Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.
Howard Hawks's pre-Code gangster landmark remains one of the most audacious and influential crime films ever made. Paul Muni's ferocious, animalistic performance as Tony Camonte is genuinely exceptional, matched by strong support from George Raft and Ann Dvorak. The cinematography by Lee Garmes and L. William O'Connell is strikingly expressionistic — shadows, crosses, and visual motifs woven throughout with startling sophistication for 1932. Novelty is very high: the film's raw violence, quasi-incestuous undertones, and gleeful amorality made it unlike anything Hollywood had dared before, and its influence on gangster cinema is immeasurable. The plot, while propulsive, is somewhat episodic and follows a fairly predictable rise-and-fall structure borrowed from its source material. The ending, while morally satisfying by censorship demands, feels slightly imposed and rushed compared to the film's otherwise audacious spirit.