Scarface

This is one of the first major gangster films and one of the absolute film classics. Scarface was controversial in its time because it depicted a brutal, morally blunted, nihilistic and cynical universe without moralizing. Scarface was cool and stylish, funny and brutal, and it did not condemn the evil or give the good redemption. Paul Muni plays the slick gangster Tony Camonte, who enters the film whistling in silhouette. Hawks focuses on the vital side of the hero, on the self-destructive intensity of his life, rather than on the morally questionable aspects of his lifestyle.