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A Film Travelogue: Scarface (Remake series)

by Ainsley Hume on 2019-01-22T19:36:59-05:00 | 0 Comments

This week featuring film remakes I decided to watch the original Scarface (1932) [IMC DVD 364.106 S285 1932] and the 1983 remake [IMC DVD 364.106 S285 2003]. This was fun because it was surprising when similarities came up—otherwise they felt like very different movies.

The original movie Scarface is based on the book by Armitage Trail. It takes place in Chicago in the 1920s and focuses on Antonio “Tony” Camonte who works for an Italian mafioso Johnny Lovo. Tony is ordered to kill the leading mob boss in the South Side, which allows Johnny to take over control of that part of town. Tony is told not to interfere with the North side, but soon ignores this as his aspirations grow out of control. Tony also begins to pursue Johnny’s girlfriend Poppy, who later choses him over Johnny when Tony’s reputation has grown. Things begin to spiral out of control for Tony—killing his best friend when he finds him with his sister Francesca. The police eventually corner Tony in his apartment, and his sister is killed in the cross-fire. Paul Muni did a wonderful job playing Tony, who has a mix of charisma and bull-headedness that you can’t help but smile at. There are several funny parts as well, which help to offset the remarkable violence that the whole film is imbued with. It is especially amazing that there is so much violence, because this was the period in film history where films were being censored under the Hays Code. One such change that the producers were forced to change was the ending; however, the DVD we own has both endings so you can watch yourself and see the difference.

The remake Scarface is different in many big ways. The main character is Tony Montana and he begins his mafia lifestyle in Miami in the 1980s. We first see Tony with a group of friends who are given green cards in exchange for murdering a Cuban general on the orders of drug dealer Frank Lopez. Frank’s associate, Omar, gives Tony and his friends a job to purchase cocaine from Colombia dealers, but things go horribly wrong. One friend is brutually murdered, while the rest are able to kill the Colombians and rescue Tony. Tony brings the drugs and money to Frank personally, where he meets Frank’s wife, Elvira. Tony eventually rises in Frank’s group, and makes deals without Frank’s knowledge with other cocaine drug dealers. Tony also begins to pursue Frank’s wife and eventually marries her. Several years later however, we see Tony dissatisfied with his lifestyle and has frequent paranoia. Elvira eventually leaves him and a cocaine dealer sends men after him, with the movie ending in its iconic gun scene from Tony’s house. 

There are several similarities in these movies, even though the plots are different. Most of these similarities are focused on Tony’s relationships; for example, his relationship with his sister and mother are extremely similar between the two movies. His sister eventually marries his right hand man, who gets killed by Tony in both movies. Tony pursues his boss’s girl and eventually wins her, although the end of this relationship in the remake is far more violent than in the original. Finally, Tony’s relationship with his boss is similar as well—the boss originally likes him, then when Tony begins to infringe on his territory, he sends assassins (in both movies) to kill Tony. Tony escapes, and eventually kills his boss as a result.

If you have seen both movies (or even one!), feel free to tweet us @FHGLibrary with thoughts and/or comments. Don’t forget to come to the IMC to check out our new DVD display featuring Remakes and continue on your own film travelogue journey at https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die .


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