PART OF A LINCOLN FILM SERIES: ANYTHING GOES!
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Join us at the Lincoln Theatre for our film series Anything Goes! Sinful Cinema of the Pre-Code Era.
Before the enactment of the Hays Code in 1934, filmmakers got away with content that they wouldn't be able to return to for several decades. Sex, violence, and a general flouting of social norms abound in these films -- sometimes they seem quaint now, and other times shocking. Come see four of the movies that brought down the hammer on Hollywood and caused the code to become the law of the land!
July 2: Little Caesar
An aspiring small-town criminal, Caesar "Rico" Bandello (Edward G. Robinson) relocates to Chicago to hit the big time, accompanied by his buddy, Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). While Rico makes a name for himself in the underworld, Joe decides to leave the life of crime and ventures into show business, where he meets the lovely dancer Olga (Glenda Farrell). Though Rico and Joe try to honor their friendship, eventually their choices take them down dramatically different paths.
Little Caesar kicked off the craze for gangster films that followed -- in the 1930s and well beyond -- and Robinson's searing performance is one for the ages. It was targeted by censors for its hard-hitting violence and for its perceived "glorification" of the gangster lifestyle -- after the Hays code went into effect, it was withdrawn from public exhibition and was not screened again for almost twenty years.
"Edward G. Robinson's gravelly snarl and sociopathic disdain for human conventions became the template for countless future gangster anti-heroes." —Dan Jardine, Cinemania
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Starring Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell
United States | English | 1931 | Action, Crime | 79 minutes | Passed
Film Prices
Lincoln Theatre Members get $2.00 off on the following prices with discount code:
General: $11.00
Seniors, Students, and Active Military: $10.00
Children 12 and under: $8.50
All prices include a $2.00 Preservation Fee that goes directly into our capital account for the preservation of the Lincoln Theatre and its programs.