Big Louis Costillo, last of the old-style gang leaders is slain, and his former bodyguard Tony Camonte is taken into custody. Since Costillo’s body has never been found, the police have to release him, though they strongly suspect Johnny Lovo paid Tony to remove Big Louis. Tony begins taking over the rackets in town with violent enforcement, and he becomes a threat to Johnny and the other bosses unless they work for Tony. Meanwhile, Tony’s sister wants to be more independent, but finds it difficult to escape from her brother’s overprotective grasp. The dissatisfaction of the other bosses and the relentless pursuit of the police push Tony towards a major confrontation.

Scarface (1932)
  • Rating: (11,978 votes)
  • Runtime:93 minutes
  • Directors: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson
  • Country:USA
  • Actors:
    Antonio 'Tony' Camonte
    Paul Muni
    Francesca 'Cesca' Camonte
    Ann Dvorak
    Poppy
    Karen Morley
    John 'Johnny' Lovo
    Osgood Perkins
    Inspector Ben Guarino
    C. Henry Gordon
    Guino Rinaldo
    George Raft
    Angelo
    Vince Barnett
    Gaffney
    Boris Karloff
    Mr. Garston, publisher
    Purnell Pratt
    Managing Editor
    Tully Marshall
  • Genres:Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
  • Producers:
    Howard Hawks
    producer (uncredited)  
    Howard Hughes
    producer (uncredited)  
  • Plots: Johnny Lovo rises to the head of the bootlegging crime syndicate on the south side of Chicago following the murder of former head, Big Louis Costillo. Johnny contracted Big Louis' bodyguard, Tony Camonte, to make the hit on his boss. Tony becomes Johnny's second in command. Johnny is not averse to killing anyone who gets in his and Johnny's way. As Tony is thinking bigger than Johnny and is not afraid of anyone or anything, Tony increasingly makes decisions on his own instead of following Johnny's orders, especially in not treading on the north side run by an Irish gang led by a man named O'Hara, of who Johnny is afraid. Tony's murder spree increases, he taking out anyone who stands in his and Johnny's way of absolute control on the south side, and in Tony's view absolute control of the entire city. Tony's actions place an unspoken strain between Tony and Johnny to the point of the two knowing that they can't exist in their idealized world with the other. Tony's ultimate downfall may be one of two women in his life: Poppy, Johnny's girlfriend to who Tony is attracted; and Tony's eighteen year old sister, Cesca, who is self-professed to be older mentally than her years much to Tony's chagrin, he who will do anything to protect her innocence. Cesca ultimately comes to the realization that she is a lot more similar to her brother than she first imagined. Written by Huggo
Scarface
  • User's comment:Ugly and brilliant by marcslope

    Rat-rat-a-tat goes Hawks's direction, opening and closing with a bang, and what's in between is pretty sensational, too. Muni, who could be an awful ham, is just right here -- slick and sexy and a little stupid, a hot-tempered paisano unable to control his ambitions or passions. The incest subplot, never overtly stated but always close to the surface, makes the movie seem startlingly modern. And the dialogue goes snap, snap, snap. The only place the movie stumbles is in a civics-lesson scene where the self-important newspaper editor spells out exactly what's wrong with the criminal justice system of 1932 and delivers his dull speech straight to the camera, like a high school lecture. It's the briefest of lulls in one of the most exciting early talkies, and certainly one of the greatest of all gangster flicks.


  • Quotes: Tony Camonte: Listen, Little Boy, in this business there's only one law you gotta follow to keep out of trouble: Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doing it. Insp. Ben Guarino: I told you you'd show up this way. Get you in a jam without a gun and you squeal like a yellow rat. Come on, climb into this Tony Camonte: [smashes the window] Just changing the name on the door.
  • Also known as: Scarface (France), Scarface (Greece), A sebhelyesarcú (Hungary - imdb display title), Arpinaama (Finland), Cara cortada (Mexico - imdb display title), Czlowiek z blizna (Poland), Der Mann mit der Narbe (Austria), Lo sfregiato (Italy), Narbengesicht (Germany), Scarface - A Vergonha de uma Nação (Brazil), Scarface - Chicagos siste gangster (Sweden), Scarface, el terror del hampa (Spain), Scarface, o Homem da Cicatriz (Portugal), Scarface, the Shame of the Nation ( - undefined), The Shame of a Nation ( - undefined), Yarali Yüz (Turkey - DVD title, Turkish title),

  1. Mercedes Girl Says:
    October 20th, 2010 at 10:09 am

    Howard Hawks directs this harsh and frank and sometimes humorous look at a small time gangster’s taste of success before his mob world crumbles around him. This is one of the best gangster movies of the 1930′s. Very well written and full of terrific characters. Fast paced and free flowing story line.

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