3. Mental Health
Al Capone was in rough shape when he checked into jail in 1932. He had multiple venereal diseases, he weighed 250 pounds, and he suffered from addiction. His withdrawal symptoms faded into symptoms of dementia over time, a side effect of untreated syphilis. To treat him, doctors injected Capone with malaria, hoping to sweat out the syphilis, but that treatment almost killed him. When he finally left Alcatraz, he was a shredded man. In Scarface, Tony Montana’s fading mental health occurs outside the prison, in the lavish comforts of his Miami mansion. He loses his wife, his reputation, his best friend, and his sister. Even his mother disowns him. With nothing left to lose, he goes down shooting.