Watch The Last Gangster For Free

The Worst Film Ever

Don't listen to the negative reviews

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is an excellent gangster film from the 1930s and the only major surprised is that this film was NOT made by Warner Brothers--a studio that held Edward G. Robinson's contract AND made a habit of making LOTS of gangster films. However, in this case, he was loaned out to MGM and it's one of the few gangster films from this glossier and slightly more prestigious studio. Well, the end result is difficult to distinguish from the Warner product--except that the supporting characters differ (Frank McHugh, Alan Jenkins, Humphrey Bogart and Barton MacLane are nowhere to be seen). And, saying that it resembled a Warner film is NOT a criticism--as Warner had perfected this style of film and always entertained.Edward G. is the head of a crime syndicate--much like Al Capone. And, like Capone, he is eventually sent to prison for tax evasion. His foreign-born and raised wife is pregnant and Edward's son is born a short time later. At first, the wife believes all of Robinson's claims that it "was all a setup--I ain't done nuthin' wrong". But, later when she meets reporter Jimmy Stewart, she realizes her hubby is pond scum and decides to leave him and start a brand new life for herself and her baby.Ten years pass and Edward is STILL a blow-hard who plans on leaving prison and picking up with his family as if nothing had occurred. However, they are in hiding and Robinson is in for a few other surprises. The film's final ten minutes or so do an excellent job of tying it all together.

I saw "The Last Gangster" (1937) for the first time last night (7/18/2006) and found it to be a fairly entertaining film. Edward G. Robinson's acting,as per usual in gangster movies of this type, carried the film. It had its weak moments (like Rose Stander's acting) and its unlikely moments(like the final shooting scene), but it remained fairly entertaining just the same. There was one rather strange item about the film. One of the 1930s more identifiable "bad guy" actors (Edward Pawley) appeared only briefly in this film (in the scene where the mob tortures Robinson's character)and didn't have a single line of dialog! I found this rather odd after having seen Edward Pawley play featured roles such as: Public Enemy Number One in "G-Men", the head of a gangster mob in "King Solomon of Broadway", a crazed and rebellious convict in "Each Dawn I Die", a prominent gangster in "Smashing The Rackets" and in "Eyes of the Underworld", Bogart's bad-guy partner in "The Oklahoma Kid, et cetera. Perhaps this lends some additional credence to what some critics have claimed to be poor directing of this movie. Perhaps, also, the fact that there was no love lost between Robinson and Pawley had something to do with it. Interestingly, Pawley went on to replace Robinson as "Steve Wilson" in the long-running and highly popular radio drama series, Big Town, in the 1940s.

With "The Last Gangster", I was expecting more in the tradition of Cagney's "Public Enemy" or his much later "White Heat", or something along the lines of Edward G. Robinson's own early contribution to the gangster genre, 1931's "Little Caesar". The early going seems to be heading in that direction, until Joe Krozac (Robinson) is arrested for income tax evasion. With a young pregnant wife knowing nothing of his criminal past, Joe's appeals run out and he finds himself with a band of less than sympathetic convicts heading for an unknown destination - Alcatraz. There he comes to understand that his status as a Napoleon of the crime world carries no weight at all. Robinson brings a fairly wide range of emotions to his portrayal, particularly in the callous disregard for his wife's situation, giving all the attention to his newborn son during Talya's (Rose Stradner) prison visits.When Krozac's final appeal is denied, the prospect of ten years of prison suddenly carry an intolerable weight, both for Joe and Talya. Talya moves away with her son Joey, changes their names, and winds up marrying a sympathetic newspaper reporter (James Stewart) who earlier wrote an unflattering story with the headline "Public Enemy Jr. Toys With Gun". When we hear young Joey/Paul say "Good night Daddy" to his new father, we know there's no turning back for Krozac's family aspirations.It's when Joe's prison stretch is completed that the movie heads into unrealistic territory. His former gang welcomes him back only long enough to work him over for the money they feel they're owed for ten years of loyalty. When that doesn't work, they kidnap Joe's son, appealing to his fatherly instinct to give in to their demands. So far, so good. But once Joe leads the gang to his stash, they simply let him and the boy go! Had they never heard of REVENGE? In what turns out to be an extended camping trip on their way back to Joey's home, Krozac learns about his son's new life. The confrontation with Talya and Paul North never plays out, and Krozac leaves with his tail between his legs, until confronted by a surviving member of a brother gang that Krozac had rubbed out years ago. Acey Kile proves to be entirely inept as a rubout artist; after pumping two bullets into Krozac, Joe wrestles the gun away from him and shoots him in return! Fatally wounded, the film zeroes in on the fallen Krozac's outstretched hand clutching a memento from his son, a badge for "An Outstanding Achievement".I like Edward G. Robinson, his crime films helped establish a genre for himself and contemporaries Jimmy Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. As mentioned earlier, this movie allows him to show off his range as an actor better than most of the dozen or so movies of his I've seen. But for that classic sneering braggadocio and "What's with you, wise guy?" sarcasm, get your hands on "Key Largo", where his portrayal of mobster Johnny Rocco is a real treat. And for a truly offbeat characterization, try "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse", not one of his better regarded films, but a blast nevertheless.

The movies have always relied on clear-cut heroes and villains to either engage the sympathy or incur the animosity of members of the audience: simplistic, and far removed from real life. Much more thought-provoking are the occasional characters such as the lead in this film, an egotistical, tough-as-nails crime kingpin and killer, who nevertheless emerges convincingly as a man capable of sympathy and single-minded devotion. The scenario is to be commended for making the complexities and seeming contradictions in this character altogether believable. Of course it is the performer who must make this come alive on the screen, and here Edward G. Robinson succeeds brilliantly. In a gallery of great performances by such a fine actor, this one deserves to be much better known.