Little Caesar. Burnett's first novel is an unprecedented insider's look at Chicago gangsters that establishes the author's reputation as a leading writer in the hard-boiled style. The novel would be made into a 1931 film starring Edward G. Robinson, whose memorable Rico helped define the stock character of the Hollywood gangster.
The Asphalt Jungle. The first volume of the author's City trilogy portrays the "corruption of a whole city in three stages: status quo, imbalance, and anarchy." It follows the effect of a jewel heist on a gang of criminals in an unnamed Midwestern city. It would be followed by Little Men, Big World (1951) and Vanity Row (1952).
Career Highlights: The Asphalt Jungle, Scarface, Little Caesar
First Major Screen Credit: Little Caesar (1930)
Biography
Descended from a long line of Ohio political bosses (his grandfather was mayor of Columbus), William Riley Burnett was educated at that state's Miami Military Institute and at O.S.U. Thanks to family connections, Burnett landed a job as an Ohio state statistician, a post he held from 1920 to 1927. Finally wearying of civil service, he moved to Chicago, hoping to make his fortune as a novelist. His first book was Little Caesar, an "a clef" account of the rise of Chi-Town's Al Capone. Little Caesar was made into a landmark gangster picture by Warner Bros. in 1931. Throughout his Hollywood years, Burnett avoided being "typed" by tackling virtually every literary genre: if his work has any unifying theme, it's the story of the tough little maverick at odds with a big, impersonal Establishment. Similarly, Burnett was himself a Hollywood "outsider," refusing to humble himself before major stars or powerful directors. Perhaps significantly, he never won an Oscar (though he was nominated for Wake Island) or even as Screen Writer's Guild award. Most of his post-Little Caesar novels made it to the screen, often adapted by Burnett himself: Saint Johnson, based on the legend of Wyatt Earp, became Law and Order (1932), while Jailbreak was transformed into The Whole Town's Talking (1935). On the whole, Burnett's literary efforts came to the screen with their original titles intact, including Dr. Socrates, Dark Command, High Sierra, Nobody Lives Forever, and best of all, The Asphalt Jungle. He also occasionally worked on screen originals like Scarface (1931) and Crash Dive (1944). Despite his virulent anti-communism, Burnett got along quite well with most of the Hollywood Left and frequently collaborated with them. His last major film work, another "little guy against the odds" affair, was 1963's The Great Escape. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
William Riley Burnett (November 25, 1899 - April 25, 1982), often credited as W. R. Burnett, was an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for the crime novel, Little Caesar, whose film adaptation is considered the first of the classic American gangster movies.
Burnett was born in Springfield, Ohio. He left his civil service job there to move to Chicago when he was 28, by which time he had written over a hundred short stories and five novels, all unpublished.
In Chicago he found a job as a night clerk in a seedy hotel. Suddenly Burnett found himself associating with a cornucopia of characters straight from the mean streets: prize fighters, hoodlums, hustlers, and hobos. They inspired Little Caesar (novel 1929, film 1931) — its overnight success landed him a job as a Hollywood screenwriter. Little Caesar became a classic movie, produced by First National Pictures (Warner Brothers) and starring the then-unknown Edward G. Robinson. The Al Capone theme was one he returned to in 1932 with Scarface. In addition to this, Burnett had won the 1930 O. Henry Award for his short story "Dressing-Up" published in Harper's Magazine in November 1929.
Burnett kept busy, producing a novel or more a year and turning most into screenplays (some as many as three times). Thematically Burnett was similar to Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain but his contrasting of the corruption and corrosion of the city with the better life his characters yearned for, represented by the paradise of the pastoral, was fresh and original. He portrayed characters who have, for one reason or another, fallen into a life of crime. Once sucked into this life they have been unable to climb out. They typically get one last shot at salvation but the oppressive system closes in and denies redemption.
Burnett's characters exist in world of twilight morality — virtue can come from gangsters and criminals, malice from guardians and protectors. Above all, all of his characters were human — and this could be their undoing. In High Sierra (1941), Humphrey Bogart plays Roy Earle, a hard-bitten criminal who rejects his life of crime to help a crippled girl. In The Asphalt Jungle (1949), the most perfectly masterminded plot falls apart as each character reveals a weakness. In The Beast of the City (1932), the police take the law into their own hands when the criminals walk free on a legal loophole, presaging Dirty Harry by almost 40 years.
In later years with his vision declining he stopped writing and turned to promoting his earlier work. In his career he achieved huge popularity in Europe, where his anti-hero ideology was enthusiastically embraced.
