{"id":1243,"date":"2018-11-15T14:07:47","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T20:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/?p=1243"},"modified":"2018-11-19T11:29:45","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T17:29:45","slug":"scarface-just-another-gangster-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/scarface-just-another-gangster-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Scarface: Just Another Gangster Movie?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recognized by the National Film Preservation Board in 1994 and claiming a spot in the Top Ten Films list by the National Board of Review in 1932, director Howard Hawks\u2019 <em>Scarface <\/em>is one of the most raw and brilliant gangster movies created to date. Putting life back into a nearly over-done genre, the original 1932 <em>Scarface<\/em> is led by Paul Muni \u2013 lead character Tony Camonte \u2013 and is based off of Armitage Trail\u2019s 1929 novel, which itself was inspired by the O.G. Al Capone. At the time the film was released, the prohibition \u2013 a nationwide U.S. ban of anything to do with and including alcoholic beverages \u2013 would come to an end a year later; However, from 1920 to 1933, the prohibition very much shaped America into an alcoholism-ridden, violent, and politically corrupt society. <em>Scarface<\/em> did not thrive off of being a part of a unique genre \u2013 gangster-genre movies at this point had already been explored and ventured into with the revelation of sound-film, nor was it entirely accepted by society as a whole for its presentation of culture, as made evident by the outcry for censorship and the alternate ending that had to be included. Instead, the film thrived off of its realism and controversy through excellent cinematography and direction in a world that was hardly ready for this film\u2019s brilliance \u2013 i.e., <em>not<\/em> Just Another Gangster Movie.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XRmWftEjit0?start=20&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size: 12pt;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif\">The film follows Tony Camonte (Paul Muni) as he climbs through the ranks of the gang-world, which runs Chicago at this point in time. After shattering the \u201cpeace\u201d in the gang community by killing his own boss and one of the last old-style gang leaders, joining another gang, and rising in ranks, Camonte continues to thirst for more and plots to be the king of the whole city. With an Achilles heel \u2013 his eighteen-year-old sister Cesca (Ann Dvorak) \u2013 paired with his ever-increasing thirst for power, Camonte often loses his edge, and this becomes more and more noticeable as the film goes on, both by other gangs and viewers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/M\/MV5BNDI4OGVkMWEtZjNmYy00NjVjLTkxZWQtYzA3NTdlNGQ1ZGMzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzg1ODEwNQ@@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,650,1000_AL_.jpg\" width=\"650\" height=\"1000\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Movie poster for the film with featured stars listed at the bottom<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 0.5in;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size: 12pt;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Scarface <\/em>succeeded within its cultural circumstances, relishing in the real-world issues of organized crime in the prohibition-era and creating a realistic entertainment that also points fingers at the government to rid the underworld of gang-violence. With such a relevant and applicable message, the producers had to pull it off spectacularly to have any chance of nationwide recognition \u2013 and they succeeded. The low-lighting and visual darkness used when producing the film create sharp contrasts that enhance the effect of the film as a whole. Smart use of lighting allowed for the message and storyline of the movie to shine through (no pun intended) and created a sinister and violent edge.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1289\" style=\"width: 271px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1289\" class=\"wp-image-1289 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/download.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"261\" height=\"193\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1289\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Muni&#8217;s dynamic performance highlights the violent edge in Scarface<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This movie is considered to be one of Howard Hawks\u2019 most successful work, Hawks being credited as \u201cthe greatest American director who is not a household name\u201d by Walt Disney Creations founder, Leonard Maltin.\u00a0 Hawks was a dynamic director, having ventured through several genres including noir, comedy, westerns, gangster, and more. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director in 1942 and is credited as having influenced some of the most popular directors of all time, such as Quentin Tarantino (director <em>Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, and Sin City) <\/em>and Martin Scorsese (director of <em>Taxi Driver <\/em>and<em> The Wolf of Wall Street)<\/em>. <em>Scarface<\/em> could not have been as relentlessly in-your-face and unapologetic without Hawks backing the film every step of the way, and Hawks\u2019 talent for creating realistic and natural portrayals is staple Scarface had in contrast to other gangster films of its time.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1290\" style=\"width: 248px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1290\" class=\"wp-image-1290 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/howard-hawks-238x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"238\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/howard-hawks-238x300.jpg 238w, https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/howard-hawks.jpg 572w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1290\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The vision of director Howard Hawks distinguishes Scarface as a defining gangster film<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Scarface<\/em>\u2019s raw portrayal may have offended some in the Italian community for culture appropriation as well as those who did not want glorification of gang-life, but it was nonetheless gushed over by all on both sides of the critic-spectrum. Drumming up conversation with its wit and violence while revealing deeper roots of corruption in society, it was a societal statement that slapped the nation. Through outcries for the film not to see the darkness of theaters due to glorification of illegal activities and gang life, severe censorship taking over, and an alternate ending having to be created to even allow showings, the film was still a success. Due to its subject-matter and direction, the film only continued to grow in adoration from the public and was applauded for its accurate portrayal and influence on the future of the genre. The film was remade and released in 1983, which became a massive hit and well-known movie to the public.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.pinimg.com\/originals\/1f\/62\/1f\/1f621f45c326e8116e5eb6ad3432357a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"373\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Muni (playing Tony Camonte) &amp; Dvorak (playing Cesca)<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 0.5in;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size: 12pt;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Scarface<\/em>\u00a0received a 100% rating by Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.8\/10 rating by IMDb, and raves across the board from several newspaper critics and online reviewers. A brilliant work that is never boring, the film put energy back into the gangster\/crime genre in its time and is still regarded as one of the finest examples of the genre. Director Hawks and team ran with the controversial edge of the story and continued to highlight the film against others with the low-lighting cinematography and intense contrast. Its short run-time doesn\u2019t mean less action or less time to develop the story but allows awe to overcome viewers at all that can be successfully portrayed in that time \u2013 and still holds its best features up well to today\u2019s standards.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 0.5in;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size: 12pt;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recognized by the National Film Preservation Board in 1994 and claiming a spot in the Top Ten Films list by the National Board of Review in 1932, director Howard Hawks\u2019 Scarface is one of the most raw and brilliant gangster movies created to date. Putting life back into a nearly over-done genre, the original 1932 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":1456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[75,73,76,74],"class_list":["post-1243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criticism","tag-1930s","tag-action","tag-film-noir","tag-mckenna-scherer"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/tumblr_inline_pcgny6BIqC1qfnm59_640.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1243"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1437,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions\/1437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}