Scarface The Book

To many, the nickname 'Scarface' brings to mind the image of Al Pacino slumped behind a massive desk piled with mounds of cocaine, yet few are aware that the iconic 1983 Brian DePalma film is in fact a remake of a 1932 black and white film directed by Howard Hawks and produced by renowned aviation entrepreneur Howard Hughes. Fewer still are aware that the '32 film was based on a 1930 novel by Maurice Coons written under the pen name Armitage Trail.

Scarface '83 was a film of incredible popularity in a time of action-packed movies where triumphant endings were the norm, and yet it is a tragedy by the end of which everyone is dead. This phenomenon is intriguing for, while that big studios will always push for love interest and happy endings, this film, which did the opposite, has reached an incredible cult status.

The '32 film, though amusing, is quite toned down in comparison to its remake. Here the characters are Italian, not Cuban, and the illicit traffic of the day is bootlegged liquor, not cocaine. And yet the gist of the tragedy is the same: a young (foreign) Upstart who is more ambitious than his moderate boss; the boss's girl, a cold shouldered trophy dame whom the Upstart covets; the womanizing best friend, or right hand man, who is loyal to the Upstart until he falls in love with his sister; the young sister who, once a symbol of innocence for the Upstart, is now involved in the same shameless world he is; the alienated mother who is ashamed of her son and, of course, classy clothing, surprise murders, gang rivalry, law enforcement persecution and police corruption.

Now, the book, is slightly different.

Mr. Trail spent two of his years in Chicago frequenting the hang-outs of these Italian-American characters (gangsters glorified in so many movies). It does not come any closer to the source than this, and it gave me a great thrill to read the work of someone who was witness to the very history that he wrote about.

Mr. Trail tells a story measured in its violence (compared to '83) and moderate in its social commentary (compared to '32) and yet more gritty at its core. Think a film noir. It is the story of Tony Guarino (a veiled biography of Al Capone) from the days of his youth until his ultimate demise. The elements of tragedy explained earlier are there, but toned down in function of a dynamic story which is unique and exciting.

Now, while the '83 film blames cocaine heavily for the Upstart's downfall, the novel points out how following a lifestyle of crime and violence invariably leads to a tragic end because of the very people it attracts, namely, back-stabbing acquaintances who will be around only so long as they see a profit in doing so, but will betray, sell out, and flee when most needed.

In the novel, Tony Guarino, or Tony Camonte as he later renames himself, eventually tires of fighting, but realizes all too late that he has a wolf by the ears, and that as soon as he lets it go he will be chewed to pieces. Hence there is no retirement for gangsters, only a fight to the death.

Armitage Trail does not delve on descriptions, yet this has its charm too. Because he was describing the Chicago of his own time, he did not feel the need to, assuming that everyone would know, for example, what a car looked like, though for us today, we would need to Google the image of a 1920's car to specifically see what he referred to. This is not a period piece but a piece written in its period.

Now it must be said that this edition, by Blackmask.com, is an editorial joke, riddled with spelling and orthographic errors, yet legible all the same. So be prepared to see some pretty bad typos and mistakes as you read along.

The novel itself, by Armitage Trail, is incredibly exciting and fun to read.

Scarface is a must read, as even for those not interested in the genre will find it thrilling, and especially for those who find themselves enjoying HBO's Boardwalk Empire, for they go hand in hand.

Saving Terminator: Salvation

I never saw the movie. I stopped caring about the franchise at Terminator 3, which I also did not see. I did not see T3 because it was clearly a poor re-hatch of the amazing T2. And Salvation? Well, when I heard it starred whats-his-face as a terminator with a heart I lost any interest immediately. Why? Because the producers are recycling the same premise with a different wrapping: what it is to be human.

And while T1 had the simple premise of robots from the future, T2 focus almost exclusive on the question of what it is to be human. We see it when John Connor tells the Terminator he cannot kill people. Why? Because he can’t! We see Sarah Connor muse on this when she sees her son playing with the Terminator... the perfect father. Sarah Connor also sees some children playing with toy guns and ponders on the self-destructive nature of man. And further Sarah Connor tries to kill a man for a crime he has not comited yet.

So what premise would I have used to approached the script for Salvation? Easy: prophesy.

