The Last Gangster (1937) User Reviews

Great Gem of a Classic Film

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 15 January 2008]

This 1937 film gave me a big surprise with the great acting of Edward G. Robinson, (Joe Krozac) who plays the role as a big time gangster who is a hard cold killer and will not let anyone get in his way in order to get just what he wants. However, Joe Krozac gets himself in trouble just like Al Capone with falling behind in his income tax and is sent to Alcatraz prison for ten years on the "Rock". Joe Krozac is married to a woman named Talya Krozac, (Rose Stradner) who is a foreign lady who does not understand English very well, but she loves Joe and gives him a baby boy just as Joe goes into Alcatraz. A man named Paul North, Sr., (James Stewart) who is a newspaper reporter who becomes involved with Talya while Joe Krozac is in prison and they both get married and raise Joe Krozac's young son. This story has many twists and turns and it has many surprises which you will never be able to figure out unless you view this film. Enjoy.

Mother of mercy! Is this the end of Joe Krozac?

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 22 December 2013]

Criminal kingpin Joe Krozac (Edward G. Robinson) returns from Europe with a new bride. Before long she's pregnant. But no sooner does she find out than Joe is arrested for income tax evasion. Before their son is born, Joe goes to prison. While he's in stir, his wife falls in love with a reporter (Jimmy Stewart) and divorces Joe. When Joe gets out, he plans to get his son back. But his old gang have plans of their own for Joe.

Robinson is the main attraction and shines in a role he could do in his sleep. But he's got able support from the likes of Lionel Stander, John Carradine, Edward Brophy, and Sidney Blackmer. Jimmy Stewart is fine but nothing special in an early role. This is a gangster flick with MGM polish. It was great entertainment any time Eddie G. was in a movie like this. Give it a shot and I'm sure you'll love it.

Edward G. Robinson does what he does well.

[michaelRokeefe · 7/10 · 14 January 2008]

Very good crime drama. The gangster with the big ego, small in stature, Joe Krozac(Edward G. Robinson)in spite of all the crime associated with him... goes to prison for ten years on a tax evasion charge. He previously brought back a wife Talya(Rose Stradner)from the old world. As he enters lock up he finds out she is pregnant. In prison Krozac is not the "mister big shot" he has been so accustomed to. For ten tears he is obsessed with meeting his son. While away his wife has divorced him and married a newspaper writer(James Stewart). She has also renamed her son. Krozac is released and his old gang roughs him up and humiliates him trying to find the location of his hidden money. They kidnap his son, since a beating doesn't get the results they want. Joe manages to return the boy home, but bonding is not successful. Very good atmospheric scenes. I most enjoyed the last several minutes of the movie that is shot in the rain. Robinson is always a top notch gangster. Stradner is neither attractive or effective. The young boy Douglas Scott is way too prissy to be interesting. Stewart is yet the big star. Others in the cast: Lionel Stander, John Carradine, Frank Conroy and Alan Baxter.

Unpromising material, but excellent drama

[mgmax · 29 August 2004]

There are a lot of theoretical strikes against this movie-- Robinson playing a Capone lookalike for the zillionth time (right before he switched mainly to playing them for comedy in things like A Slight Case of Murder and Brother Orchid); post-Code MGM instead of pre- Code Warner Bros., which surely means a softer handling of the gangster theme; a no-name director and female co-star, Jimmy Stewart in a thankless good guy role; and, not least, a sort of gangster Sin of Madelon Claudet plot in which Robinson gets to get weepy about not knowing his son while he's in Alcatraz.

And amazingly, it's all handled remarkably freshly-- and toughly, especially from the point where the movie pulls the rug out from under big shot Robinson with a long and realistically bleak prison train sequence. Almost every opportunity to sink into cliche is rethought to find a fresher angle-- instead of the archetypal Warner Bros. tough-guy prison, with the warden acting like a crime boss himself to keep his charges in line, the movie's Alcatraz is a streamlined, impersonal machine for reducing men to numbers, the striking production design as institutionally cold as the manner of the warden. The classic welcome home from the boys (such lovable gangster lugs as Lionel Stander and Edward Brophy) takes a highly unexpected turn-- and keeps turning. Although the scenes where he finally meets his son again are hampered by unrealistic dialogue for the kid, in all this is a strong and thoughtful adult drama which brings emotional realism back to a genre usually riddled with cliches.

Robinson, a little but powerful man

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 24 May 2015]

Edward G. Robinson stars in "The Last Gangster," with a cast that includes Lionel Stander, Rosa Stradler, James Stewart, John Carradine, and Sidney Blackmer.

