Scarface

Maybe you've seen Howard Hawks' brilliant film version of this, starring Paul Muni as Tony Camonte and Ann Dvorak as his tough-as-nails sister. Or maybe you've seen the updated (and inferior) Brian DePalma version with Al Pacino. This is the book that started it all, and it's still fun to read all these years later. It's very different from the movies it inspired, though the general plot is similar: small-fry gangster ruthlessly claws his way to the top of the heap, killing mercilesly along the way. Trail's writing is terse and snappy, and not given to too much moralizing or sappy gangland slang. We grow to respect Tony for all his depravity, and it's easy to revel in his successes and smack your head when he does something bone-headed. Mostly, though, the ride is exciting and the plotting crisp. If you're looking for a hard-boiled look at Prohibition-era gangs, this fills the bill, and should be read right along with other crime classics like Edward Anderson's "Thieves Like Us" and W.R. Burnett's "Little Caesar." The only drawback: it was evidently published as a serial in a magazine, because every 15 pages or so he restates plot points as if to refresh readers' memories-- but this is a small and easily foregivable flaw. Note: This book is available in its entirety online.

I had seen both versions of the movie Scarface and enjoyed them, but I always felt something had been left out or wasn't just quite right. Having read the book, I wish someone would remake the movie and follow the book, not the script that was written from it. Perhaps the studios or writers didn't want to make Tony a character people would like, perhaps they didn't want people to think of Al Capone as having any redeeming features. All I know is that I couldn't put this book down, when I finished it I read it again. If you are a fan of the movies, please read the book. Yes, the character of Tony's sister is in the book, but there is not a hint of Tony having 'a thing' for her and he has a brother who is a policeman.

So, this is the book Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht took to make their famous film, "Scarface". Almost everybody's forgotten that this character's been created by this almost unknown novelist, Armitage Trail (real name: Maurice Coons). In this book, Tony is an immoral little gangster who survies an attack, which gives him a scar on the cheek. His family believes he's dead, but he's not and he becomes the partner of one of the most feared gangsters in Chicago, taking the name of Tony Camonte. When his boss decides to take some vacation and gets out of the city, Tony takes his place and becomes the biggest man. But his brother, who's a cop and doesn't recognize him, is after him...A good novel and a valid portrayal of the Mafia circle in the 30's. Tony is harder than he is in Hawks' film; he doesn't have any sister to "protect" from the others and in general he doesn't show any feeling. He doesn't do anything but threaten and kill. The ending is a little quick and disappointing but doesn't waste the rest of it. A novel which deserves (along with his writer) a little more fame.