Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932)

Alright it is 2012. From now on my reviews will be written in English, mainly to improve my writing skills and of course to share my views with readers from all over the world. I will start the year with a classic.

Unfortunately, it looks like 2012 will be a year of some bizarre remakes. Oldboy, Total Recall, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and, believe it or not, Scarface will or are planned to be remade. Especially the last title is a bizarre choice because, and some of you might not realize this, Brian de Palma’s 1983 version was already a remake. The original stems from 1932 and was directed by the iconic Howard Hawks and is mainly a political statement against the crime gang wars in Chicago at the start of the 20^th century.

The story centers around Tony Camonte (Paul Muni). A cocky ‘out-of-control’ lieutenant of crime boss Johnny Lovo. Camonte kills the leading boss of the South Side in order to let Lovo take over. Ambitious as he is Tony wants to take on the North side as well (ruled by some Irish gangs operating under someone called O’Hara) but Lovo warns him not to mess with O’Hara. Ignoring these orders, Camonte soon starts a war with the Irish gangs resulting in some extreme gunfire violence. When Lovo starts to realize that Tony wants to take over and confidently starts to take an interest in Lovo’s girlfriend Poppy he orders a hit on him. Camonte survives and comes after his boss and has him assassinated by his friend Guino Rinaldo, who he will later kill himself for ‘being’ the boyfriend of his sister Cesca. Tony’s excessive violence and out of control behaviour has raised a public outcry and the law forces are getting closer to him resulting in an inevitable climax.

The synopsis above will sound familiar for those who know de Palma’s extended version of the story. Of course, the main parts described are reflected in the 1983 version, but unfortunately the tone of that movie is completely different.

Hawks his version (based on the 1929 novel) has a tenser directing, (much) better acting, and adds a sense of humour, mainly through Camonte’s secretary who can’t write(!) and has a hard time listening properly to most incoming phone calls. Last but not least the style of this movie is beautiful (this is personal....but just look at the scene where Camonte lights Poppy her cigarette and you may get the idea).

In 1932, this movie was considered extremely violent. It contains a lot of excessive gunfire but no blood or gore (obviously) which is abundantly (and in my opinion unnecessarily) present in the later version. So no, de Palma’s remake is in no way a better movie than its original. Why remake a movie which original is good and considered classic? (the last holds for both versions I guess….)

So, instead of remaking this film (which most likely will look like the 1983 version) I suggest a re-release of Hawks his movie and save a lot of effort, money, and in my case, disappointment!

For Hawks his movie:

8/10