Scarface
Scarface (also known as Scarface: The Shame of the Nation and The Shame of a Nation) is a 1932 American pre-Code gangster film directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Hawks and Howard Hughes. The screenplay, by Ben Hecht, is based loosely on the novel first published in 1930 by Armitage Trail, which was inspired by Al Capone. The film stars Paul Muni as Italian immigrant gangster Antonio "Tony" Camonte who violently rises through the Chicago gangland, with a supporting cast that includes George Raft and Boris Karloff. Camonte's rise to power dovetails with his relentless pursuit of his boss's mistress while his own sister pursues his best hitman. In an overt tie to the life of Capone, a version of the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre is depicted.
Plot
In 1920s Chicago, an Italian immigrant and ambitious low-level thug Tony "Scarface" Camonte works as a bodyguard for crime lord "Big" Louis Costillo. Siding with Costillo's disgruntled lieutenant Johnny Lovo, Tony guns down his boss. Lovo takes over Costillo's territory in the South Side and has Tony and his associates, the dim-witted Angelo and the handsome playboy Guino "Little Boy" Rinaldo, supervise a lucrative bootlegging operation selling illegal beer to all of the bars there and forcing out rivals.
Awards
Cast
- Ann Dvorak
- Boris Karloff
- Brandon Hurst
- C. Henry Gordon
- Charles Sullivan
- Dennis O'Keefe
- Douglas Walton
- Edwin Maxwell
- Ellinor Vanderveer
- Eugenie Besserer
- Francis Ford
- George Raft
- Gino Corrado
- Hank Mann
- Harry Tenbrook
- Henry Armetta
- Howard Hawks
- Jean Harlow
- John Lee Mahin
- Karen Morley
- Maurice Black
- Nick Thompson
- Osgood Perkins
- Paul Fix
- Paul Muni
- Purnell Pratt
- Tully Marshall
- Vince Barnett
- William B. Davidson
More details
author | Ben Hecht Howard Hawks John Lee Mahin Seton I. Miller W. R. Burnett |
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award | National Board of Review: Top Ten Films |
contentLocation | Chicago |
director | Howard Hawks Richard Rosson |
editor | Edward Curtiss |
events | dysfunctional family |
genre | crime drama |
keywords | 1920s advertise bad behavior bloodshed bootleg bowling alley claim cook\'s tours crime lord florida force hide hired gun kill laugh little boy married moving in night out plan police chief roaring twenties rum-running submachine gun tear gas thomas cook & son thompson submachine guns tommy gun tommy guns wrong number |
musicBy | Shelton Brooks |
producer | Howard Hawks Howard Hughes |
productionCompany | The Caddo Company |
publisher | United Artists |
theme | dance films à clef gangster |