Sightlines · reception
How Scarface was received
1932 · Howard Hawks · Scarface on Sightlines
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 canonized 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 moralizing ending was shot — and Hughes later withdrew the film from circulation entirely, so it was barely seeable until after his death.