Scarface · reception & legacy

1932 · Howard Hawks

How Scarface has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Fought the censors so hard at release (delays, a forced 'Shame of the Nation' subtitle, a softened alternate ending) that Howard Hughes eventually just pulled it from circulation for decades — it only came back around 1979, and is now canonised as the fiercest of the pre-Code gangster films.

What's debated

The eternal cinephile face-off: is the 1932 original actually better than De Palma's 1983 remake, or is it only 'film-buff correct' to say so?

Its footprint

George Raft's endless coin-flipping made him a star and became THE gangster-movie mannerism — parodied for decades after, most famously to Raft's own face in Some Like It Hot; and of course the title itself now belongs to Pacino in the wider culture.

Where it stands

A pre-Code essential and National Film Registry title — the 'you must see the original' rite of passage for anyone who only knows the remake.

★ Did you know? Censors were so hostile that the film sat on the shelf while Howard Hughes fought them, a subtitle 'The Shame of the Nation' was added, and an alternate, more moralising ending was shot — and Hughes later withdrew the film from circulation entirely, so it was barely seeable until after his death.