Scarface (1932)

 Howard Hawks' "Scarface"

As I am beginning my discography deep-dive into Howard Hawks, I come in seeing that his filmography mirrors the landscape of American cinema through the many decades of his work. In the mid-to-late 1930s, he did screwball comedies. In the 1940s, it was war and noir films. In the late 1940s into the 1950s, he excelled at the Western. All of this to say that I journey through Hawks' discography, I will also be travelling through the terrain of American cinema and its varied cultural moments. My journey begins in the early 1930s, when the Great Depression was in full swing and the Gangster movie movement echoed this swing. 

I personally am not a fan of the 1930s gangster flick. I typically find that they are pulpy, hollow entertainment for a restless Depression-era audience. A gangster flick has action, suspense, violence, and acts as a purging experience for a downtrodden viewer of the 1930s. After watching "Scarface," my opinion has not changed as much. That being said, I do believe that "Scarface" is by far the best gangster flick of the early 1930s by far. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but I did find myself far more engaged with the violence, which through Hawks' direction, seemed subtly more disturbing somehow than the typical gangster movie. 

I also picked up on the stronger allegorical elements associated with the American Dream. Outside protagonist Tony's window, a giant Vegas-style sign reads "The World is Yours." This really does echo the American Exceptionalist sentiment. However, as we watch the film, Tony's ascent through the criminal underworld harbors nothing but excess, violence, destruction, and ultimately, tragedy. After the excess and gluttony of the 1920s, a bitterness was left after its wake in the Depression-era 1930s. This bitterness flows through the heart of "Scarface." 

All in all, I am still not on board with the gangster flick. However, Hawks has slightly won me over on his interpretation of the genre.  Through his direction, this iteration of the genre was far more engaging and meaningful to me than any other.