CULT MOVIE:SCARFACE(1932)

Al Capone liked this disguised story of his life so much he is supposed to have had his own copy.Muni starred as Tony Camonte, former bagman to an old-style gang leader, who sets out to rule the (mob) world. Despite the film's credits stating, "This picture is an indictment of gang rule in America and of the callous indifference of the goverment", censors wouldn't endorse it. Reshoots showing Tony arrested, convicted and hanged failed to persuade them, so Hawks eventually stuck to the original. The film also marks the arrival of George Raft as a cointossing henchman. Raft would play a slew of gangster roles, aided by his personal association with real-life mobsters like Bugsy Siegel, and rumours that he himself was a "made" man. Although the 1983 Al Pacino/De Palma remake lacks originality, Pacino is suitably menacing as coke-fuelled, self-made boss Tony Montana--don't worry, it was icing sugar they were bathing their nostrils in. The scene where Montana, surrounded, his arm in a sling, waves his gun at his enemies and certain death is one of the most glamorous, romantic images of the doomed gangster on celluloid.
Director: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson Cast: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, George Raft

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