As older men, Stander and Blackmer would be known for the TV show Hart to Hart (no mistaking that voice) and Rosemary's Baby, respectively.

Robinson is Joe Krozac, a powerful, ruthless mob boss who does not tolerate anyone moving in on his territory.

Joe takes a trip to Europe and returns with a bride, Talya (Rosa Stradner). Talya doesn't speak much English so she really doesn't know how Joe makes his living.

When she becomes pregnant, Joe is crazy with joy, absolutely obsessed with the idea of having a son, whom he dreams of taking over his crime business.

Joe, alas, taking a page out of Al Capone's book, lands in jail for ten years for tax evasion. He is determined to be a model prisoner so he can get out on time. When Talya brings the baby to see him, he only cares about the baby and not her.

When her son is called baby mobster in the newspaper, with a photo, Talya becomes disillusioned and stops bringing the baby. She also divorces Joe. Meanwhile, Joe left a lot of money somewhere and his old friends want it as soon as he's released.

This film went the typical gangster route until the end, and it's really very sweet. Robinson was such a wonderful actor - he could play a wimp or a bully, do drama and comedy - he was a real treasure.

James Stewart had an early role in this film. I thought he looked on the young side for Rosa Stradner, even though he was five years older. Toward the end of the film, I guess to show the passage of time, he has a mustache someone stuck on him, and it looks dreadful.

Rosa Stradner did a good job as an insecure woman from another country who marries the wrong man. She was married to Joseph Mankiewicz, during which time, she didn't work in the early years while he was out having affairs with Judy Garland and Linda Darnell.

But they stayed married, and she did a film, The Keys of the Kingdom, in which she was marvelous. At the age of 45, an alcoholic by now, she committed suicide. Very sad.

Supposedly the line from the Mankiewicz screenplay of All About Eve - "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night" was inspired by Rosa.

You won't have to fasten your seatbelts for this, but thanks to Robinson, it's good.

An entertaining gangster film with a "twist."

[RCorder91 · 6/10 · 19 July 2006]

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.

A weird hybrid

[marcslope · 6/10 · 7 November 2017]

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!

Excellent tale, but no major surprises

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 20 July 2006]

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.

Classic Eddie G. gangster drama

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 29 December 2021]

Anyone who's a die-hard Edward G. Robinson fan will probably already have seen The Last Gangster, a drama that tugs on your heart. Eddie G plays the titular character, a mob boss kingpin who gets sent to jail for scrimping on his income tax. His frustration is understandable, since he's gotten away with everything else and gets tripped up by a minor detail. Plus, his lovely wife, Rose Stradner, has just given birth to a little boy. Rose, an immigrant without a good command on the English language, is lost without her husband. She also doesn't have an income anymore and has to struggle as a new and single mother.

James Stewart plays a young newspaper reporter. He learns of Rose's plight and writes some articles sympathizing with her situation. As he gets to know her, he can't help himself from trying to help her and the little baby. As time passes, they start to fall in love. Obviously, the good guy vs. Bad guy element is pretty strong in this film. Eddie G is a gangster who abandoned his family, and Jimmy is an upstanding reporter who believes in doing the right thing. But you just can't help loving Eddie G and feeling terribly sorry for him - or at least I can't. When he pouts and starts to cry, it just tears me up!

Robinson explodes out of the screen!

[David-240 · 9/10 · 30 August 1999]

This is one of Edward G. Robinson's best performances. He played the gangster with the expired use by date in a number of movies, most notably in "Key Largo", but here he takes the character on a fascinating journey. He starts as a newly-wed little Napoleon, is crushed by his conviction on tax evasion, degraded through ten years of prison, and tortured to near death by his former gang when released. Through all this he is motivated by a great love for a son he has never met - when he does meet him finally his tender side is released.

What a challenging role this is - and how brilliantly Robinson rises to the challenge. At times you'll hate him, but he is always so vividly real that it is impossible not to empathise. Less effective is Rose Stradner as his wife - she too often slips into melodrama. It is perhaps not surprising to learn that she only made one other film. How fabulous Luise Rainer would have been in this role. The rest of the cast is terrific - that great Warner Bros store of thugs and villains - with Lionel Stander and John Carradine particular stand-outs.

And a pre-star James Stewart is the good guy - he even has a Clark Gable moustache in some scenes (the studio never let him grow that again!). The little boy is very icky - seems more English than American and is far too boy scouty to be appealing.

But add to all this strong direction, a good script, and stunning camera-work and you have a minor masterpiece. The torture scene is really very harrowing and the passage of time in prison montage is excellent - and you've got to love the opening credits.

