violence and nostalgia in Scarface

Howard Hawk’s 1932 gangster film Scarface has been heralded as one of the most violent films of its time, while providing a culturally significant critique of the controversial period in American history. Although producer Howard Hughes encountered many complications in the production and distribution of Scarface, the film went on to do quite well amongst the American public. Despite being produced in early 1931 alongside Warner Bros. gangster film duo of Little Caesar (1931) and The Public Enemy (1931), Hawks’ film was not released until 1932 because of conflicts with non-regulated censorship boards about the content and distribution of the film. Regardless, Scarface is still widely known as being at the foreground of the uprising of the gangster genre. Once released, Scarface gripped the American public by giving them a window into a life of low morals and a premium on personal gain, the exact kind of escapism experience that made the film both hugely successful and controversial..
At the advent of sound films many socio-cultural landmarks were in motion that created the perfect scenario for displaying such circumstances through the gangster genre. Firstly, the gangster genre emerged in the thick of the Great Depression, the United States staunch economic downturn that left 13 million Americans jobless. Secondly, this film was set in Chicago in the twilight of Prohibition, an ill fated experiment that was widely blamed for the harsh increase of organized crime activity due to the profitability of bootlegging alcohol, a main theme of the Scarface narrative. The viewing audience of this film was grudgingly adjusting to live in a Depression society, and the film industry was pressured to convey responsible message in its productions. With this in mind, Hughes and Hawks dedicated an extra year to reshaping the film in order to meet the moral and ethical standards presented by the Hays Office.
The production and marketing of Scarface was conceived at the apex of the film industry’s move to censor its own productions. The decision was made by Hollywood to self-regulate, calling in William Hays to quarterback the Production Code. Before being distributed across the country, censors harshly criticized Howard Hughes for producing a film that makes a spectacle of the gangster lifestyle and the conflict ensued between the censors and Hughes.
The promotion of the film used the violent content as a selling point to the American public. Fig. 1 is one of the original promotional posters for the release of the film. The poster shows Scarface squaring up to punch the character of Johnny Lovo, who is kneeling defenselessly against him. This harsh imagery displays for the consumer just the type of violence the film has in store, as it is an animation of an integral scene in the film where Tony Carmonte takes control from his boss John Lovo. In the background the consumer sees a brown haired woman looking shocked by what’s taking place; the woman is Tony’s little sister who plays a large role in the narrative of the film.
This was the first film to feature the handheld machine gun, and within the narrative the machine gun is a topic amongst the police officers regarding its growing presence in the gang riddled metropolis. Showing off this newly developed, nefariously popular technology embodies the sort of negative influence the censorship boards wanted to stay away from. Tony’s sister Cesca is shown cowering at the sight of Tony, who is hunched over looking beastly as he approaches her. This again highlights the gender roles of the film as the woman is subservient and the male dominates. This shows Tony in a very horrific light, creating an almost monstrous imagery. The Italian poster is shown in Fig. 4, showing Tony’s face tinted green with his scar a bold red almost glowing, taking the idea of creating a monstrous imagery to another level as Tony’s face could be likened to the Swamp Thing or Frankenstein.
To obtain a sense of approval among the censors, Hughes chose to distribute the film with the subtitle “The Shame of a Nation” to immediately convey the message to the prospective audience that the film is “an indictment of gang activity” as stated in the prologue which also was added to the film before release.
Upon the much anticipated release of Scarface, critics praised Hawks’ film for its gritty depiction of the Chicago underworld. A Variety magazine review emphasized the harsh brutality and stated “Scarface contains more cruelty than any of it’s gangster picture predecessors”. An archived review from Reel Journal similarly calls the work “perhaps the most daring and sensational expose of the modern gangster we have ever seen on screen”, while the New York Times acclaimed the picture for its narrative content, “like that of a Shakespearean tragedy”. On a whole, critical reception of this film made sure to focus on the depiction of violence and how radically over the top it was for the time. Given such a reputation, Americans turned out in large numbers to view such a spectacle. Paul Muni, already an accomplished actor, was given high praise for his role as Tony ‘Scarface’ Carmonte by critics. Reel Journal stated “Muni plays the title role to perfection” with Variety claiming “the picture is dominated by Mr. Muni’s virile and vehement acting”. A combination of distain from censors, topical narrative content and critical acclaim for the acting and direction worked to create a successful work of film, both as a work of art and a profitable business endeavor for the studio. The National Board of Review nominated Scarface for Best Picture of 1932, but lost to I Am a Fugitive of a Chain Gang (1932), another Paul Muni tour de force.
Scarface: The Shame of a Nation has been revered so highly as the quintessential gangster film that it has inspired and influenced the modern gangster genre. The film was remade in 1983 by Brian De Palma, starring Al Pacino. In this film, the character of Scarface has been updated to a Cuban immigrant thriving in the underbelly of the cocaine trafficking uprising of the early 1980’s. De Palma dedicated the film to Ben Hecht, who wrote the screenplay for Scarface: The Shame of a Nation out of his experience writing for a Chicago newspaper where he covered the career of Al Capone, which the Tony Carmonte character was loosely inspired. In 1989, Brian De Palma directed The Untouchables, which was the biography of Al Capone, in which De Palma used the same imagery of Hawks’ film. Comparison of Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 shows how De Palma could have been paying homage to Hawks by duplicating the viewer’s first sight of the Chicago gangster.
Scarface is a powerful piece of cinema, not only for its content on screen, but also the historical implications of being one of the first gangster genre films. Portrayed as an irresponsible and immoral work by conservative censors, the film succeeded due to positive critical reception for a brave and authentic view into an ugly world of gang violence. The American public enjoyed peering into a life different from their own, where moral and social obligations took a back seat to personal financial success. Scarface was seen as a dangerous work, possibly encouraging Americans to participate in this “underside of the American Dream”. While no evidence can implicate this single piece of cinema as having a negative influence on society, its overarching critique of society was recognized in 1994 when the film was inducted into the National Film Registry as “culturally significant”.