Scarface (1983 film)

Scarface
Directed by	Brian de Palma
Written by	Oliver Stone
Produced by	Martin Bregman
Starring	Al Pacino Steven Bauer Michelle Pfeiffer Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio Robert Loggia
Cinematography	John A. Alonzo
Edited by	Gerald B. Greenbury David Ray
Music by	Giorgio Moroder
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	December 9, 1983
Running time	170 min.
Country	United States
Languages	English, Spanish
Budget	$25,000,000 (estimate)

Scarface is a 1983 English language motion picture directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana. A remake of the 1932 Howard Hawks' gangster film, a fictional Cuban refugee who comes to Florida in 1980 as a result of the Mariel Boatlift.

Tony becomes a gangster against the backdrop of the 1980s cocaine boom. The film chronicles his rise to the top of Miami's criminal underworld and subsequent downfall. The film is loosely based on the 1932 fictionalized Al Capone biopic, Scarface.

Although initially released to little fanfare, and the target of harsh reviews, Scarface has more recently re-emerged as a celebrated film and fixture in pop culture, particularly within the world of hip-hop. It developed a phenomenal cult following and is today one the most celebrated films of all time.

Plot

Immigration

In 1980, young Cuban hitman Antonio (Tony) Montana claims political asylum in Florida in the United States after departing Cuba via the Mariel boatlift, an impromptu mass migration of refugees which took place with the agreement of both nations. Among the exiles were a significant number of prisoners, people from Cuba's mental institutions and other "political undesirables". Upon their arrival in Miami, Tony and several of his old prison friends, including his partner-in-crime, Manolo (Manny) Ribera find themselves being held in a detention camp beneath Interstate 95 while the U.S. government attempts to figure out what to do with the fugitives.

Opportunity comes for them when they are hired by Miami drug lord Frank Lopez to murder Emilio Rebenga - a former high government official in the Castro administration - who has arrived in the camp. When Emilio was part of Fidel Castro's regime, he tortured Frank's brother to death, but was later expelled for suspected conspiracy against Castro.

In exchange for carrying out the assassination, Lopez promises to obtain US immigration green cards for Manny, Tony and another associate of Tony's named Angel Fernandez. Soon thereafter, a detention camp riot breaks out and using the confusion and chaos as a cover, the three begin their job. Manny trails Rebenga into a tent as Rebenga attempts to gather his belongings during the ensuing chaos. Angel appears at the entrance of the tent chanting the words "Libertad!" (Liberty in Spanish) causing the other rioters around him to join in on chanting the words. Behind Rebenga, Manny shouts Rebenga's name and begins to follow him menacingly with his switchblade drawn, muttering the words "Libertad" along with the rioters. Rebenga flees from Manny, only to be stabbed in the abdomen by Tony. As Rebenga walks away in pain, holding his stomach he falls onto the ground and dies.

Drug Deals

Once freed from the camp, Tony and Manny get a job washing dishes at a Cuban food stand in Little Havana Miami. They quickly start daydreaming about becoming big shots, and are eventually approached by one of Lopez's henchman, Omar Suarez for a job. Tony's negotiation skills and his arrogance land them a far bigger job than expected. Suarez offers Montana $5,000 to pick up 2 kg of cocaine from a Colombian couple at a hotel room in South Beach. They then quit their job after throwing their aprons to their ex-boss. Tony and Angel Fernandez walk into the small outside-entry hotel room while Manny and Chi Chi wait outside. Tony attempts to fast-talk the dealer, but eventually the deal goes sour, when Tony and Angel are double-crossed by the Colombians, who want to kill them for the money and keep the drugs for themselves. They are chained to a shower curtain rod and Tony is forced to watch while Angel is dismembered with a chainsaw.

Outside, Manny and Chi Chi decide to make a move when Tony and Angel's time to return has elapsed. They move in, assuming the long wait means that the deal had gone badly. Just as Tony is about to suffer the same fate as Angel, his friends burst in to save him, killing the Colombians. During the ensuing melee, Manny is shot and the ringleader of the group, Hector the Toad, uses his chainsaw to escape from the room. Tony chases Hector furiously outside and shoots him dead in the middle of a crowded South Beach street. With the cash and the cocaine, Tony, Manny and Chi Chi escape before the police show up.

