'Scarface (1983)' revisit

Originally written the week of Feb. 10th/04

Rating: **** out of ****
An update of the 1932 film of the same name, Brian De Palma’s “Scarface” is the story that follows gangster Antonio “Tony” Montana and his close friend Manolo Ray from their trip on the Cuban Refugee Boat Lift to their arrival in Miami. After killing a powerful Cuban figure, Montana and company gain the ability to leave their refugee camps and roam around the U.S. After unsuccessfully trying to make it legitimately in the country, Montana and Ray resort to selling cocaine to dealers around the world. Tony's rise is quick, but as he becomes more powerful, his enemies and his own paranoia begin to plague his empire. Although it is the archetypal ‘rags to riches’ story, there is an obvious theme to the film: as power rises, happiness falls. It is the classic morality tale. We may end up cheering for the bad guy, but in the end, one way or another he must go down.

It is Al Pacino that allows us to cheer for the bad guy; in what is arguably his best on-screen performance. Pacino more than fulfils this role as he conveys the ruthless nature of Montana and likewise the ruthless nature of Miami's Cocaine underworld. Michelle Pfeiffer is almost equally as good as his cocaine-addled ice queen. It is the characters and relationships in Tony’s life that help him survive, allow the story to thrive and eventually lead to Tony’s downfall. If it was not for his pseudo-sexual possessiveness over his sister, Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), he would not have killed his best friend, Manolo (Steven Bauer). If not for his growing megalomania, he would not have killed Alberto (Mark Margolis), leading to a war with the drug lord Sosa (Paul Shenar), foreshadowing Tony’s final hours.

All these elements would be for not, if it was not for the man behind the scenes bringing them together so beautifully, director Brian De Palma. De Palma brings the audience not only into the inner recesses of Montana's world, but also the reality of the world that he has built. For this film, De Palma sacrificed his usual “Hitchcock-ian” style to explore a much more dazzling, edgier style – one that would fit the action of the film, and the heat of the Miami Beach scene. It is this adopted style that brought us such memorable sequences as the infamous chainsaw scene, as well as Tony’s last stand at his manor, which features one of the best gun battles since ‘The Battle of Bloody Porch’ in Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” (1969).

“Scarface” was only the fifth major writing project for Oliver Stone so the screenplay has a raw edge to it; a certain flare that may only come from a combination of experience, guts, inexperience, drugs (Stone became addicted to cocaine while researching and writing the script) and just a bit of luck. This is the same untreated formula that created Apocalypse Now’. With De Palma as director and Stone as screenwriter, is it any wonder that ‘Scarface’ is a force to be reckoned with?

We see elements of the era in every aspect of the film from the clothing to the cars the characters drive – especially in one funny scene where Pacino buys a Porsche to impress Michelle Pfeiffer. Clothing designer Patricia Norris captures the look and the feel of the 1970’s and 1980’s flawlessly. Another defining characteristic of this film is the music. Many key scenes take place in nightclubs and bars in the end of the disco era, and the music blares with that bubblegum pop of disco mixed with the neon and synthesized elements that were the 80’s. The film was released and takes place in the highlight of the 80’s and thanks to composer Giorgio Moroder, we will forever be teleported back there when we watch this film.

De Palma’s remake is a perfect example of when a film can be a financial disappointment, and still manage to be locked as a cultural phenomenon. The film had a production budget of $25 million but it only garnered $44 million - not a huge profit for a film when it was released in 1983. This was probably due to its attempted censoring. The MPAA threatened it with an X rating, though it was finally released with an R. Still, after a re-release and high DVD sales, the ultra violent gangster film has been locked in our social subconscious as a surefire classic. How many times have we heard someone be called a “cock-a-roach” or have them say “Say hello to my little friend?” Even the critics backpedaled with the film. When it came out originally, they savaged it and now it is called a “consummate gangster movie” or “one of the greatest gangster movies ever”. You’ve got to love poetic justice.