1931, only a year or so into talkies the script is remarkably good. Flaherty, who is the Cop who wants to put the cuffs on Rico has some great dry witty and sarcastic lines. Rico has many classic lines including "You can dish it out but you're getting so you just can't take it anymore!" and his final words "Mother of mercy.. is this the end of Rico?".

Watch carefully and you will spot scenes by the director Mervyn LeRoy that influenced Martin Scorcese amongst others. Well worth getting and if there was a better crime film made in the early 30's I haven't seen it.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The father of Gangster movies, Little Caesar is an excellent "talkie" that launched Edward G. Robinson as a bonafide movie star. Where Rico's downfall was his inablility to kill a good friend, the 1932 Scarface corrected the problem by having Tony have the guts to off his best bud. But Ego gets them every time. Good script, great conflict and just a stellar performance by Robinson. Rico impersonations continue to this day and is a fine tribute to Robinson's performance. Highly Recommended.

The best thing about this film is the performance of Edward G. Robinson as Little Caesar. It is a powerful performance.

Along with the original "Scarface," released by Howard Hughes one year later, LeRoy's "Little Caesar" summoned up the real-life exploits of Al Capone, who in the prior decade had virtually controlled Chicago through fear, violence, and huge illicit profits from bootlegging and vice operations. Actor Robinson, a refined soul in real life who'd considered becoming a rabbi, actually resembles Capone, but projects a menace all his own. This makes "Little Caesar"--a landmark gangster film that made Robinson a star--still bone-chilling 75 years after its release.