- Tony Mantana: What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be? You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through! Better get outta his way!

You're probably wondering, out of all the possible great quotes from this movie, I chose that one to open the review with. Honestly, it was a tough choice, but I felt this was one of the more powerful deliveries in the movies, with nothing else stealing the attention away from the scene. Just a panning shot of Tony (Al Pacino) speaking his mind after a somewhat embarassing outburst with his wife that drew the attention of everyone else.

Plot/Story/Whatever:
The film takes place following the Mariel Harbor boat lift in 1980, where thousands of Cuban refuges (and criminals) evacuated from Cuba to the shores of Florida. Among those is former-criminal Tony Montana, wearing a really ugly shirt and making an impact 3 minutes into the movie with his little speech in the Imigration office ("I want my fuckin' human right now, just like the president Jimmy Carter says."). Along the way we meet Tony's partner in crime, Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer, one of the few authentic Cubans casted for the movie), and a few running buddies that make very little impact on the rest of the film.

We quickly learn that Tony Montana is a proud, but insecure, and sometimes confused, character. While he hides this early on with his "tough guy" act, following his rise in the drug lord Hall of Fame, he becomes paranoid to the point he has security cameras installed all over his mansion and gets suspicious over the slightest thing. While usually playing his cards right, Tony often makes easy mistakes, taking the easy way out of everything, and basically asking for more than he could handle. It's Tony's good nature that ends him, though.

About 40 minutes into the movie, we meet Tony's (at the moment) boss, Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia), and his wife Elvira (Michelle Pfeiffer), who Tony takes a not-so subtle liking to. Although Tony claims of having no living relatives in the states, about 1/3rd into the movie we come across his mother (Miriam Colon) and sister Gina (Mary-Elizabeth Mastrantonio). This part of the storyline comes across as odd, as Tony is so over protective of his younger sister that it hints pedophilia, which comes to a head near the end when Tony loses it and does something he would regret.

Back to the story and not the main characters, Tony and Manny enter america and quickly get shuffled into the drug racket, but before they make it big, Tony is just another pawn in the business of Lopez. It isn't until the visit to Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar) that we see Tony's dominating and powerful side, as he negotiates for Lopez a deal with Sosa worth more than Lopez was willing to do. Oh yeah, and Omar gets hung from a helicopter because he's a slimeball piece of shit. Lopez, feeling Tony is getting too big for his own good, decides to do a hit, which goes wrong, and Tony, the clever person he is, tracks down Lopez and guns him down. Oh, and he finally got Elivra.

It's this point in the movie where Tony goes from pawn and appreciative to greedy and paranoid, bringing in more money and more cocaine than Lopez ever did, at a much faster rate, and enjoying the high life, all glossed over with one montage scene. Tony runs into problems along the way, falling into legal trouble because of laundering money with an undercover cop, and needing Sosa to bail him out. This is where the story of Tony Montana turns for the worst. After losing Elvira, losing track of where best friend Manny is, and having troubles keeping his sister in line, Tony agrees to assist with a hit for Sosa that would help him get out of his legal bind...

Until he realizes the hit now includes the targets wife and children, a rule Tony has stated many times that he doesn't kill women and children. Instead of doing his job, he blows Sosa's hitman's brains into the window, thus signing his own death certificate. From here Tony spirals down even further, but for those who've never seen the movie, I won't say. It ends with a screaming match with Sosa over the phone, and a fnal stand where Tony, with nothing to lose, decides to take everyone with him to hell as he can before he's taken down. Tony should've listend to Lopez earlier about the 2 rules in the business: 1. Never underestimate the other guys greed, and 2. Don't get high on your own supply. He clearly broke both rules, and quite quickly at that.

Score: 10/10: Now, this sounds more like a summary of the movie, and that's probably how it should be taken, but I think I make enough sense in their explaining everything. Everything in this film is well written and directed, as there are very little to no loose ends that need to be taken care off, and with extensive scenes, everything is explained and detailed without much trouble or rushing.

Acting:
I don't understand some peoples problems about Al Pacino's cuban accent not being authentic, but when you have stage hands working with you every day to get it down to a good blend, you're doing something right, and I don't notice anything that'll prove otherwise. The only problem is that although Tony had been living in Cuba for god knows how long, he rarely ever says anything in Spanish, which should be his #1 language. I can't fault him for that though, so it has no effect. Also Al delivers his lines with charm, arrogance, and a bit of comedy in everything he says, making each scene easy to understand wether or not we should be paying deep attention or laughing.

