Cinema Crime a Brief Introduction

Cinema Crime

A brief introduction which explain the movie to be analyzed

The original version Scarface (1932) was probably the first American gangster film that generated the greatest controversy. It was produced by Howard Hughes, the director being Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht who wrote the story based on a novel published in 1929 by Armitage Trail. The title of the novel is also Scarface. The second film Scarface (1983) is based on this film, and the producer of the remake is Brian De Palma and the adaptation follows the original movie with improvisations that was needed to suit the times. Again the adaptation is from the old novel of Armitage Trail. In the novel the story is based on the life of Al Capone, the notorious Gangster of Chicago whose real nickname was also 'Scarface'.

While the second version of the film was the adaptation of the same theme, there were changes in the way the story proceeds. In the second version, the mafia was replaced by Cubans who were into drug business, but the theme is retained to a great degree. While in the 1932 version, the personal inclinations of the hero was not only the reason for the crimes, it was more based on his possessive love for his sister and family, the second version shows greater emphasis on the greed and the real criminal intentions of the hero. While the earlier version was based on the Italian Mafiosi, in Scarface 1983 the ethnic base gets changed. Now Tony Montana is a Cuban refugee who ultimately becomes the boss of a drug cartel and the violence is more than the 1932 film, and the Cuban community in Miami has been targeted with the charm of the Italian Mafiosi.

The second film concentrates more on the crime and glorification of killing and meeting the ends. Crime lords and their life style are held up as ideals. The passion for the sister and possessiveness no doubt is also present in the second version and the charges are modern against Tony. Now he is charged with money laundering and tax evasion. In this second series Gina actually attacks Tony and ends up shooting him in the leg. Gina is also killed. The death of Gina prompts remorse in Tony, but the remorse expressed is fleeting and lacks in depth. ("Scarface (1983 film)," Wikipedia); (("Scarface (1932 film)," Wikipedia) However the story line appears to be similar to some extent.

2. A discussion of the movie

The original 1932 version of the movie by Howard Hawk is a different type of gangster film in the settings and the time when the movie was released. The American ethos seems to be fulfilled in the actions of Scarface - who lives the American dream, but while efficient in the job he sets himself to do, his passion and love for his sister makes him destroy his friends and allies, and ends in his own death. It is a pathetic and psychological tale of a psychotic who gains that condition basically because of his loneliness. Some how in the depression during the 1930's all crime stories had the criminal conscience become stricken in the end and Scarface is the icon of individualism that went wrong. (Pells, 1998) Gang rule in America and the challenge to the government and the opposition-That is how the Scarface 1932 version was placed. Howard Hawkes opened the movie with a statement that makes it an indictment of gang rule of America. (Crouse, 2003)

The story also seeks to go deep into the workings of the mafia or at least the popular version of the operations. The film gave importance to the psychology of the gangster, his fears and passions more than the actual sleaze that surround crime stories. Though the violence is shocking, yet the aim of the picture was more to show that there is a nexus between the law enforcers, big shots and the organized gangs. However the pathetic side is the settings of a mind that is torn apart between filial love and possessiveness that borders on insanity, and the thoughtless and callous way the hero deals with the perceived threat to his possession, his family, especially his sister.

The evolution of this genera of movie began with casting Italian men as caricatures, responsible male workers and then as mafia chiefs. In the movies, up to 1920 stories involving Italian men had put the characters in passive roles, and even poignant roles of persons placed in indigent circumstances trying to better their conditions. It was during the 1930s that there came about a change in the depiction of Italian men. The gangster films made the Italian male the ruthless and ambitious man who stopped at nothing to gain the targets he set. The American mobster was thus predominantly Italian, a fact that it is pointed out was according to writers, drawn from real life. The feudal family gangs called the mafia began to be the back drop of many films of 1930s that had the gangsters as heroes and villains. Little Ceasar (1930) was the first gangster film based on the life of the Gangster Rico Bandello. Scarface (1932) followed suit, but it was slightly concerned with the filial ties of the mobster and his obsessions, rather than the crime side. (Benshoff; Griffin, 2004)

Scarface (1932) was therefore not the first film of this kind, but it was the film that challenged the administration and in many states the film created panic and subsequent bans. Though the ban came as a measure for curtailing violence, in truth it may have been the need to brush some of the unsavory truth from the public. Thus films like Racket, that came out in 1920 by Hughes showed links between organized crime and state officials and this made the censors of the states of Portland, Chicago and Dallas banned the film. Like wise Scarface (1932) was almost banned by the censors. The admonition was that gangster must be sent out of cinema. The director was warned that if he ever made Scarface, it would never be released. Hughes was successful against the censors after he won suits against them. (Lyons, 1997) The second version however is a pure commercial film with all ingredients thrown in, less of the emotional side and more of the action side. It is a remake of the first version substituting the Cubans for Italians. The second version does not have the depth of the original.

3. A summary and conclusion which includes your own opinions of the films and their importance

The question that has to be answered is if the film, Scarface (1932) did have any social relevance? Did it show violence that could have misguided viewers in glorifying crime? The answer is no. Simply because if we observe the fate of the movie, we can come to the conclusion that courts did not think it was dangerous. It was not the first movie that depicted either gangsters or violence. The singular issue in the movie was that it made realistic depiction of the nexus between the bureaucracy and the organized crime, and Howard Hughes succeeded in challenging the establishment. The comparison between both the films shows that the second version of the film though having the same theme lacks the depth of the 1932 movie, for the simple reason that the adaptation of the novel in the 1932 movie also took in the characterization of Tony to the full. While Scarface (1983) appears to have been made for the box office and even the ethnic base gets changed. The question of why Cubans is not answered.

The fact that the drug lords replace the gangster of the 1930s and the negotiations and power struggle is all for greed and possession, the second version lacks the depth that was created when Howard Hawk characterized Tony in the first version. In the original 1932 version Tony is more of a pathetic psychotic who has a fixation for his sister and feels lonely and threatened. The psychology of the man is explored in detail making it more of a classic film with a psychological understudy. There is also a social message, a wake up call to Americans of the links between crime syndicates and those whom they elect to power.

The second version is more of a box office gimmick that has all the elements of a crime thriller but lacks the depth of characterization and portrayal of the original Scarface movie. There have been many gangster movies, and novels that dealt with the Mafia. The most remembered one today is the 'Godfather' by Mario Puzo. The Godfather was made into a movie with Marlon Brando in the lead. It is the most remembered movie in the century. The reason for the success of the movie, apart from the portrayal by Brando is the fact that the depth given to the characters in the novel was not lost in the movie. Though it does not have a social message lie Scarface (1932).