right before Tony would kill someone you would usually see an "X" usually made by light coming through somewhere...just wondering if anyone else knew why or saw it
Don't tease me about my hobbies, I don't you about being an a$$hole
Its not an X its a cross. It is a death symbol and if you look closely, you will see it everywhere in the film. Look on the door before George Raft gets killed, look for it at the st Valentine's Day killing. The cross is everywhere in the movie.
shareJust wanted to weigh in on the "x" symbolism.
Since they often couldn't show corpses, didn't newspapers of this era use x's to mark where a corpse had been, much like the proverbial chalkline? I always thought Hawks was nodding his hat to this convention. I dunno, I might be wrong, regardless, this is the finest gangster flick ever made.
Chad
And this trivia was from the REMAKE of Scarface (1983):
The film was given an X rating 3 times (original, 2nd, and 3rd cuts) by the MPAA until director Brian De Palma pulled in a panel of experts, including real narcotics officers, who stated that the film was an accurate portrayal of real life and should be widely seen. This convinced the 20 members of the ratings board to give it an R rating by a vote of 18-2. DePalma then decided to release the original version of the film, since all 3 versions had been given an X rating and he felt the differences were insignificant.
PS Does Al Capone sound similar to Al Pacino?
.....and those seen to be dancing to the sound of NO music, were thought to be mad by those who couldnt hear it.
The most inventive use of the "X" is on the bowling scorecard.
Brilliant. Once you know the symbolism is there, you can't miss it. But that doesn't detract from its effectiveness.
Thanks! I was just re-watching my "Scarface" (1932) DVD today, after coincidentally stumbling across it's IMDb page, which made me want to look for the X symbols in it. In the bowling scene, I couldn't seem to find the X when the gangster was killed. I thought I looked everywhere, but I really didn't think of that small X the man drew on the scorecard. Naively I actually thought they had accidentally forgot to put it the scene, until I saw your post. That actually IS pure genious.
Thanks for enlightening me!
My top-20 movies: http://www.ymdb.com/ulrikone/l37847_ukuk.html
During the credits at the very beginning of the movie, there's already an X mark behing the names.
And the most obvious and that's why some of us don't even think about it : the scar on Tony's cheek. An X that seems to reveal us how Scarface is going to end...
How abut when he kills his boss, I coudn't find the X there?
"Enjoy yourself -- every day above ground is a good day."
the "X" is the little fan that is in the background. You can see it when there is a close up shot of Tony(I think it is over his left shoulder) and then again when he walks out of the room.
shareFound it. thanks
"Enjoy yourself -- every day above ground is a good day."
the X is a gangster symbol of murder. if someone dies you often see especialy in police film them putting a big X across the persons picture its the samething but gangsters using it not police. X is a symbol meaning that the mark has been killed.
share[deleted]
scorcese used the same symbolism in gangs of new york when they killed the preacher in the church
Martin Scorsese payed tribute to this feature in his remake of Infernal Affaris "The Departed".
Everytime a character dies there is an X played in the shot and throughout the scene.
I looked hard in this scene -- played it several times. I think the "X" symbolism is in the shadows on the walls of the nightclub and in the ceiling fan in the lobby where the boss goes to use the telephone.
shareAfter seeing this film several times, you start looking for the "X". The most interesting use I saw was during the nightclub scene. Tony's sister Cesca seems to be the only woman wearing a dress where the straps cross in an "X" across her back. All the other women are wearing dresses that have straight uncrossed straps.
shareThat's very interesting. It reminds me of Natural Born Killers whenever Mickey and Malorie were to murder someone, you could tell by seeing the color green everywhere.
shareOh man, thanks for the Departed link. I never noticed that.
BTW, doesn't Tony have an X scar?! That what makes him by appearance an outsider, the scarface. So the X would be the reason for every murder committed.
Also in Season 6B of the Sopranos, before somebody got killed they would be wearing white shoes. Also eggs represented something bad would happen too, in earlier episodes.
In the Sixth Sense red is also used to represnt something weird going on.
Also in earlier Quentin Tarantino scripts whenever the main character would use the bathroom, something bad would happen, outside.
" DON'T LAUGH!!!! THIS AIN'T REALITY T.V.!!!! " - Frank Costello
The Departed
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As others have pointed out, it's important that the X-shaped symbols throughout the film mirror the scar on Tony's cheek. Not only does this foreshadow his eventual death, but the proliferation of X's also seems to illustrate the way in which his influence is pervading the world around him. The more X's that appear, the more the world is becoming Tony's. And they appear when someone is about to be killed, because his influence is being spread through the use of violence. It's as if his ugliness--the ugliness we can see on him in the form of his scar--is infecting the world around him each time the X shows up in another spot in the movie.
sharethe X also shows how the society itself is scarred, tainted by the ever present threat of death and violence
Cheers.