Uneven crime drama...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 19 November 2022]

...from MGM and director Edward Ludwig. Joe Krozac (Edward G. Robinson) is an infamous gangster who has just returned from Europe with a new bride, Talya (Rose Stradner). He soon learns that Talya is pregnant, but his joy is short-lived as the feds arrest him on tax evasion charges, sentencing him to 10 years in Alcatraz. Talya, who was unaware of Joe's criminal life, takes her new-born son and moves to a small town where no one knows who they are, accompanied by her new beau, reporter Paul (James Stewart). Years later, when Joe is finally released, he sets out to renew his criminal organization and reconnect with his son.

With the advent of the production code, the gangster movie genre took a big hit, and while there were a few more classics in the wings, for the most part the best days were behind them. The moralizing that the code demanded is in full effect with this film, which is less of a traditional gangster movie and more of a feature-length castigation of the gangster character. Robinson, forever linked to the type thanks to Little Caesar, spends the majority of the movie being humiliated in one way or another, disrespected, physically assaulted, verbally insulted, and losing everything he holds dear. It's one thing to say that crime doesn't pay, but this movie almost seems to revel in the abuse heaped upon Robinson's Joe Krozac.

Robinson is okay in the lead, over-the-top but in a way that fits with his character. Stradner, who I was unfamiliar with, is good as the naive foreigner wife. I looked up Stradner, and she had a short but interesting life. Stewart doesn't have a lot to do, and he looks very odd with a 30's-style pencil-mustache in his later scenes. Douglas Scott, as Krozac's 10 year old son, is awful. William Wellman worked on the script.

Dad Robinson

[nickenchuggets · 8/10 · 19 April 2024]

While Edward G Robinson is always one of my favorite actors, seeing him appear opposite other legends from the golden age of movies brings a new level of depth and enjoyability to an experience. This film has him playing his usual gangster image he was celebrated so much for, but with a sentimental twist. The movie starts during Prohibition, and a kingpin named Joe Krozac (Robinson) has just got back from Europe with his new wife Talya (Rose Stradner). She doesn't know about her husband's dark past. Some brothers named the Kiles have taken over some of Joe's areas while he was away, so he sends people to murder them. All but one are killed. Shortly after, Talya reveals she is going to have a child and Joe is ecstatic. However, the timing couldn't be any worse. Joe is arrested for tax evasion and sent to arguably the worst prison in the whole nation: Alcatraz Island. He must spend an entire decade behind bars and have his son grow up without him. He is visited in prison by Talya, who shows him his newborn son. For Krozac, there's no worse feeling in the world than being mere inches from his kid but not even being able to touch him. Soon, a reporter named Paul (Jimmy Stewart) takes a picture of Talya carrying Joe Krozac Jr and slips a gun into his hand. When the image later shows up in the papers, Talya is enraged and goes to the newspaper responsible, demanding the editor leave her and her son alone. Her request is refused, but Paul feels so bad about it that he resigns and begins to court Talya. The latter divorces Joe so she can be with Paul. Meanwhile, Joe has a grueling ten years in prison, consisting of beatings from other inmates who tease him about his former status, as well as the brutality of the guards. The next time Talya visits him, he notices the kid is absent, and Talya is very irritated looking. When Joe asks where his kid is, she responds he is not going to see him again as he is a bad influence. While Joe is forced to get to the end of his decade long sentence the hard way, Paul and Talya begin a new life with new names and move somewhere they think Joe won't find them. Eventually, the ten years go by and Paul learns that Joe is to be released from prison. When he is, the only thing on his mind is getting his son back and punishing his traitorous wife. Joe is approached by his old partner in crime, Curly, who wants him to take back control of his syndicate. It turns out to be a trap as Joe is beaten severely by numerous gangsters who want to know where he stashed all the money he had made before he was incarcerated. Joe refuses to talk until the gangsters somehow get ahold of his son, now named Paul Jr. Joe gives the thugs the location of the cash, and they go steal it for themselves. Their success proves to be short lived as the cops ambush them and gun them all down, but because Joe wasn't with them, he survives and takes back his kid. Paul Jr tells his father that he doesn't look anything like his father, and keeps referencing cool and resourceful outdoor things Paul taught him to do, greatly angering Joe. All he wants is for his son to believe he's his real father, but it doesn't happen. Joe decides to lead Paul Jr to his house and at long last comes back into the life of Talya. Sensing that it's hopeless trying to get his son to like him as he was raised by a stranger, Joe leaves the house, dejected. He is confronted by Acey, the lone Kile brother whose siblings were murdered by Joe's affiliates. Acey tells Joe that he is planning to tell the papers who Paul Jr's dad really is so his reputation will be destroyed before he enters adulthood, and Acey will shoot Joe to prevent him from interfering. In a final act of defiance, Joe charges at Acey, gets shot, but manages to turn the gun on his enemy and kill him. Joe then collapses and dies, and a medal his son gave him earlier can be seen in his palm. The backside of it reads "for outstanding achievement." This is a pretty sad but also uplifting movie, as Robinson plays one of his most unique roles I've yet seen from him. Most people are only familiar with his gangster persona, and while this film fits into that category, it's only half his character. He shows how a child means the world to a parent, and even though his son refuses to accept him as his true dad, he cares for him anyway. In the end, it gets him killed, and Paul Jr still most likely thinks he was a creepy old stranger, but Joe dies in peace knowing he saved his son from a potentially fatal situation involving gangs. It was strange seeing Jimmy Stewart in a Robinson film, as typically he's playing someone likeable, but taking Robinson's wife from him is unforgivable. No doubt one of the worst aspects of being in prison is not even being able to prevent your partner from cheating on you. Overall, I think this movie is better than most people will say, since it shows a side of Robinson that wasn't displayed in many of his pictures. It's sadder when you realize Robinson's real life son Manny was a chronic drunk who committed suicide.

