Made at MGM but starring a Warner Brothers icon, and this strange gangster pic has ample ingredients reeking of both studios. Edward G. Robinson, clanking on all cylinders, is a Capone-like capo who gets rich during Prohibition, is sent up the river for a decade, and becomes obsessed with the little boy his wife (Rose Stradner, unknown to me and quite interesting) bore. She's an immigrant and utterly, somewhat implausibly unaware of her husband's dirty business, but she gets educated by a newspaperman (James Stewart, not very compelling here, except for an uncharacteristic Cesar Romero mustache) who falls in love with and eventually marries her. The Warners influence is evident not just in Robinson's snarling and grimacing but in the stepped-up violence, quicker-than-usual editing, and hilariously overblown musical score, by Edward Ward. But the ideal home life of Stewart, Stradner, and their adorable little boy, complete with suburban trimmings and Louise Beavers doing maid things, are utterly MGM. There's some excitement, and a good supporting cast, notably Lionel Stander as Robinson's henchman, but it's all kind of predictable. And when you want it to settle down, another Edward Ward blast assaults the senses. But what's really interesting, and still timely, is how Robinson's character, Joe Krozac, is self-centered, not as smart as he thinks he is, used to getting his own way, outraged when he doesn't... he's Donald Trump!

**SPOILERS** Coming home to America from a trip to the "old country" with and old fashion ask no questions young wife big time hood Joe Krozak, Edward G. Robinson, is back in business as he puts out a contract on the Kile Boys who've been muscling in on his Brooklyn rackets. Taking out three of the four Kile brothers in a hail of bullets Krozac will later in the movie pay dearly for not finishing off Acey Kile, Alan Baxter. Who'll be hounding him all throughout the film until he finally meets up with Krozac who he catches in a weak moment with his guard down.With the State D.A not being able to indite the cunning Krozak on anything substantial the Feds then take a crack on him slapping Kozack with an air-tight tax evasion rap. That lands him in the "Big A" the Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island. While all this is going on Krozac's wife Talya, Rose Stradner, gave birth to Joe Jr the apple in Krozack's eye. Krozack hope's his boy will grow up to be as big a hoodlum, if not bigger, as he is and eventually take over his coast-to-coast crime syndicate and empire.Two things happen that opens the very naive Talya's eyes about her husband and has her then leave him for another man former San Francisco sleazy tabloid reporter Paul North,James Stewart. When going to see Krozack in prison Talya is hurt over him slobbering over Joe Jr so much that he doesn't notice that she's even there. Later Talya gets very hurt when North,in order to get the "Big Story", slipped a toy gun on little Joe as his mom was holding him and had it photographed by his newspaper. Talya going to the tabloid's office to complain about the treatment she and Joe Jr got from it's reporters is shocked to find out that her sweet and loving husband Joe Sr is the biggest and baddest gangster in America. Paul seeing how hurt and destroyed Talya is over what he did to her makes it up by quiting his job on the tabloid in protest and later marring Talya and adopting young Joe, renaming him Paul North Jr, as his step-son.It's now ten years later and Joe Krozac is up for release and thinking that he'll slip back in to action as boss of his crime syndicate. Instead he has a big surprise coming in the form of his #1 and right-hand man Curly, Lionel Stander. Curly has been making big plans of how the syndicate is to do business over these last ten years and it's his boss Joe Krozac who doesn't figure in any of them.Better then you would expect 1930's gangster flick with Joe Krozac finding out the hard way who his friends really are. In the end Krozac sees what a failure he would have been to his son Joe Jr, or Paul North Jr, if he weren't put behind bars and had him follow in his foot steps. Resentful at first to both Talya and Paul North for taking his young son away from him Krozac learns how they made Joe Jr, Douglas Scott, into an upstanding and law abiding young man with a bright future to look forward to. This compared to what he would have done by leading Little Joe into a life of crime and violence. With him ending up, like Joe Krozac, either behind bars or six feet under not by dying in bed but from the result of a police shoot-out or mob hit.Instead of a welcoming committee from his gang members Krozac finds himself kidnapped and worked over by Curly & Co. in order to find out where he stashed millions of dollars of mob money just before he was sent up the river. Krozac being forced to talk when Joe, or Paul, Jr was kidnapped and threatened with death by the now Curly Gang who were later gunned down in a shoot-out with the cops. Thrown out in the cold, together with Joe Jr to find his way back home it was Krozac's stay with both his son and his former wife Talya and her new husband Paul North that made him finally see the light. But not in time to turn his criminal life around when his past, in the from of crippled and vengeful hoodlum Acey Kile, caught up with him one rainy night in a dark and lonely alley.

Starts out OK, obviously patterned on Capone's downfall resulting in him being shipped off to Alcatraz. And for about 10 minutes once Robinson gets there this promised to be a gripping gangster drama. But does it all slide downhill quick after that, turning into a bowl of sentimental slop about his redemption over the love of his son who is born while he's off to the bighouse.Robinson does a stalwart enough tough guy turn here, but he's just doing what he did in his sleep back then, so the film cannot be recommended on his performance alone. It's a bad film. Very hackneyed script that fails its promise. James Stewart fans won't consider this his finest hour either. He's stuck in a contrived part as Robinson's ex wife's new hubby. The scene where he first meets her has to be seen to be believed. Then there's that Clark Gable moustache he's forced to wear after the story jumps ahead 10 years. His embarrassment shows.Unless you're on a mission to see everything Edward G. or Jimmy Stewart ever appeared in, this one's really only good for a laugh.

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.