I had no idea that Brian De Palma's Scarface is actually a remake of this Howard Hawks film right down to key plot points and the tag line "The World Is Yours." In that regard I had a lot of fun watching this movie and comparing the two versions and just enjoying the classic story. Knowing that De Palma's version is a remake doesn't diminish it at all. On the contrary, it makes me appreciate it more because of how faithfully it follows this story and how he makes it uniquely his own. On the other side of the coin, it makes me respect the hell out of this original version because not only did it inspire De Palma's classic, it holds up remarkably well and is every bit as gangster if not more so than a movie made fifty years later.
People seem to get the misconception that older movies are more tame than newer movies. While it may be true in some cases, there are quite a few notable exceptions. (In the beloved family film The Adventures of Robin Hood, the hero Robin Hood kills at least a dozen people.) This 1932 film is so gangster that it makes DMX look like Drake. This film has so much gunplay that it makes Rambo look like he's shooting water pistols. This film is shockingly violent and mature.
For those of you familiar with the Brian De Palma/ Al Pacino version, this version should seem like a trip down memory lane with some of the details changed here and there. It follows the story of a small timer Tony Camonte as the right hand man of boss Johnny Lovo. Johnny wants to gain control of the south side of Chicago by controlling the booze; those who don't fall in line get a face to face meeting with Tony. Tony of course has his eyes set for bigger and better things expanding operations to the north side of town against the orders of Johnny. Needless to say, Tony gets more and more powerful. Replace 1930's Chicago with 1980's Miami and booze for cocaine and the two film's plots are almost indistinguishable.
Paul Muni is great as Tony. He is a bad bad dude and you can see where Al Pacino drew his inspiration from in portraying of Tony Montana. Muni struts around confidently and is every bit as eccentric. One of the key ingredients to becoming such a fearsome gangster is the ability to live life on the edge without really caring. In a telling scene, a restaurant Tony is eating at is hit with a drive by shooting. Rather than cowering in fear, Tony can't help but appreciate the brand new machine guns his enemies are using and can't wait to get his hands on one, thinking how fun it would be to shoot them. In another scene, his men track down one of his enemies and they need Tony to come along to make the hit. Tony, however, is so enthralled by the play he is watching that he would rather stay there to see which guy the girl chooses. He reluctantly agrees to come along for the hit, but not before making sure one of his men stays behind to watch the rest of the play so he can know what happens. These elements bring a lot of humor to a rather macabre story and add a lot of color to Tony's character. It's also a reminder of how reckless Tony is which may be a cause for his inevitable downfall.
I was actually pretty surprised how funny the movie is, but it is done in such a way that it isn't distracting to the overall tone. It shows that you can laugh during a drama without making it a comedy or cheapening the seriousness of it.
This marks the third Howard Hawks film I've seen (Rio Bravo, The Big Sleep) and I've been impressed with them all in their own way. He has such a wide range of movies under his filmography and was able to do it all. Scarface is my favorite so far but I'm intrigued to check out more of his work. This is a really great film and a historical landmark of the gangster genre and a must see for any fan of the De Palma/Pacino Scarface.
Grade: A
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