Scarface 1932

Mark Chalon Smith, Los Angeles Times: Scarface is one of best of the early gangster movies; its wit and building velocity speeds it past Little Caesar and keeps pace with Public Enemy. Read more

Mordaunt Hall, New York Times: The slaughter in Scarface, the Shame of a Nation, the Howard Hughes gangster production... is like that of a Shakespearean tragedy Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: Howard Hawks's 1932 masterpiece is a dark, brutal, exhilaratingly violent film, blending comedy and horror in a manner that suggests Chico Marx let loose with a live machine gun. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: By far the most visually inventive and tonally anarchic movie that Hawks made. Read more

TIME Magazine: A grisly, exciting gangster picture. Read more

Paul Taylor, Time Out: Its seminal importance in the early gangster movie cycle outweighed only by its still exhilarating brilliance, this Howard Hughes production was the one unflawed classic the tycoon was involved with. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Scarface contains more cruelty than any of its gangster picture predecessors, but there's a squarer for every killing. The blows are always softened by judicial preachments and sad endings for the sinners. Read more