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sabotai · 05-25-2018, 05:54 PM

Scarface (1932)

Directed By: Howard Hawks
Written By: Ben Hecht, Seton I. Miller, John lee Mahin, W.R. Burnett
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Osgood Perkins, Karen Morley
Length: 95 min.
Genre: Crime Drama / Gangster
Based On: 1929 Novel "Scarface" by Armitage Trail

This movie committed a terrible storytelling sin, but I'll get to that.

It's the 1920s, Chicago. The movie starts off with Tony Camonte (Paul Muni) assassinating "Big" Louis Costillo. He whistles a tune before he does it, a la the killer from M. This gives his boss, Johnny Lovo (Osgood Perkins) control of the Chicago South Side with Tony as one of his top lieutenants.

The completely loose cannon Tony eventually starts shooting up places controlled by the Irish gangs. Johnny explicitly told him not to, but Tony does it anyway. This makes Tony, and Johnny's entire gang, a target for the Irish gangs run by O'Hara.

While this is going on, Tony also has his eyes set on Poppy (Karen Morley), Johnny's girlfriend, and makes several attempts to win her over. At one point, the two are openly flirting with each other in front of Johnny at a club.

Tony sends his best friend, Guino Rinaldo, to assassinate O'Hara, setting off an all out gang war. The Irish hit back with a drive by using Thompson sub-machine guns. Tony laughs as they fire. He can't believe they made a machine gun you can hold in your hands. They manage to get one and return to base with it. The movie has several scenes in a row that are nothing but violent gunfights and killings. They even recreate the Saint Valentine's Massacre during this sequence.

Johnny is not pleased at all with what is going on, and believes Tony is trying to take over his business. He arranges for Tony to be hit. Tony survives, makes it to Johnny's place with his friend Guino. As Johnny whistles his tune, Guino kills Johnny.

Johnny flees the city until things cool down. In that time, Guino gets into a relationship with Tony's sister Cesca (Ann Dvorack). As soon as Tony returns and sees this, he guns down Guino. The police are called and move to arrest Tony. In his apartment, Cesca comes to kill Tony but can't do it. She loses her mind and fights the police along with Tony. She gets shot, she dies. Tony acts like he's going to give himself up, but makes a run for it, and is gunned down as he flees his apartment building.

So what was the sin? The movie preached its theme, and you can mostly thank the censors for that. It starts off with a few title cards saying "Gang violence is out of control, we must demand the government do something". In the middle of the movie, some nameless character gives a monologue to several other nameless characters about what must be done to stop gang violence.

In just about every gangster type movie I've seen, whether it's The Public Enemy from 1931 to Goodfellas and Menace 2 Society in the 90s, they let the story speak to the horrors that gangs bring on communities. They don't need to explicitly state "hey guys...this is bad, k?". Theme should come through a story. It doesn't need to be explicitly starting on a billboard that you display to the audience in the middle of the movie.

After reading about many of the changes the censors were demanding, it's good that Howard Hughes who produced the movie told Hawkes to ignore them. However, some of the things the censors insisted on made it in, and it detracted from a good gangster movie that already did a damn good job of showing how awful and detrimental to your life the gang lifestyle was. This is something I'll never understand. I simply can't understand how anyone can watch Menace 2 Society, Scarface, Goodfellas, The Wire, The Shield, The Public Enemy.....and think that they glorify gangs. They do the exact opposite!

Okay, with that out of the way, I really did like the movie ignoring all of that bullshit, but it could have been a lot better.

I did think the acting was really good. It starting to feel like, after a few years of sound becoming the norm in America, that actors and directors are adjusting to the new normal in movie making. Actors emoting with their bodies in silent pictures works great...not so much with sound, and thankfully the movie industry learned that quickly.

Overall, good gangster movie. Could have been better, especially without all of the overt moralizing.

