This may be surprising, but it was actually banned in some cities (namely Chicago) and states (including New York) for its supposedly glamourizing crime. Whaddaya think?
"Never rat on your friends, and always, ALWAYS keep your mouth shut."
I know this post was put up ages ago but I thought I would reply anyway.
Before the film was banned in places it was actually censored (a lot). Loads of stuff had to be changed. Originally there were about 40 murders but that was changed to about 20. Tony's mum loved him unconditionally even though he was corrupt and so this had to be changed. Politicals were seen hanging round with gangsters (even though that actually happened). Tony and Cesca had quite and incestrial relationship which had to really be toned down. And the ending had to be changed to show Tony surrendering.
The film fed into 1930's audiences fears of gangsters because producer Howard Hughes wanted to make a realistic film. Needless to say this didn't go down to well with the MPPDA (Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association) who wouldn't approve the film to begin with. Hughes then said that the film was a realistic portrayal of gangsters and so would help rid the country of them. The MPPDA then backed the film and the SRC (Studio Relations Committe)persuaded state boards to release it.
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The censors were onto something. Which isn't to say that the film should have been censored, but that, even with the changes made at the behest of the censors, I think this film does glamorize crime to some extent. (This is, in part, what makes it such an interesting movie.)
Now, Tony Camonte is a cold-blooded killer and an idiot, and he gets his just deserts. So he's surely not presented as a hero or a role model, and yet the movie seems to depict some of the possible appeal of being a gangster. Not only does Tony rise to a position of power and wealth--and probably a level power and wealth someone of his intelligence and personality couldn't have reached in any other way--but he's enjoying himself the whole time. This movie makes being a gangster seem like fun. Tony's like an overgrown child let loose in the city: he has no sense of the future consequences of his actions, and he's going to act on his every impulse with no concern for others. And he's tough enough, and crafty enough, that he can get away with that for a while.
In Scarface, a life as a gangster may guarantee you an early death--but you're gonna have a helluva good time before you go out. Consider Tony's sheer joy when he gets his machine gun, and the way he tests it by shooting up a wall--just for the sheer pleasure of doing so. He loves that gun, and he loves the gangster life that lets him use it as he pleases. Or look at the excitement of the scene where he and his gang drive the streets, shooting up all their competition. A couple of times, we see extra carnage and destruction that isn't even necessary to drive home the narrative point of the scene. In one case, we watch a barrel roll away from the delivery truck they've just shot up and follow it as it crashes through a window and causes a woman to scream in terror. In another, we see a car they've just shot up skid out, knock down a lamppost, and bust open a fire hydrant, which sprays water up in the air. I don't think either of those shots contributes anything to the narrative: they're just there to play up the destruction, and because that kind of destruction is cool to see in a movie. Busting up a city looks like fun.
And the fun Tony has is underscored by how the police are depicted. The police pop up now and then to tell us that gangsters are bad guys, and that we shouldn't glamorize them. But, honestly, Tony seems a lot more fun than the police do. The police are presented as boring stuffed shirts (who aren't above knocking somebody around themselves, by the way), and they aren't given much to do but hector the audience about how terrible we are for gangsters interesting. But I don't watch movies for sermons, and characters who want to give them to us get under my skin.
That's not to say I want Tony to win. No, he's a monster and deserves what he gets. But I'd probably rather hang on with him than the cops in the movie.