Introduction
Scarface 1932 was an American gangster movie that was directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hughes and Borris Karloff. According to Canby (1883,p. 2), it mostly centered on gang warfare where rivalry was seen amongst them in their pursuit to control the city. Later on, the police intervention in the ongoing rivalry made the inevitable requirement to calm the situation. The theme of the movie follows the plot of the 1929 novel Scarface (Written by Armitage Trail). It took the producers three months to shoot the movie in three different locations with a limited number of actors (Ansen, 1983, p.3).
The movie highlights some accidents in its production with Lloyd losing an eye. Its actual production ended in 1931 but its release followed in 1932. After facing serious criticisms that the movie was glorifying gangster lifestyles, the producers had to face numerous challenges with the public before it could find acceptance in media viewing. Due to the imaginations that it was promoting a lot of violence, it had to be edited further (Ansen, 1983, p.3). United Artists distributed the 93-minute movie. Since some states remained reluctant about accepting the movie even after it had undergone a series of editing, the produces opted to sell the original version in states that did not adhere to strict sensor rules.
Scarface 1982 on the other hand is an epic crime drama film. As written by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian De Palma, the story captures original Scarface 1932 episodes in the background in dedication to the entire Scarface original crew. According to Arnold (1983, p. 2), Universal pictures company accepted to distribute the film as it enjoyed a running time of 170 minutes on most theatre screens. Eventually, it received mixed reactions with a lot of criticism for its graphic language and violence. The movie created significant influence in American society, thereby leaving its effects in-group culture, fashion trends, and non-verbal expressions. Due to its popularity, its poster sold for fortune over a long time across the USA. The movie first premiered in New York in 1983 with many mixed reactions as expressed above. It was also able to gross $65 million worldwide.
Discussion
Scarface 1932 is mostly an indictment of gang rule where the producer is calling for some action on these. As the movie unravels, the audiences encounter the murder of Big Louis. Immediately the audience learns that this character played a role as a senior gangster in the previous generation. This killing signals the beginning of gang wars. On the other hand, Tony gets in the wrong hand with the corps as he associated with Johnny Lovo who had split with Big Louis. Tony wants to control the south side as Johnny is controlling the north (Doogan,1998, episode 7).
These two people, later on, come to take over the Big Louis club and in the process manage to eliminate Meehan and Berzini to take over the south side. Elsewhere the other gang leader on the north side O’Hara is giving warnings that he wants Johnny to back off from the planned invasion. O’Hara later meets his death in a flower shop and Tony receives this message while he is in his house. Ironically, the corps comes into Tony’s house to arrest him following the incident. In reaction, Tony leaves a message for his Lawyer to intervene in his predicament. Gaffney who has just had a shipment of guns is plotting on how to eliminate Tony (Ebert, 1983, p. 4).
After his release, a war escalates in the restaurant, which leads him to a gang hideout where he gets into a fight with Johnny. Gaffney falls in the hands of the police in an event that leaves the audience in great suspense. Tony, later on, kills Guino as the corps come in, he begins to deny any wrongdoing. The slippery Tony finally meets his death while trying to escape the police. In the site of the viewers, the fateful end of Tony seems like justice has taken its course (This is the ending of the original version). After censoring the first edition, the brother and sister relationship between Tony and Cesca lost its initial impact as Tony leaves in the custody of the police to face murder charges. In Scarface 1982, Tony appears as an ambitious, aggressive, and violent man in the way he arrives in Florida’s one of the Cuban refugees. The movie picks from an interesting background where, Frank (a drug baron), offers Tony and Manolo some American green cards, in an agreement to assassinate a former senior government official who brutally murdered the tycoon brother. Later on, they take to fall into the trap of police officers as they commence trading cocaine with Columbian dealers. As one of the associates dies with the power saw, Tony takes the money to Frank.
Since tony and Manolo proved their trustworthiness to Frank, The rich drug dealer employs them as salespersons in his drug business. Tony returns home, later on, to be well received by the sister but the mother throws him out. He later ends business relations with Frank while in Bolivia by negotiating unauthorized deals with Alejandro. Tony starts his operations while pursuing Frank’s girlfriend. The
movie peaks at the club where Tony and his hunters exchange bullets grisly. The viewers come to the opinion that Tony’s life is in danger.
They (Tony and Manolo) deceive Frank and kill him together with detective Bernstein. He marries Frank’s girlfriend and takes over the vast empire. As the movie unfolds, he kills Manolo for getting along with the sister. Tony dies in the hands of Sosa’s men who trail him up to his mansion after the sister had shot him for being jealous and possessive.
Summary and Conclusion
The two movies heavily borrow from each other only that the second Scarface mostly revolves around drug wars. Scarface 1932’s storyline underwent major revisions because it showed images of persons brutally ending state opponents. Similarly, changes in the second movie introduce the main character to crime, unlike the first movie where the main character knew crime before. The new ending is less violent as it all ends up in court.
This occurred to tell the society that things should not necessarily end violently but the law plays an important function on some occasions. The remade movie, which revolves around drug wars, has had a major impact on the current society. Most of the rivalries watched today, revolve around drugs, and as such, the change was necessary to portray the true picture as it is. The groundbreaking movie was a cinematic triumph that helped to portray the societal ill that revolved around crime and to retell this story; it required major modification to appeal to its target audiences. Although the first movie was well done, the director saw the need to remake it because of the perceptions. In the original movie, an editor goes all the way to report the whole issue with a lot of public support. It seemed that the public glorified these gang wars before and this prevailed through the second movie.
The films help to understand the emerging trends that relate to crime, their complexity, and their role in making related solutions. By choosing almost the same storyline though redefined the producer sought to reconnect the viewers to the original story (that is if they had seen it before).
References List
Ansen, D. (1983). Gunning their way to Glory. Web.
Arnold, G. (1983). Al Pacino, the new gangster, saddled with old Clichés. Washington DC: Washington Post.
Canby, V. (1983). Al Pacino stars in Scarface. New York: New York Times.
Doogan, T. (1998). DVD Review- Scarface: Collectors edition. Web.
Ebert, R. (1983). Scarface. Chicago: Chicago Sun times.