Scarface

In her review of the classic Howard Hawks gangster film Scarface, famed cinema critic Pauline Kael (2000, p. 1) remarks, "The opening sequence is a beauty." The opening sequence of Scarface may be cinematically beautiful but its purpose is to show the ugly side of crime, with viewers being privy to Tony Camonte's murder of a gangland kingpin that promotes him to organized crime boss.

The opening scene is stylistic and expressionistic and sets up symbols, theme, and tone for the rest of the film. This style encompasses two primary symbols. The first is an "X," the symbol that will appear throughout the film prior to a murder occurring. The second is the "whistling" of Tony Camonte, something that will also reoccur throughout the film before the gangster murders someone.

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