Tony and Manny arrive at Frank Lopez's mansion, where Tony turns both the cash and the llello (pronounced Yeyo, cocaine) over to Lopez, who, seeing that Tony has a knack for completing the dirty work, immediately hires Tony and Manny as enforcers in his criminal hierarchy. They discuss business at Frank's estate and The Babylon Club, where Tony becomes attracted to Frank's girlfriend, Elvira Hancock (played by Michelle Pfeiffer).

File:Scarface elvira.jpg

Michelle Pfeiffer as Elvira Hancock.

Over the next few months, Tony begins his meteoric rise up through the ranks of the Miami cocaine underworld in bloody fashion. He re-establishes contact with his family, feeling that his money and nice clothes will make them proud of him. His mother immediately disowns him for being involved in the drug trade but his sister Gina couldn't be happier to see him.

Tony, however, beats the breaks off his younger sister, Gina, becoming very protective of her to the point of stifling. When Tony sees Gina dancing with and preparing to have sex with a sleazy guy at the Babylon, Tony becomes enraged, kicks the sleazy man out and orders Manny to drive Gina home. Tony thinks he is protecting her from being hit on, but this backfires, as Gina gets to know Manny and eventually begins seeing him behind Tony's back.

Rise to Power

While accompanying Omar to Bolivia, Tony begins to show his defiance to Lopez's authority when he negotiates a deal outside of the previously set parameters with the ruthless and powerful Bolivian drug lord Alejandro Sosa. Sosa then dismisses Omar to his helicopter as he and Tony take a walk outside his mansion. Sosa then explains to Tony that Omar was an informant for the police. Sosa hands Tony a pair of binoculars and Tony watches as Omar is thrown out of the helicopter with a noose around his neck.

Following an argument between Tony and Frank Lopez at Lopez Motors (Frank's base of operations in Miami) over the deal that was arranged, Tony leaves Lopez's service and strikes out on his own, while making consistent approaches to Lopez's girlfriend, Elvira Hancock. Tony is also threatened by a member of Miami Vice, Mel Bernstein, who recognising Tony as a potentially large dealer, demands bribes for silence.

The full-blown conflict between Lopez and Tony over these matters result in an assassination attempt in which Frank sends two men to kill Tony at The Babylon Club. Tony is wounded but makes it out alive, killing the assassins in the process. He pays a late-night visit to Frank and the corrupt cop Mel Bernstein. Frank, obviously surprised to see Tony alive, puts on a ruse and vows to find the assassin. Tony, however, has already traced the plot back to Frank and draws his gun, unmoved as Frank begs for his life. He finally relents, saying that he won't kill Frank. Instead, Tony orders Manny to shoot Frank, while Tony kills Mel.

After Frank's death, Tony takes over his businesses. He marries Elvira in a lavish ceremony, and everything seems to be going well. Tony begins to deal with Sosa directly, and this arrangement allows "Montana Corporation" to expand across the nation and bring in millions of dollars monthly. Tony ends up owning "the world" as he had so often dreamed, buying a huge new mansion, new cars, a large new security camera system, new clothes and even a tiger.

Downfall

However, the larger his empire and wealth grow, the more Tony is losing control due to his growing cocaine addiction. Elvira is becoming more and more distant as she also sinks deeper into the addiction and Manny frequently has "personal business" to attend to instead of accompanying Tony all of the time.

Other problems arise as Tony's banker becomes unwilling to continue with their agreed-upon arrangements and wants to charge higher fees for washing the ever-increasing flow of drug money (either to exploit Montana Co for profit or to compensate for the increased risk). Tony acrimoniously breaks off the relationship with the bank and settles for what he thinks is a better deal. This deal backfires. While changing over a million in cash into checks, undercover Miami police inform him it was a sting operation, resulting in his arrest on charges of tax evasion. No matter how much money Tony throws in the face of his lawyer and the justice system, he cannot buy his way out of the inevitable prison sentence. The future looks bleak until Sosa calls Tony in for a meeting.

A group of Bolivian drug dealers, Sosa and a CIA officer offer to help Tony out of his legal troubles through their connections in the White House and Justice Department. In exchange, Tony must help them rid themselves of their own problem, a Latin-American journalist who is planning to expose the extent of corruption in the Bolivian Government, which includes Sosa and his comrades. Sosa explains that his assassin will do most of the work, but he needs Tony to guide him around the U.S. as he doesn't speak English.

