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Little Caesar, The Public enemy or Scarface

posted 16 years ago by micaofboca-1
13 replies | jump to latest

The years 1931 and 1932 saw three very comparable Hollywood gangster movies that generated a new genre of film noir that dealt with Capone-like Capos, unafraid to take on Italian names and point fingers at ethnic minorities and their involvement in a new organized crime in America. Little Caesar (1930-1), The Public enemy (1931), and Scarface (1932). You've got Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, and the great Paul Muni, 2 Jews and an Irishman, playing Capone-like wanna-be dons, all three with virtual perfection. I think Cagney was the toughest, Robinson the most scheming and intimidating, and Muni the meanest and cruelest when you line them up in comparison. As to the most credible performance and the best screenplay, it's hard to find favorites when all three deliver the goods to perfection. You could watch all 3 in a row and find a continuity yet a difference that boggles the imagination. 3 great masterpieces, all delivered by different sources, yet remarkably very similar and ultimately satisfying. I can't put one above another so I rate them an all-out tie. Paul Muni was the bugsiest though (insane), without a thread of decency.

[–] trf100 16 years ago

I agree. All three films are great.

However, I would put Little Caesar as the weakest film of the three and Scarface as the best.

[–] mercury4 16 years ago

Scarface is the best. Scarface is even better than the remake for me. I agree 100% with how you rate them. Public Enemy comes in second and like you said, Little Caesar is the weakest of the three.

[–] AhhhhhhhhLanda 16 years ago

agreed, Scarface is the best with Little Ceasar as the weakest but all three are really awesome. I love the old gangster films.

[–] SeanJoyce 16 years ago

The years 1931 and 1932 saw three very comparable Hollywood gangster movies that generated a new genre of film noir

These aren't films noir, and, depending on the sources, noir didn't start becoming an American film genre until 1941, with John Huston's The Maltese Falcon. Learn what noir is, please...black-and-white films with fatalistic anti-heroes don't qualify.

unafraid to take on Italian names

Not all of these characters are Italian.

My ranking:

1) Scarface

2) Little Caesar

3) The Public Enemy

"...if that was off, I'd be whoopin' your ass up and down this street." ~ an irate Tarantino

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] micaofboca-1 15 years ago

To SeanJoyce, Where do you read that these three films are films noir? When it's stated that these films GENERATED a new genre it's IMPLICIT that they are NOT of that category, but rather GAVE RISE, or planted the seeds for a new genre. Also, it was NOT stated, nor implied that ALL three films concerned Italian gangsters, but merely that they shared a new way of treating the motif, and were more liberal in their openness regarding the ethnicity behind gangsters.
Your pedantic criticism is juvenile, like a wiseacring student who takes isssue with anything he can grab hold of in order to argue merely for argument's sake. Reading into your past posts you demonstrate the same immaturity and lack of comprehensive skills, but that's not a matter of contention here. If you posit a stance on an issue you should first consider the import of your point of view as well as delivering the most courteous manner of taking issue with strangers in order that you may be taken seriously as well as instilling a pleasant forum rather than merely the recalcitrance of a belligerent and quarrelsome child. All that you achieve is that of creating a poor dialogue and promoting a pugnacious atmosphere that poisons intelligent debate. I fully expect a rude and contentious response from you since it would be naive to predict any change of attitude in one as disputatious as you. What I expect is for you to criticize my use of language as being coldly authoritative rather than merely the most opportune application of language as a tool for maximum discernment. In this, I would love to be proved wrong but that would be sadly gullible.

[–] michael-hilton 15 years ago

The vein of the vernacular you adopt is somewhat grandiloquent.

[–] micaofboca-1 15 years ago

Heh heh. You've got me there, Mike. It would be even funnier if you substituted grandiloquent for a word with a few v's in it. But grandiloquent was a cool choice. I've never even run into that word before. Nice retort.

[–] Noir-It-All 15 years ago

Each of these films shows a different type of twisted character. Take your pick!

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

[–] SeanJoyce 15 years ago

Did your mom attend Woodstock?

"...if that was off, I'd be whoopin' your ass up and down this street." ~ an irate Tarantino

[–] micaofboca-1 15 years ago

Sean Joyce (Boy (Sean) / Girl (Joyce) , Can't make up up your mind which one you are? Did you mother remember to #%#%#^^ after I %#%#%#^^*her?

[–] SeanJoyce 15 years ago

"I could never even consider interacting with somebody who doesn't know what film noir means."

It's been a couple months now; have you sufficiently grasped it in the meantime? Could help your chances. Have you cut down on the medication? Finally said no to drugs? Couldn't hurt either.

"...if that was off, I'd be whoopin' your ass up and down this street." ~ an irate Tarantino

[–] kag2-1 15 years ago

I'd go with either Scarface or Public Enemy. Paul Muni was clearly more deranged than Jimmy Cagney, but both created very memorable hood characters.