SCARFACE (Howard Hawks version, 1932)
The original Scarface was Paul Muni's Tony Camonte, in this Howard Hawks-directed gangster masterpiece that was so violent that the Hays Office, which governed motion pictures, demanded a new ending (Scarface Tony dies as a begging coward instead of a brazen hero) and a new subtitle (''The Shame of a Nation''). Every now-familiar gangster element was established here: the gangster's wiseguy sidekick (George Raft); the gangster's slinky girlfriend, or moll; the rise and fall story line; and a long, bullet-ridden shoot-out climax.
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12 Killer Gangster Movies
Did you see ''Public Enemies'' this weekend? Want to go on a wild spree through the genre's best? Ken Tucker guides us through his picks from the 1930s to the present day
| Jul 06, 2009
Ken Tucker
Ken Tucker is critic-at-large for EW
12 Killer Gangster Movies
Everett Collection
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