The rest of the cast pulls in a great job as well. Steven Bauer plays the macho loverboy Manny with little trouble, Michelle Pfeiffer a drugged up cokehead who only cares about money and fortune, and then you have the often drunk and cowardly Frank Lopez character played by Robert Loggia. All in all, a great casting job.
Score: 10/10

Script:
Written by Oliver Stone, it's a story of the rise and fall of a druglord who didn't know what kind of business he was getting into, worrying more about making money than saving his neck, and when the money kept rolling in, his defense lowered even more to the point there was no way he was going to survive such a tough life. I could go on about the Tony character, but it's so complex, and some people will see it in different ways.

Very few of the scenes are worthless, as almost everything done in every scene is important to one part of the storyline, and that's really saying something, because when you have a 3 hour film, you usually expect some kind of filler. Of course, for deleted scenes, you get plenty of them, so if you like useless crap, you know where to look. :)
Score: 10/10


DVD Information:

Bonus Features:

Scarfce: The Rebirth:
Director Brian De Palma, Al Pacino, producer Martin Bregman, and screenwriter Oliver Stone examine the history of SCARFACE from the original 1932 classic to the shooting script.

Scarface: Acting:
The filmmakers, Al Pacino, and other cast members share behind-the-scenes stories and offer insists into how they created these legendary characters.

Scarface: Creating:
A fascinating look at the making of SCARFACE, and the controversies and struggles that plagued the filmmakers. Beginning with location changes, filming the chainsaw scene, battles to gain an "R" Rating, and more.

Scarface: The TV Version
A revealing and hilarious montage of film clips comparing the theatrical version to the network version of SCARFACE.

Deleted Scenes

Audio:
Remastered in 5.1 Dolby Digital and dts for better-than-the-original Sound quality.
Languages: English 5.1 Dolby Digital and 5.1 DTS Surround, Espanol Digital 2.0 Mono, Francais Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono.

Picture:
Presented in Anamrphic Widescreen Format (Aspect Ratio 2.35:1)

Captions and Subtitles:
English Captioned, Espanol and Francais Subtitled


DVD Features Ratings: The three documantaries appear to be 1 big story split up into 3 sections, for those with a short attention span, or those with not enough time to sit through the 80+ minutes it all runs. The deleted scenes are deleted for a reason, but they aren't all bad, and the look at the TV Version is really fucking funny, considering some of the line changes ("Where did you get the beauty scar, eating pineapple?") There's also some crappy rap thing about the movie, but that's a waste of time. It would've been cool to add a jukebox for all the songs used in the movie, but that's not really a problem, is it?
Rating: 9/10

Final Thoughts: Even though this is one of my personal favorite films of all time, I tried my best to be impartial in this review, and hopefully that's how it came across. I don't see how some people can hate the movie, outside of the over-the-top violence, but great acting and a great screenplay should be able to cover that up, especially considering the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan is far worse than everything in this movie combined. For those who are fans of Al Pacino, this is highly recommended, as it's probably one of his top 3 character performances. For those who aren't, but are interested, I'd still recommend. I'd only give this a non-recommendation for those who hate violence, excessive language (fuck is used over 200 times), and the "mob" type atmopshere.


Buy the Scarface DVD Here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AMRJ...&s=dvd&v=glance

Buy the Scarface Soundtrack Here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=music&n=507846

Nice review, although I would say that this film is as great as you would Scrooge...........it's definately good fun. It's rather over the top with the language and violence but then again.........that's what director Brian DePalma is known for.

Some of the language seemed a bit too much, but being so long, it doesn't come across as that bad.

A example of the opposite is Bad Santa. A movie barely over 100 minutes, and the guy says fuck almost the same amount of times, as well as unnecessary uses of "God dammit" and other profanities that added nothing to the scenes.

I won't argue violence, because that's a bit more subjective. Some of the stuff was brutal mentally (chainsaw scene most specifically, and long shots of Omar being hung from the helicopter), but it wasn't a gorefest.

Bad Santa is a bad comparison though, because it's a black comedy.

It's not a gorefest, but it's very exploitative cinema. I'm not necessessarily saying that's a bad thing, it's just not normal for a mainstream film. It's also in the style that DePalma is into as well. I know you said that you liked the screenplay too, but have you actually ever read it? It's really not THAT good.....

It was written by a guy who was under the influence of drugs. What did you expect? That makes it perfect for this film. :P Seriously, it's one of those films you either love or kinda like. I don't see flaws in it because it's very entertaining, while you see it as what it probably is. A good movie that could use a little work.

Nice review Scrooge, and I would agree with you for the most part. Scarface is in a very elite class of great movies. To me, production and thiongs like that are secondary, even acting to an extent, to story. This story draws you in and doesn't let up for the entire movie.