Scenario: As an industry specialist, you have been invited to prepare and deliver a video presentation to be delivered at a national media conference looking at changes and developments in the motion picture industry. Your presentation will be entitled Old Films for New, and will compare a contemporary remake with the original version.
Task
A comparison of the production contexts and factors of a contemporary remake with the original version:
- The assignment will take the form of a video presentation which compares a contemporary remake with an original version. It should focus upon and comprehensively explain the relationship between films and their production contexts and factors that influence that context.
- The assignment should use elucidated examples.
- The assignment should consistently use subject terminology correctly.
- The assignment should take the form of a video which incorporates an informative voiceover alongside suitable imagery (e.g. selected stills/clips, graphs, talking heads) to support the material.
- A link to the video must be emailed to Neil.
Production context is a huge factor in influencing how a final film turns out. Films from different eras/backgrounds can be noticeably different from one another based on the time they were made (and how this has influenced them), and also the background to their production. Think of the following:
- Budgets
- SFX
- Trends
- Regulatory Issues
- Star Vehicles
- Social Change
- Horizontal Integration
- Synergy between Movies
- Distribution and Exhibition
Potential movies to use:
- Scarface
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Psycho
- King Kong
- Dawn of the Dead
- Robocop
Old Films for New
Links: http://theactionelite.com/2014/09/scarface-1932-vs-scarface-1983/ , http://www.filmsite.org/scar.html
As part of the task of exhibiting the change and developments made in motion movie picture industries, I will be talking of a particular movie remake while comparing it to the original. With about 51 years of difference between them, the original and remake of the movie Scarface have their contrasts and similarities. Let us start off with discussing the budget.
The 1932 version made approximately $600,000 at the box office, which apparently was not a huge success, due to the amount of banned screenings the movie had. I can’t find any number on what the budget was, only mention that the movie was not a commercial success. The 1983 Scarface was on a budget of $25 million and made $65.9 million at the box office, more than making back in terms of profits. Though we don’t have much to go off of when it comes to the context of the 1932’s budget, it is quite telling that it was filmed primarily in 3 different locations, these being Metropolitan Studios, Harold Lloyd Studios and the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles.
While 1932’s Scarface was filmed on sets and studios (as was the norm for movies back then), 1983’s Scarface took place in Los Angeles in actual locations and areas representative of Miami. This is no doubt a product of the time, as more and more movies began to move away from the typical Hollywood movie studios and start experimenting with actual, real life locations.
Speaking on special effects (SFX), one may be surprised to learn of the level of violence the original Scarface had, especially given the context of its time period. In fact, the original script saw a much more violent ending scene similar to that of the remake. Of course, the effects used during the shootouts are, as expected, not as extravagant or as bloody compared to the remake, which emphasized blood and bullet wounds, as well as the destruction of the environment the gunfight scenes were set in. That is not to say there isn’t destruction in the original however, as bullets leave their mark and a smoke grenade clouds the ending scene. A cafe is also violently shot up with the intention of killing the protagonist and his lover.
Indeed, it is the remake that shines with this level of violence that drew initial controversy. When the movie first came out, it was met with mixed reviews, with audiences and critics noting how they felt that the violence and language were gratuitous. One particular scene that drew controversy was the scene in which Tony Montana’s friend, Angel, is brutally murdered by a Colombian drug dealer, who slices open his head with a chainsaw. This is a clear contrast in the remake and original, as there was way less controversy over the scenes of violence in the 32’ version, due to it being made in the “Pre-Code” era of Hollywood, which was adopted in 1930. Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines.
On the topic of trends, both the original and the remake were in the genre of gangster movies that were the norm during their respective time periods. Each movie represented a different time period and style of that particular realm of genre; the remake was apart of a series of gangster flicks at the time during the reign on the real life “Scarface”, Al Capone. The Prohibition Era enabled organized crime and criminals such as Capone to make money over the illegal selling of alcohol, which increased their profits. Ths was very much the deal with the original Scarface, as it drew inspiration from the life of Capone and the context of the time period, with organized crime running rampant. The ending scene is reminiscent to the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, in which seven rival gang members were killed by Capone’s men.
Compared to 1983’s Scarface however, I dare say the remake is a much more politically contextualized movie, as Montana is a Cuban immigrant who makes it big, achieving the American Dream, having come from a communist state which makes him believe to be a political prisoner. He is apart of the Mariel boatlift in 1980, in which Cuban immigrants arrived in Miami, Florida. These were mostly convicted criminals and asylum inmates, and there was controversy for the Carter administration on whether or not they should accept these refugees. In addition to this, Montana’s activities and interactions with the world around him shed light on the political corruption and influence of drug cartels have in governments around the world. It was definitely a more modern take on the original.
