About 190,000 bullets fly through this iconic tale of a power-hungry gangster’s rise and fall. Paul Muni is Tony Camonte, a charismatic tough guy who works his way up the fedora-laden gangland ladder. He isn’t afraid of anybody, he speaks-a with a thick-a Italian accent, and he’s suspiciously fixated on keeping his 18 year old sister (Ann Dvorak) chaste. Early in the film, he gets promoted from a mere strongarm to second-in-command in a big gang, but, of course, he’s not gonna settle for that. He wants to be on top.
This film ran into trouble with the censors over its constant violence, as well as over concerns that it glorifies gangsters, with Tony seen living the high life in ritzy clubs and opulent apartments in Depression-era America. Producer Howard Hughes and director Howard Hawks responded by adding a preface to the film, in the form of sternly written title cards, to explain that their story is thoroughly and unequivocally anti-crime. Nevertheless, this was rumored to be a favorite film of Al Capone (whose own nickname was “Scarface”).
Howard Hawks foreshadows each moment where Tony murders one of his rivals by sneaking a figure “X” into the start of each scene. Look for it in the form of criss-crossed ceiling rafter beams, straps on a gown, a marking on a bowling score card, and so on.