Tony is mulling this proposal over at a fancy restaurant with Elvira and Manny. He is in a drunken/irritated state, is under the influence of cocaine and snaps at Elvira, demanding to know why she isn't eating. He taunts her about her drug addiction and claims that he can't have a baby with her. Elvira angrily retorts that Tony would not be a good father and throws water on his tuxedo, getting the attention of all of patrons. An enraged Tony tries to get up but Manny restrains him as Elvira storms off. Tony claims that she will return to him. All the patrons are staring at Tony as he leaves. He angrily snaps "say good night to the bad guy" and storms out.

While on the mission to set and detonate a car bomb in New York City for Sosa, Tony gets cold feet when the journalist's wife and two little children unexpectedly enter the car with him. Tony voices his disapproval, to no avail as the assassin is unwilling to deviate from Sosa's instructions: (in Spanish) "No way, if Sosa says we do it now, we do it now!" When the assassin is on the verge of detonating the bomb, Tony shoots him to prevent it. ("You think I'll kill two kids and a woman? Fuck that! I don't need that shit in my life! You die, motherfucker!" (Shoots assassin)) Later on that day when Tony returns to Miami, he receives a call from Sosa who is angered that not only the journalist survived to give his presentation, but also because the bomb was found under the car. Sosa threatens revenge, though the easily agitated Tony does not understand that the mission cannot be re-attempted and begins roaring at Sosa (spurred on by Sosa's insult of calling Tony a "little monkey"), not noticing that he has in fact already hung up in frustration.

End

Tony goes to his estranged mother's house and gets Gina's address. His mother pleas for him to leave his sister alone but he ignores her, and she laments, "Why do you have to destroy everything that you touch?" When he goes to Gina's new mansion, he is shocked when Manny opens the door and sees Gina at the top of the stairs, just putting on a bath robe. At the shock of seeing his sister and his best friend together, Tony's face turns into a snarl as he quickly loses his temper (spurred on by his recent cocaine consumption) and shoots Manny twice, killing him; a hysterical Gina reveals they were just married the day before.

Afterwards, Tony forgets why he was angry and barely feels any emotion as his men take a hysterical, sobbing Gina back to his mansion in their Rolls-Royce. Tony goes straight to his office at the top of the grand staircase to sniff cocaine. Only after snorting some cocaine and relaxing in his office does Tony realize what he has done to his best friend, collapsing in his chair and saying to himself, "Oh fuck Manny... How the fuck I do that... How the fuck I do that Manny..."

Soon after Tony returns to his mansion, an army of Sosa's hitmen break in through the back area to finish Tony. Though their movements are caught on the security cameras, Tony is in a trance due to the coke and he pays no attention. Outside, Tony's guards are taken down one by one before they can raise the alarm. One of the assassins tosses an anchored rope and climbs up to Tony's balcony behind the office. At the same time, Gina, dressed in only a sheer robe and panties enters her brother's office and locks the door. She asks Tony, "This is what you want?" indicating her body and taunting her brother.

She tells Tony that he will not let any other man be with her, while a half-dazed Tony stares, reeling from his recent heavy cocaine overdose. She pulls out a revolver and shoots at Tony six times, striking him once in the leg. Her last shot strikes near where an assassin was hiding on Tony's balcony (having sneaked around the back and used a rope to climb up), causing him to burst through the balcony door and mistakenly shoots her with his Uzi. Tony comes to his senses and knocks him out of the window and into the pool and empties out a whole magazine of ammunition at his now lifeless body. Tony turns to a lifeless Gina lying on the floor and goes to her, he comforts her dead body and says, "I'll be with you soon." Tony's friend Chi Chi shoots some of the hitmen, who have burst through the main entrance, while retreating back up the stairs to Tony's locked office door. He knocks on the door, begging Tony to let him in, but Tony is completely oblivious and still occupied with Gina. With nowhere to go, Chi Chi is shot, and four hitmen regroup at the door, preparing to storm the office.

File:Scarface Ae1q2.jpg

"Say 'Hello' to my little friend!"

