I like both films.
About 20 years ago, my Dad and I watched both films, a week apart. To my surprise, we both enjoyed the remake better. In my Dad's case, he liked the remake because it was more violent, more profane, sexier-- "more". In my case, I liked it because, to me, the story made more sense.
The '32 film was a fictional version of Al Capone's career. But Capone had not been convicted of income tax evasion yet. The ending of the film was the one part that was entirely fictional-- "wishful thinking". On that score, it was a bit contrived and rushed. Made a GREAT ending, though. Shot down like a dog.
However, in the remake, once Tony kills his boss, there's an entirely NEW 45-minute section where his career continues to rise higher and higher... until it finally crests, and he begins to have problems with laundering too much money thru the banks, too much drug intake, and eventually, a government witness who could take down the whole organization. Tony's COLOMBIAN partner-- whose catch phrase is, "Don't F * * * me, Tony!", gives him the job of killing the witness. While Tony's "mistake" in the original was shooting his best friend (until then, the cops had nothing on him), in the remake, his "mistake" was shooting his partner's right-hand man, because he flipped out when he saw LITTLE KIDS in the car he was supposed to blow up! I find that kinda hilarious.
Yes, he STILL shoots his best friend (and for the same reason), but in the remake, NOBODY (except his sister) cares!! The cops are helpless-- they can't do anything. It takes the COLOMBIANS to bring down Al Pacino!! AND THEY DO!!! A real sad statement about just how low, how bad the word had sunk to by the mid-80's.
Ironically, Tony's COLOMBIAN partner gets away scot free. Nobody can touch him. But not forever. I saw a documentary on the History Channel about the real life COLOMBIAN drug lord who Pacino's partner was clearly based on. The real-life events surrounding repeated attempts to bring the guy to justice were so insane, if someone had written it as a story, nobody would believe it. In the end, a police officer SHOT HIM IN THE HEAD while attempting to arrest him. It was argued whether it was an accident, or deliberate MURDER-- because the police just got so fed up with the whole situation, and realized there was NO OTHER WAY to bring the guy down but to kill him outright, and to HELL with a trial.
When I saw this documentary, I flipped out. Because it made me realize... Howard Hawks GOT IT RIGHT. He just got it right about 60 YEARS early!!!
reply
share
fatpie42
10 years ago
Yeah, I only ever saw the remake of Scarface when I was still living with my parents and they actually gave up on it when he chooses not to blow up the bomb. Up until that point the guy had been completely ruthless, so having him grow a conscience all of a sudden like that was just too much. So we stopped watching and never finished it off (it was fairly normal for us to watch part of a movie one night and to finish it another night).
Yeah sure there are kids in the car. But we didn't have any reason, based on everything else we'd seen, to believe that would stop him. It's pretty daft. I should probably rewatch the film sometime anyway though.
Loved the 1930s version. :)
reply
share