Scarface (1932)
Composite Score: 84.23
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins, C. Henry Gordon, George Raft, Vince Barnett, Boris Karloff, and Inez Palange
Directors: Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson
Writers: Ben Hecht, Seton I. Miller, John Lee Mahin, and W.R. Burnett
Genres: Action, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
MPAA Rating: PG
Box Office: $1.31 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Scarface (1932) is the first film adaptation of Armitage Trail’s book by the same name, loosely based on the life of Al Capone, chronicling the rise and fall of an Italian American gangster. The film follows Paul Muni’s Tony Camonte as he rises from bodyguard to hitman to public enemy number one within the Chicago crime world. It’s one of the earliest examples of a true gangster film, and it inspired Brian De Palma’s 1983 Al Pacino-starring remake, along with many other tropes used in modern gangster films. The film’s raw depiction of Tony’s crimes and those of his associates along with Muni’s over-the-top performance as the leading man have made it a pillar of the genre, notably ranking 6th on the American Film Institute’s list of Top 10 Gangster Films.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
While Scarface presents itself as a film critiquing the gangster lifestyle and the actions of the gangsters in Chicago and similar cities, its content goes a long way in playing up the celebrity of organized crime participants. Tony’s actions bring him success and fame across the city, earn him support from his fellow mobsters, and put him where he wants to be going into the end of the film. The ire of his mother and sister and his ultimate demise feel a bit rushed and shoehorned to put consequences for his actions on display. The film only works to its purported end to a limited extent because of how well Muni sells Tony’s actions as inevitable and reasoned, even as ruthless as they might be.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
While watching Scarface, I felt like the Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood meme over and over again with all of the many pieces of crime film canon contained in this single film. The rise and fall of a gangster, the betrayal by siblings, Chicago, the letter “x” whenever someone’s about to die, car chases, Italians vs. Irish, if you can think of it as part of a crime film, Scarface (1932) probably has it (minus the drugs, that wasn’t really a big thing yet). It’s a gangster film lover’s encyclopedia or history book or something with the multitudes of tropes it contains (alongside the other early gangster films – Little Caesar and The Public Enemy.
Helping elevate the tropes and establish them as part of the film canon is Paul Muni in the leading role. His Tony Camonte becomes the archetype of every ambitious mafia/mob underling who wants to claw their way to the top no matter the cost. The devolution of his character from principled hitman to unhinged public menace is phenomenal to watch unfold onscreen, and Muni delivers it in a truly enthralling performance. From the charisma of his interactions with Karen Morley’s Poppy to the machinations of his partnership with Osgood Perkins’s Lovo to the insanity of his final moments, Muni makes Tony into a truly formidable character and strangely sympathetic protagonist despite his many flaws.
Paul Muni’s leading performance helps cement the many tropes of gangster films contained in Scarface into the canon of gangster cinema, earning the film a place among the greatest films of all time. It’s a performance so strong that it occasionally overshadows the film’s claimed purpose, but it makes for a fascinating character study, nonetheless. It is currently available to rent on most streaming services for anyone looking to give it a watch.