Tony sees Chi Chi's death on the cameras and arms himself with an M16 with an under-mounted M203 grenade launcher. He walks over to the middle of the office and yells the oft-quoted movie line, "Say 'Hello' to my little friend!" He then blows the door to pieces with the grenade launcher, killing four of the hitmen.

He emerges from the office and engages Sosa's men in a gun battle. Despite being outnumbered, he manages to take out at least 20 of the men sent to kill him in an amazing display of Close Quarters Battle with his constant firing, only stopping and ducking into cover to reload. At the point when he is repeatedly shot, he is sustained by the amount of cocaine in his body, and he becomes reckless and defiant towards his foes. As it seems that none of the men have managed to kill Tony, The Skull, Sosa's right-hand man and leader of the assassins (seen in Bolivia) ascends up the rope to the balcony and enters Tony's office from behind, while an unaware Tony continued to taunt his foes in the lobby. A blast from The Skull's sawed-off shotgun knocks Tony off of the balcony and into the pool at the bottom of the stairs, with the "The World is Yours" globe overlooking his submerged and bloodied body. Template:Endspoiler This film is dedicated to Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht, who were the writers of the original Scarface.

Trivia

While shooting the scene in which Scarface blows a door, Pacino badly burned his hand on the gun when he fired the grenade launcher.

Production and controversy

Scarface was directed by Brian De Palma, produced by Martin Bergman, and written by now famed director Oliver Stone while he battled a cocaine addiction. Stone consulted the Miami police and the Drug Enforcement Agency while writing the film, incorporating many true crimes into the film.

There is some controversy regarding the origin of the character Tony Montana. Some people believe that the character was originally based on a wrestler who appeared in the World Wrestling Federation in the late 1970s. Incidentally, Scott Hall recently confirmed in an interview with the Pro Wrestling Torch that he based his popular 1990s character "Razor Ramon" whole-cloth on the character Tony Montana. Writer Oliver Stone claims in an interview first featured on the Collector's Edition DVD release, that he took the character's last name from his favorite football player at the time - Joe Montana of the San Francisco 49ers.

The film was originally to be filmed in Florida but it received criticism from the Cuban community, which objected to the film's representation of Cubans as drug dealers. Also, leaders in the Cuban community wanted Stone and the movie's producers to include scenes which would show Anti-Castro activity in Miami as part of the movie's plot. After protracted negotiations over the script, the producers ultimately refused to give in to their demands, saying that the film was about cocaine and not the politics of Castro's Cuba. In order to ensure the safety of the crew and to avoid confrontations, with the exception being obvious exterior shots, the movie was filmed in and around Los Angeles.

When the film was submitted to the MPAA, it was rated X for its extreme violence and graphic language. DePalma toned down the film twice, but it still recieved an X-rating. After the film was rejected for the third time, DePalma, with the help from a panel of experts including real narcotics officers, told the MPAA that the violence in DePalma's film was an accurate portrayal of real-life drug dealers and that the film should be released with its violence intact to show viewers how violent the drug trade was. After a vote of 18 to 2, the MPAA agreed to give the third cut of the film an R-rating. But DePalma, who felt that the differences between the two "clean" cuts he put together were insignificant, arranged to have the uncut version released to theatres with an R-rating.

USA Network announced in 2003 they would be producing a mini-series based on the movie; however, the series' current status is unknown.

Statistics

For the remainder of the 1980s, Scarface held the record for the movie containing the most uses of the word "fuck". According to the "Platinum Edition" DVD, the word "fuck" and its variants are uttered in the movie 223 times. The total amount of profane words used in Scarface is 289.

See also: List of films ordered by uses of the word "fuck"

Also, the Scorecard on the "Platinum Edition" DVD reveals that a total of 2,049 bullets are fired throughout the movie. Before the final "Siege" sequence, only 544 bullets had been fired. That means that almost 3 times as many bullets were fired in the final scenes than in the rest of the movie.

Music

See also: Scarface (soundtrack)

The music in Scarface was produced by Academy Award winning Italian record producer, Giorgio Moroder. Like Moroder's style, the soundtrack consists mostly of synthesized new wave, electronic music.

