Scarface

Scarface is the title of two American gangster films, the first (1932) directed by Howard Hawks, and the second (1983) directed by Brian De Palma. Hawks's Scarface was adapted from a 1929 novel of the same name by Armitage Trail, loosely based on the life of Al Capone, whose nickname was “Scarface.” De Palma's Scarface was a remake of the 1932 film, but instead of Italian American bootleggers operating in Chicago, it features Cuban immigrants to Miami vying for control of the drug trade during the cocaine boom of the 1980s. Both films have been greatly influential in the mobster genre, also drawing criticism for their lavish portrayal of violence and excess, and for the promotion of negative stereotypes about minorities.

The 1932 Prohibition-era film stars Paul Muni as Tony Camonte, an ambitious mobster who kills the South Side's main crime boss, Big Louis Costillo (played by Harry Vejar), acting on the orders of Johnny Lovo (played by Osgood Perkins). Not satisfied with being Lovo's lieutenant, Camonte plans to rise to the top of the illegal beer business in Chicago, taking on the Irish gangs that control the North Side and stealing Lovo's girlfriend, Poppy (played by Karen Morley). Camonte ends up killing Lovo, but by then, his violent methods and the inter-gang warfare he provoked have attracted the police's attention. While holed up in his fortified apartment, Camonte is killed by the cops in a shootout.

Part of the early gangster cycle, Hawks's film was different in that it showed far more violence than other mobster movies. The high number of people killed and the use of Tommy guns in a series of montages are characteristics that set this film apart at the time, drawing attention from the Hays Office, which made repeated demands to rewrite the script. However, violence is just part of the aesthetic of excess that permeates the film, which is also lush with parties, material possessions, and [Page 1880]pleasure enjoyed by the mobsters. In that regard, this Scarface would have an enduring influence on future American crime films.