Review of Scarface (1932) by Chris R — 22 Mar 2013

Al Pacino gives one of the many outstanding performances of his career with this immensely powerful, morally depraved rags-to-riches gangster classic and remake of the 1932 movie of the same name. Forged with a gritty, profane, and excellently paced screenplay by Oliver Stone, director Brian DePalma films with confidence and style to create a memorably brutal and heavy-handed depiction of a Cuban immigrant's obsession with power that leads him down a path of destruction.

Upon the immigration of over one hundred thousand Cubans to Miami by decree of Fidel Castro in 1980, many of them criminals released from Cuban prisons, the drug trade becomes increasingly prevalent and dangerous within the city, drawing in the opportunistic and aggressive Tony Montana, who quickly ascends in rank and notoriety.

Montana is street-smart, over-confident, and has a volatile temper, not letting anyone or anything get in his way, making him a both likable and distasteful character played to perfection like no one else could by the great Pacino.

He starts out as a chef working in a meal shack to becoming one of the biggest cocaine suppliers in the country, complete with his crew of fellow immigrants, including Manny, his womanizing, talkative best friend and right-hand man who develops feelings for Tony's little sister, Gina despite Tony's warning and protective nature toward her.

When tony starts out in the business, he works for a wealthy supplier named Frank, a relaxed, aging Cuban who takes a liking to Tony, while Tony sets his sights on Frank's mistress, Elvira (Michelle Pfeiffer), an alluring junkie who finds Tony repulsive at first, but joins Tony when he eliminates Frank and builds himself an empire.

Boasting potent performances from the entire cast, a handful of intense and infamously violent scenes, and peppered with social commentary on the American economy and the elusive American Dream, Scarface is a tale of furious, drug-crazed proportions that closes its power saga with one of the greatest shootouts in movie history.