Little Caesar, the 1931 gangster classic credited by Martin Scorsese as one of the two films that shaped the entire genre, is set to leave HBO Max soon, giving fans only a short window to watch it before it disappears from the platform. Scorsese has said that "everything from this genre properly comes from the inspiration" of Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, both released the same year, and its influence can be traced through his own gangster films, including Goodfellas, Mean Streets and The Irishman.

Little Caesar stars Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and follows a small-time thug's rise to the top of a crime syndicate, released during the Great Depression as part of Hollywood's Pre-Code era. Now 95 years old, it is considered a foundational work of the gangster genre alongside The Public Enemy, which starred James Cagney, though only Little Caesar is affected by this HBO Max departure.