The Gangster Film

Throughout its development, the gangster film genre provided an index of the social, political and cultural values of the times. As a popular form, gangster films reflected the ideas and concerns, which held the attention of the general public. As the genre developed, the moral stance, which these films presented kept pace with the changing attitudes in vogue at the time. Perhaps the most important gangster film to be made was Little Caesar, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and released in 1930. This picture clearly defined the genre of the gangster film as it is thought of today. However, it is important to note that "the roots of the gangster film go back to the movies' infancy" (Everson, 1964, p. 68). As early as 1912, D.W. Griffith's onereeler Musketeers of Pig Alley already featured "such soontobe standard ingredients as the innocent hero and heroine unwittingly embroiled between rival gangster factions" (Everson, p. 68).

During the mid1920's the gangster film began to attain its status as a movie genre. O

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acter. This character was closely based on A1 Capone, the most famous gangster of the Prohibition period and a figure strongly imprinted in the hearts and minds of the American moviegoers. Rico mirrors Capone in a number of ways: "ethnically, in general appearance and in the extent to which he relishes the rewards of his position" (Cameron, p. 89-90). In addition, the character contains many of the mythic elements of Julius Caesar as well, although they are twisted into a rather perverse representation of this type of character. It has been stated that "Rico's rise to power is an ironic parallel to the rise of a truly historic figure, an emperor, in more 'classical' works of literature" (Kaminsky, p. 15). Nevertheless, it is the Capone analogy, which gave Little Caesar its immense popularity and added to the film's legendary status as well. It has been stated that the similarities between Capone and the character of Rico may have "been the trick that turned Little Caesar into a landmark in film history; for Capone had in the previous two or three years established himself in the public eye as the gangster, a position from which downfall and death have not dislodged him" (Cameron, p. 90). Thus, the figure of A1 Capone became some
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Approximate Word count = 2749
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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