"OK, I'll give him a present, and it won't be Brooklyn."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 9 October 2005]

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.

Little Caesar Marries And Goes To The Big House

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 14 January 2008]

MGM imported Edward G. Robinson over from Warner Brothers to star in The Last Gangster. Robinson brought over his Little Caesar character with him for this film.

Imagine if you will Little Caesar going back to the old country and importing a wife. We don't see anything of the courtship of Robinson and his bride Rose Stradner. My guess is that Robinson wants a dutiful stay at home wife to raise his children and the Twenties flappers that he would encounter in the illegal booze business don't fill that bill.

Anyway to say Rose is fresh off the farm is an understatement. She hasn't a clue what Robinson is involved in. And when Robinson goes off to Alcatraz like another well known mobster of the era for income tax evasion, she doesn't know what to make of it.

In the criminal business it's impossible to be nice to those on the way up, so when you're on the way down, it's a given people are going to dump all over you. A concept Robinson can't quite get into his head. But that's what happens.

The loyalest person to him is Stradner, but Robinson in no uncertain terms tells her the only function she has is to raise HIS son to whom she's given birth. After that Stradner takes up with James Stewart who plays a newspaper reporter and she marries him.

After Robinson serves his ten year stretch the story takes a maudlin and rather unrealistic turn. I won't say any more lest you care to see it the next time it's broadcast.

I think Edward G. Robinson knew what kind of inferior material he was in so he simply reverted to type and snarled his way through the film. James Stewart was certainly up and coming at MGM at this time, but he's given very little to do in the film, but be Rose's faithful second husband.

Best performances in the film are that of Lionel Stander as Robinson's number two guy who is not someone you want as a friend and Alan Baxter as the surviving brother of a family that Robinson ordered a hit on.

The sad thing was that at Warner Brothers Robinson was desperately trying to expand his range of parts and when he gets a loan-out assignment it's more of the same.

Superior character study

[jaykay-10 · 6 May 2002]

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.

some big names in this one.

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 6 July 2019]

Such awesome hollywood royalty in this one... Edward Robinson is the gangster Krozac, in 1927. Ja-ja-ja Jimmy Stewart, and Lionel Stander (Max ! the butler from Hart to Hart!) Sydney Blackmer. and Grant Mitchell as the Warden. and...of course, goofy, corny Ed Brophy. Krozac goes off to jail for tax evasion, if nothing else, but leaves behind a pregnant wife. Stander is his sidekick Curly. and Alcatraz as it looked in 1937. that's where they end up. Krozac finds out pretty quickly that his name means nothing in the joint, and he's just one of the guys. Stewart is the newspaper reporter who starts out by writing all the bad that Krozac did, but now he feels remorse. and starts wooing the Mrs. Krozac... stand back! here we go! Krozac's son (Doug Scott) is a bit over the top, but was just a kid, so can be forgiven. Directed by Ed Ludwig. didn't win any oscars, but directed John Wayne in three films. Pretty good. a product of the troubled 1930s.

I know why they let him out, He's Dead!