My Rating: 7/10
IMDB User Rating: 7.8/10 (21k votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% of Critics (36-0), 86% of Audience (3.9 / 5 ; 25k votes)

05-25-2018, 05:54 PM	#242
sabotai General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Satellite of Love	Scarface (1932) Directed By: Howard Hawks Written By: Ben Hecht, Seton I. Miller, John lee Mahin, W.R. Burnett Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Osgood Perkins, Karen Morley Length: 95 min. Genre: Crime Drama / Gangster Based On: 1929 Novel "Scarface" by Armitage Trail This movie committed a terrible storytelling sin, but I'll get to that. It's the 1920s, Chicago. The movie starts off with Tony Camonte (Paul Muni) assassinating "Big" Louis Costillo. He whistles a tune before he does it, a la the killer from M. This gives his boss, Johnny Lovo (Osgood Perkins) control of the Chicago South Side with Tony as one of his top lieutenants. The completely loose cannon Tony eventually starts shooting up places controlled by the Irish gangs. Johnny explicitly told him not to, but Tony does it anyway. This makes Tony, and Johnny's entire gang, a target for the Irish gangs run by O'Hara. While this is going on, Tony also has his eyes set on Poppy (Karen Morley), Johnny's girlfriend, and makes several attempts to win her over. At one point, the two are openly flirting with each other in front of Johnny at a club. Tony sends his best friend, Guino Rinaldo, to assassinate O'Hara, setting off an all out gang war. The Irish hit back with a drive by using Thompson sub-machine guns. Tony laughs as they fire. He can't believe they made a machine gun you can hold in your hands. They manage to get one and return to base with it. The movie has several scenes in a row that are nothing but violent gunfights and killings. They even recreate the Saint Valentine's Massacre during this sequence. Johnny is not pleased at all with what is going on, and believes Tony is trying to take over his business. He arranges for Tony to be hit. Tony survives, makes it to Johnny's place with his friend Guino. As Johnny whistles his tune, Guino kills Johnny. Johnny flees the city until things cool down. In that time, Guino gets into a relationship with Tony's sister Cesca (Ann Dvorack). As soon as Tony returns and sees this, he guns down Guino. The police are called and move to arrest Tony. In his apartment, Cesca comes to kill Tony but can't do it. She loses her mind and fights the police along with Tony. She gets shot, she dies. Tony acts like he's going to give himself up, but makes a run for it, and is gunned down as he flees his apartment building. So what was the sin? The movie preached its theme, and you can mostly thank the censors for that. It starts off with a few title cards saying "Gang violence is out of control, we must demand the government do something". In the middle of the movie, some nameless character gives a monologue to several other nameless characters about what must be done to stop gang violence. In just about every gangster type movie I've seen, whether it's The Public Enemy from 1931 to Goodfellas and Menace 2 Society in the 90s, they let the story speak to the horrors that gangs bring on communities. They don't need to explicitly state "hey guys...this is bad, k?". Theme should come through a story. It doesn't need to be explicitly starting on a billboard that you display to the audience in the middle of the movie. After reading about many of the changes the censors were demanding, it's good that Howard Hughes who produced the movie told Hawkes to ignore them. However, some of the things the censors insisted on made it in, and it detracted from a good gangster movie that already did a damn good job of showing how awful and detrimental to your life the gang lifestyle was. This is something I'll never understand. I simply can't understand how anyone can watch Menace 2 Society, Scarface, Goodfellas, The Wire, The Shield, The Public Enemy.....and think that they glorify gangs. They do the exact opposite! Okay, with that out of the way, I really did like the movie ignoring all of that bullshit, but it could have been a lot better. I did think the acting was really good. It starting to feel like, after a few years of sound becoming the norm in America, that actors and directors are adjusting to the new normal in movie making. Actors emoting with their bodies in silent pictures works great...not so much with sound, and thankfully the movie industry learned that quickly. Overall, good gangster movie. Could have been better, especially without all of the overt moralizing. My Rating: 7/10 IMDB User Rating: 7.8/10 (21k votes) Rotten Tomatoes: 100% of Critics (36-0), 86% of Audience (3.9 / 5 ; 25k votes)