Regulatory issues that occurred for the original movie was the issue surrounding the topic of the movie. As mentioned beforehand, the movie was made before the Pre-code era of Hollywood, where movie content was restricted more by local laws, negotiations between the Studio Relations Committee and the major studios, and popular opinion, than strict adherence to the Hays Code, which was often ignored by Hollywood filmmakers. As a result, films in the late 1920s and early 1930s included sexual innuendo, profanity, illegal drug use, promiscuity, prostitution, infidelity, abortion, intense violence, and more. In the original script, the protagonist’s mother loves her son unconditionally despite his lifestyle, and the alternate endings included a more violent and defiant death from Camonte.
1983’s Scarface faced an issue with how it should be rated. In North America, the movie was given the X rating three times due to its extreme violence, frequent strong language, and hard drug usage. The restrictive rating was more associated with pornography at the time, and it both limited the number of cinemas willing to screen such a film and restricted promotional advertising, which would potentially adversely affect any box office takings. The movie was edited three to five times before finally being submitted only to once again be given X rating, but it was then later compromised to an R rating. Fortunately for the commerciality of the movie, this rating did not hamper box office success.
A star vehicle, or simply vehicle, is a film written or produced for a specific star, regardless of whether the motive is to further their career, or simply to profit from their current popularity. Actor Paul Muni’s career as a bonafide star was made with his role as Antonio “Tony” Camonte, as he would go to more critically acclaimed roles in the movie industry as a leading man, earning five Academy Award nominations and winning one. That isn’t to say this movie was specifically made with him in mind for the role, but it furthered his value to Warner Bros. as a great actor.
As for Antonio “Tony” Montana, as depicted as Al Pacino, this film only served to further cultivate his legacy as arguably one of the all time great actors. This role is up for debate as to whether or not it is his best, but there are many contenders I’m sure. Again, the movie wasn’t written with Al Pacino in mind, with Robert de Niro being one of the first casting choices only to follow through. Regardless, Pacino owned the role and worked hard on his character, even taking citation from his predecessors performance in the 1932 original.
In terms of social change, a lot had occurred between 1932 and 1983. As aforementioned in my discussion of trends of the time period, the movies take on these similar themes of money, corruption and power, albeit in different ways. As I said, I think 1983’s Scarface is a much more political look into crime with historical references to Cuban migration to America and the influence drug cartels had on government around the world, as shown with Alejandro Sosa’s character in the country of Bolivia. Meanwhile, the original Scarface was more focused on the criminals and gangsters themselves, focusing on the actors of the Prohibition Era and drawing inspiration from men like Capone, even using two of his men as consultants for the movie.
Both movies shared their critiques, with 1932’s Scarface being put under question as to whether or not this movie romanticised organized criminals and glorified their lifestyles. The same can be said on 83’s Scarface, with the abundance of drugs and murder being critiqued as gratuitous. In addition, the movie drew controversy for its depiction of Cuban immigrants in America, with many in the Miami community objecting to Cuban portrayals of their people being criminals and drug traffickers. This was all part of the social changes of the time, as the movie depicted the Mariel boatlift and capitalist sentiments towards communist beliefs (depicted through Montana’s dialogue).
Horizontal integration can be seen in many mainstream movies, particularly in the present day, with products such as toys and games being a part of a bigger product to enforce advertising and flood the market. Synergy between movies is also prevalent, with combined efforts resulting in horizontal integration. There isn’t a lot to comment on either for when it comes to the Scarface movies, unless you count the game Scarface: The World is Yours, a game which came out in 2006. I played it myself and I gotta say it was pretty good; however, there aren’t many examples I can point to for either movie when it comes to synergy or horizontal integration.
The distribution of an exhibition of both the original and remake of the movie Scarface had their similar controversies, concerning their content. As previously said, the original faced the issues of censors and local regulation, which meant it lost money at the box office due to limited screenings and venues to be exhibited from. This affected the box office success of the movie, as local and popular opinion played its role as to whether or not the movie should be shown in their local town cinema.
Scarface 1983 meanwhile was a for more successive movie at the box office, but was not without its difficulties when it came to exhibition of the movie in cinemas. Previously the movie had to go through the issue of a rating before being shown in theatres, and when the movie was shown, there was a polarising response. Singer and actress Cher was said to love the movie, as well as director Martin Scorsese who warned actor Steven Bauer that "... be prepared, because they're going to hate it in Hollywood... because it's about them." Writers Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving were said to have walked out in disgust after the notorious chainsaw scene, and actress Lucille Ball was said to have hated the movie.
What you can really take away from all of this is the fight that both movie productions had in order to get these movies not only made, but appropriately viewed and appreciated. Initially, they were both contemporarily held in this limbo of divisiveness before being looked back upon as classics, and as movies they truly influenced and innovated other medias. They also go to show that nothing truly changed between the 51 years of film making, at least when it comes to what is deemed controversial and what is violent. Nowadays, the original Scarface’s violence pales in comparison to that of the remake, and one could make the argument that the remake has been surpassed by far more violent movies.
Ultimately, the legacy of the Scarface movies are this: one of the best of their genre and an inspiration for crime and gangster movies to come.
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