Al Capone was rumored to have liked the film so much that he had his own copy of it.
About one hour into the film, upon entering the Paradise Club, Tony, i.e. Paul Muni is greeted by a blonde who looks suspiciously like Jean Harlow. Harlow biographer David Stenn claims that this is indeed Jean Harlow herself, in an uncredited cameo appearance, but Harlow biographer Mark Vieira authoritatively states that it cannot be Harlow, because she was away from Hollywood at the time the scene was filmed, and so the actress in question must be a Harlow lookalike, deliberately positioned to look like her.
At one point, a list of prior offenses is read, including possession/use of brass knuckles and "saps". Saps, or sap gloves, are gloves with lead or steel granules sewn into the knuckles and backs of the hands.
Film debut of George Raft, who didn't have to go far for inspiration on how to play a gangster in this film. He grew up in a New York City slum alongside gangsters Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Joe Adonis and Lucky Luciano. In an ironic twist, after the release of "Scarface", many of Raft's gangster pals would come to him for advice on how to dress, walk, talk, etc.
In the book this film is based on ("Scarface" by Armitage Trail), Antonio 'Tony' Camonte is born Antonio 'Tony' Guarino with his brother Ben Guarino. After several crimes the police are looking for him so he goes off to war, gets his scar, and when he returns he finds out he had been reported dead and no one recognizes him because of his scar. He becomes Antonio 'Tony' Camonte and starts a new life. This is where the film begins. That means if we're staying true to the book, Insp. Ben Guarino is his brother.
Many of the events in the film are based upon the life of Al Capone and the Chicago gang wars of the 1920s. In order, the most prominent are: 1. Tony's killing of his boss, "Big Louie" Costillo, in the lobby of his club is based on Capone's involvement in the murder of his first boss, "Big" Jim Colosimo. 2. Guino (George Raft) comes into Tony's apartment wearing a flower in his coat lapel and we learn he killed rival boss, O'Hara. In real life, Capone's men killed Charles Dion O'Bannion in his flower shop. 3. The scene where Gaffney (Boris Karloff) leads a caravan of cars in a drive-by shooting at Tony in a restaurant was based on an incident in 1927 when Capone's rival, Hymie Weiss, did the same thing to him. 4. When Johnny Lovo tries to get Tony killed in a car chase. That comes from the demise of Capone's allies, the Genna Brothers. 5. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929.
Prominent use of the figure "X". Its first appearance is under the opening credits and from then on, whenever a character dies, the figure "X" is prominent in the scene. Some examples: during the shooting in the bowling alley, a pencil fills in a strike box on a scorecard. When a recreation of the St. Valentine's Massacre is shown, the scene begins in the rafters of the garage, where the roof support beams are seven "X" shaped pieces. When Tony kills his best friend at the door of his apartment, the number on the door is "X". This was done for a reason: newspapers at the time printed photos of crime scenes. The "X" would be used to mark the spot of where the body was found.
Ranked #6 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Gangster". The remake Scarface, starring Al Pacino, is ranked #10 in June 2008.
Screenwriter Ben Hecht was a former Chicago journalist familiar with the city's Prohibition-era gangsters, including Al Capone. During the filming Hecht returned to his Los Angeles hotel room one night to find two Capone torpedoes waiting for him. The gangsters demanded to know if the movie was about Capone. Hecht assured them it wasn't, saying that the character Tony Camonte was based on gangsters like "Big" Jim Colosimo and Charles Dion O'Bannion. "Then why is the movie called Scarface?" one of the hoods demanded. "Everyone will think it's about Capone!" "That's the reason," said Hecht. "If you call the movie Scarface, people will think it's about Capone and come to see it. It's part of the racket we call show business." The Capone hoods, who appreciated the value of a scam, left the hotel placated.
The "serious" play in which Tony is so interested is an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's "Sadie Thompson".
The censors of the time thought that the film depicted that a life of crime was too easy and that Tony had still gotten away with his crimes. A second ending was shot, showing Tony being taken away by the police. He is then tried, found guilty and hanged. Paul Muni is not seen throughout this ending. Tony's sister's death scene was also re-edited, as it was felt that his affections toward her were not so brotherly. None of these changes satisfied the censors, so director Howard Hawks decided to abandon the changes and released it without censor approval. The movie's subtitle, "(The) Shame of a Nation", was added to deflect criticism on the same grounds.
The film's release was delayed almost a year due to producer Howard Hughes' protracted battles with regional censor boards. When Turner Classic Movies screened the film on August 9, 2011, host Ben Mankiewicz stated that to satisfy the stricter boards, director Howard Hawks assembled a second, less violent cut.
This is one of the first films to feature the Thompson submachine gun, known to history as the "tommy gun." The characters never call it anything other than "machine gun," except when Poppy calls it a "bean shooter" and Tommy refers to the gun as a "typewriter" when he first sees one. Another name for a "tommy gun" was "Chicago typewriter."