You see, prophesies and ‘the chosen one’ are staples of fantasy ( over used tropes, really ) yet rarely used in Sci-Fi. But here it lent itself perfectly. It is a time traveling prophecy. Imagine this:

We start Salvation in the future with a battle hopelessly lost by the human resistance.
Skynet win.
John Connor is already a grown man and an established leader.
He sees his people die and suffers tremendously because of it.
The people believe it is hopeless.
But John Connor knows better.
He knows that at some point Skynet will send a T800 to the past and try to kill him.
He knows someone called Kyle Reese is sent back in time to save him.
He knows Kyle Reese is his father.
He also knows that later Skynet will send a T1000 on a second attempt.
He knows the T1000 was foiled by a reprogrammed T800 sent back in time.
This T800 John Connor knew, personally, from his childhood (Terminator 2: Judgement Day)

But how did this happen?
Here is an outline of how I would have drafted the script:

The resistance is being crushed and there is no sight of a Skin Tissue T800.
John Connor knows that his past could not have happened at least until these models have been created and deployed. 
The resistance despairs.
But John Connor encourages them on. He knows that his fate is coming.
Then he is assigned a new sergeant: Kyle Reese.
John Connor knows that he is his father.

Bam! Father issues!

John Connor knows that the time is approaching.
Yet he cannot share this knowledge with anyone because they would think that he went crazy.
Bam! Imagine the drama of not being able to confide on the very people you are trying to save.
He confides on a Hacker.
John and Kyle ( son and father ) go into battle.
Kyle Reese proves himself a brave soldier, but he has lost his faith.
John Connor tells him, ‟No Fate but what we Make, it is what my mother used to tell me. Here is a picture of her for you, Kyle, so she can inspire you to continued the fight.” 

Bam! Next battle, a Skin Tissue T800 infiltrates the headquarters and the resistance loses another battle.
This is the scene where Kyle Reese looses the photo of Sarah Connor to the flames, seen in Terminator 1.
While everyone dispeirs, John Connor has hope because the sight of the Skin Tissue T800 means that the wheels of fate have been put motion. Now it is a matter of finding the time machine. But how?

They capture the T800 which infiltrated the base.
The Hacker hacks into its CPU.
They get the location and the floor plans for the time travel facility.
The resistance wants to follow John Connor’s leadership but raiding the facility is suicide.
Plus many believe he is delusional with the whole time machine idea.
Because how could it be possible?

John Connor convinces the other generals. They decide to create a diversion battle while a crack team infiltrates the facility, including John Connor, Kyle Reese, the Hacker, and the hacked T800.

A double action sequence ensues, where the resistance outside is massacred in the diversion while the crack team reaches the time machine.
They see Skynet send the Skin Tissue T800 back in time to 1986.
BTW: This battle is part of the Terminator lore, so it lines up with the previous movies seemlesly ;)
The crack team is discovered and outnumbered by T800 models.
But the Hacker hacks into the local network and overrides Skynet.
He takes control of every T800 in the facility.
The team is saved.
They send Kyle Reese back in time to 1984.

The Hacker thinks they are done.
But John tells him they need to reprogram another Skin Tissue T800.
They need to send it back to the year 1990s.
BTW: This is a production mistake because, for John Connor to be 10 years old in Terminator 2 the film would have needed to take place in 1995.  ;)
 
The Hacker does not understand why but he reprograms the Skin Tissue T800.
They send it back in time.
He also finds a Classified file in the Computer Mainframe.
It is for a prototype named T1000.
With the hacked batalion of T800s, the Hacker and John Connor set the time traveling machine with explosives.

As they are leaving the facility, the Prototype T1000 emerges from the lab.
It is informed by Skynet to kill John Connor.
The T1000 sees John Connor running away with his team.
The T1000 walks to the time machine.
It sees the last travel log ( 1990s )
It chooses to walk into the time machine instead of chasing adult John.
It sets off the time machine even as the explosives mark the countdown.
In a blinding flash, the T1000 disappears before the whole facility explodes.
It travels back to the last destination, 1990

In the future, the facility explodes with a bang and flames.
No more time machine and no more T units. 
The team runs to help the resistance.
With the hacked T800s, John Connor and the Hacker arrive to save the remnants of the resistance. The battle is won. Yeh!

And then the Hacker says that he has acquired access codes which allow him to hack any T800 unit within a 1km radius. The resistance has the advantage, and there is hope for the future. 

The End.

What do you think?





 

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