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 17 August 2006]

**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.

Jimmy sooner

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 15 January 2022]

It's 1927. Murderous gangster Joe Krozac (Edward G. Robinson) returns from Europe with new wife Talya. She is clueless about his crimes. He gets imprisoned for tax evasion. Reporter Paul North (James Stewart) plays a dirty trick on Talya and her baby.

It's early in Stewart's career but just for the sake of the story, his character needs to be inserted earlier than forty minutes. It's a love triangle and one side is missing for the first half of the movie. He could be part of the push to convict Joe. The baby gun issue is a little hard to swallow. I would give that to another reporter in his paper. Jimmy needs to play up his nice guy persona. This is an interesting trio and a fine film.

A Cut Above - The Last Gangster

[arthur_tafero · 6/10 · 31 July 2021]

We begin rooting for the downfall of Edward G Robinson right from the beginning of this film. The little Napolean of crime is a homicidal egomaniac. What is there to admire about that? We root for Jimmy Stewart, even though he starts out as a sleaze. In the inevitable conclusion, everyone is best served by the results. Worth viewing.

My Boy

[jimjamjonny39 · 7/10 · 14 October 2023]

Biggest and best gangster in the movies. Edward G Robinson played his part so convincingly that I believed that he was the character.

Hoodlums from the start of the early 1920s were considered ruthless and were only interested in beating the system and doing exactly what they wanted regardless.

This movie is not just about the callousness of the anti-hero it's about his belief, his love for his son, because the most important thing to him is the son that he sired.

It's a human story of what a man would do to eventually care and protect a son that he could never be part of by destroying the man who WOULD try to destroy him.

Entertaining!

[maurizio-36489 · 8/10 · 17 January 2022]

The poor "user reviews" are predicated on either the weak performance of the leading lady or they presumably don't recognize excellent acting by the leading men. The film unlike most in that era had multiple twits in the storyline and an unpredictable ending. Vintage RobinsonI and Stewart! Loved and highly recommend the movie!!!

Was "Joe Krozac" REALLY . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 4 March 2015]

. . . "THE LAST GANGSTER," or are we missing the bigger picture from 1937, when Mr. Krozac's tragic story first hit the screens? You see, Mr. Krozac (played by Edward G. Robinson) was saddled with his Jean Valjean-like martyrdom by a Real Life extortion ring headquartered in Rome, Italy. This well-heeled Mob was infamous for hindering all Scientific Progress for one millennium after another, fearing that such Rational Ideas would put the Kibosh on its extremely profitable Protection Racket. For instance, Charles Darwin's Law about the Survival of the Fittest insures that a guy such as Joe Krozac would make short work of a milquetoast such as "Paul North" (James Stewart). Yet, the rodent-like Actual thugs took a break from their busy job of transporting Jews to Hitler to stipulate that the Apex Predator Joe succumb to the sniveling weasels such as Paul by the close of THE LAST GANGSTER. Meanwhile, craven joker Paul obviously is stuffing the stolen Joe, Jr., full of Ho-Ho's and Ding Dongs as he gets away with his child abuse and brainwashing scheme. So who's really "THE LAST GANGSTER" here?

you can't return to your old life

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 22 April 2021]

Edward G. Robinson took a brief break from Warner Bros to appear in "The Last Gangster" from MGM. He plays a crime kingpin who gets put in jail for tax evasion, only to learn that his immigrant wife - who knows nothing of his illegal activities - has born him a son. But when he gets out and learns that she's shacked up with another man, things take another turn.

Robinson's character is pretty much the same kind for which he was best known. He's easily the best character in the movie, since the wife (Rose Stradner) isn't given much to do, and her new husband (a young Jimmy Stewart) is too much of a nice guy. Probably the most shocking scenes are after Robinson's character gets out of jail and his fellow gangsters abuse him before presenting him with his son.

Anyway, it's not a great movie but interesting enough.

Quite awful

[cutter-12 · 4/10 · 19 December 2005]

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.

Strong Film

[Michael_Elliott · 13 March 2008]

Last Gangster, The (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Strange but highly entertaining gangster film from MGM has Edward G. Robinson marrying a woman who doesn't know about his deadly pass. Robinson eventually has a son with her but before he meets the child he gets sent to prison for ten years. The mother then finds out about his past and decides to kidnap the kid so that he doesn't turn out like his father. She eventually marries another guy (James Stewart) but soon Robinson is out of jail and looking for revenge. This is certainly a lot tamer than the Warner gang pictures of the time but that's a good thing because there's a lot of heart and emotion in place of the violence. Robinson is very good and incredibly touching in the end and Stewart shines in his role. John Carradine has a very good part as a man picking on Robinson inside prison. The ending is predictable but the film still works very well.