Watching both of these movies, I found similarities with the content and few of the dialogues but yes there were some changes made in the remake to suite the social conditions of the way America was in 80’s.
First about the characters, Tony in both the movies were different in some way like Tony (1932) was a jolly fellow and had fun with his gang members and also the boss, He dressed in plain black and white suits, He is an Italian in the movie, he sells beer to make money and when he wanted to kill someone he usually whistles. Whereas in 1983 version, Tony is from Cuba, he is violent, bad mouths a lot, does not joke around and takes business seriously, more courageous then the Tony (1932) since he gave up to the police in the original ending but in remake he fought with the mobs and worked his way from down to top whereas in the original Tony was already shown part of a gang. And whenever Tony (1983) gets angry, the camera focuses on the eyes of Tony and more importantly he sells cocaine in the remake.
But there were similarities in both of them like both of them wanted to reach the top, both have same relation with their mother and sister (in the remake’s case the sister was more of a incest type as she appeared almost naked and tells his brother to have sex with her), both killed their best friend for being with the sister, both like their boss’s girl, both kill their boss for double crossing, both die in the end.
Now about the other characters Tony’s friend in both the movies helped Tony to reach the top but the original one was more resilient towards women whereas in the remake he could fall for any hot woman that he could lay hands on. Sadly both die by the gun fire from Tony for being caught with his sister.
The girl for both Tony’s were vowed almost the same way but in the remake they both get married but the marriage does not work well and she leaves him in a restaurant whereas in the original, she falls for tony after the Boss’s death and is in relation with him.
Both the Boss’s in the two films were of the same situation, both high in power and tried to kill Tony and died same way as well by Tony’s friend. Difference comes here that in the original; the boss dies alone in the office whereas in the remake he is killed with Mel and Ernie watching them both killed.
The rest of characters in the remake were introduced new Like Mel Bernstein, Omar, and Sosa as they had significant roles in this movie and were not in the original.
Now about the situations of the movies which were somehow similar but portrayed in different timings and in different ways but in the end the meaning was same.
The first sequence when Tony sees his sister dancing with a stranger in a club. Tony gets mad as he is protective of her and does not want her to be with a man like he is. However the difference between the original and remake was that in original Tony stops dancing with Poppy and goes to his sister and punches the guy who was dancing with her and leaves the club taking along with her. While in the remake, he sees his sister walking with the man that she danced and when the Tony saw the man touching his sister’s buttocks, he got mad and followed them to the men’s bathroom. When they were making out, Tony bangs the toilet door and kicks the guy out and slaps his sister for doing this. There is a difference of how each tony reacted but the meaning in the end was same.
In the remake when tony asks his friend many to drop his sister back home, she tells him that he wants her as per her judgment of his looks and both stare at each other. While in the original, Tony’s sister throws the coin from her balcony to Tony’s friend Guino and both stare at each other sharing a moment.
In both movies when the Boss’s girl asks Tony what will he do about the boss for which Tony in both the movies reply “I like Johnny/Frank, but I like you better”.
In another scene when the dialogues of both movies meet are when Tony saves himself nearly being killed and suspects his own boss for the doing. When the boss asks question about his condition, tony replies “They wanted to spoil my suit”. Then the boss begs for his life and is then killed by Tony. In the next scene Tony goes to Poppy/Elvira’s house and asks him about the boss for which he replies “where do you think?” But the difference arises when in original movie Tony and Poppy go to Florida for vacation and in the remake Tony and Elvira does not go anywhere and at that moment Tony’s business reaches at the top.
The Line “The world is yours” is seen on both the movies, in the original on the billboard and in the remake on the blimp and in Tony’s home. Which symbolizes that the only way you can get is through Money, Power and Respect and that is how the world became his.
In both the movies Tony executes his best friend for being with his sister and upsets him later on. However the outcome was different in both the movies. In the original, Tony’s sister shows up to him with a gun but cannot shoot him as she believes that there is a part of her in him. And then later the bullet which was for Tony hits his sister and dies in the end. In the remake one, Tony’s sister actually shoots him and then later is killed by a man who comes from window and shoots her like 10 or more bullets. With this also thing to notice that the remake had more gore in it rather than the original one.
And more importantly the way both died was different as well. In the original, police surround his house and want to arrest him for the murder for his best friend Guino. Tony tries to escape and losses his courage and thus dies by the machine gun. In the remake version, Tony is surrounded by a mob and picks up a gun and kills few of them when finally he dies from a shotgun behind his back.
To conclude, the content is similar only the difference comes in execution of both of them since each movie was made according to the demands and likes of the social lifestyle. The remake was well made by De Palma. Both of these movies tell a story of rise and fall of a gangster because of his greediness for money and power and the movie ends with Tony’s death since this movie was about him