Scarface and pop culture

Scarface has been frequently referred to in other movies and on television. Memorable lines are quoted in Jane Austen's Mafia!, The Simpsons, SportsCenter, and South Park, among others. Tony Montana's style of dress (along with that of Don Johnson's Sonny Crockett character on Miami Vice) became synonymous with the cool aspects of 1980s pop culture.

The "Say hello to my little friend" line is also repeated in numerous video games such as Freedom Fighters & Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy.

Ding Hai, the main character in the TVB television series The Greed of Man, is suggested to be influenced by Tony Montana's persona.

The film New Jack City did feature a few scenes from Scarface although the Nino Brown character was modeled after Tony Montana.

The film 'Little Nicky included the say hello to my little friend scene where in that case Adrian (possessing the of the Police commisioner) superimposed his brother Nicky's head onto Tony Montana's as a means of getting him out of the way.

The video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (for Xbox, PC and PS2) borrows many in-game elements from Scarface, such as certain story elements, characters, and locations. For example, it is possible to find an apartment that looks similar to the apartment in which Tony is double-crossed and attacked with a chainsaw. Almost certainly a reference to Scarface, the player acquires the chainsaw weapon in this apartment. Ricardo Diaz, a crime boss in the game, is always wearing a red Hawaian shirt identical to the one Montana wears in a portion of the movie. One of the game's mansions is modeled heavily after Montana's mansion where the infamous shoot out at the end of the movie takes place. Also, in the game, the player can visit a club, and the main dance floor has the same light patterns and basic set up as The Babylon Club in the movie.

Riley Freeman from The Boondocks is a big fan of Scarface.

Music

See also: List of songs influenced by the 1983 film Scarface

Scarface is also notable for its extensive popularity with many hip-hop artists and fans, in particular those affiliated with gangsta rap. A number of rappers single out Tony Montana as a role model for his transition from poverty to wealth. Many Latino and Hispanic rappers dress like characters from the film, though they only opt to emulate the "street clothes" Tony's crew wears in the beginning of the movie, neglecting the flashy suits which he wears for the majority of the film. It has also become very popular to embroider or emboss images of Tony onto leather jackets and pants.

Lines from the film are also frequently sampled on hip-hop songs. The Houston-based Geto Boys were one of the earliest rap groups to sample the lines and dialogue. During Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome," Flavor Flav recites several lines from the film. Music from the movie has also been sampled in the instrumentals for hip-hop songs such as Mobb Deep's "G.O.D. Pt. III" and "It's Mine". Nas recorded a song "The World is Yours" based on the motto Tony Montana lived by. Like Nas, Raekwon, makes frequent references to the film, including samples and the song entitled Incarcerated Scarfaces on his debut album, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. One hip-hop artist, Brad Jordan (formerly a member of the Geto Boys), has even gone so far as to name himself Scarface after the film, and another goes by the name Tony Montana. Various Latin rap artists such as Andre Nickatina, Fat Joe, Big Pun, Cuban Link and The Beatnuts sample famous lines from the movie Scarface and pay regular homage to the lead character, Tony Montana. Tony Montana said the line "Got some for me" in the begining of "Ayo For Yayo" by Andre Nickatina. The voice of Tony Montana is heard in the beginning, middle, and end of the the song "My Buddy" by G-Unit.

In 2003, in preparation for the re-release of Scarface on DVD, Universal made controversial plans to have modern hip-hop artists record an entirely new musical score for the film, which would take the place of the original 1980s New Wave soundtrack. The move was decried by fans of the film, and DePalma, who had a contractual final cut on the film, refused to edit it. However, a documentary presented by Def Jam including various hip-hop artists was featured on this DVD release entitled Scarface: Origins of a Hip Hop Classic. This documentary, which would be later dropped from future Scarface DVD releases, also pushed a Def Jam album released the same year entitled Music Inspired by Scarface. As the album's title suggests, it contains hip-hop songs based on elements from the film. A hispanic rapper Immortal Technique has dialogue from the movie at the end of his song "Cause of Death" and at the beginning of "Peruvian cocaine".

Influence on other works

Tony's line "Say hello to my little friend!" has become something of a catch phrase, usually (but not always) pertaining to firearms or any other sort of projectile weapon. The quote has been referenced in several video games, movies, as well as SportsCenter, where commentators use it generally to refer to a powerful dunk over another player, or a big home run in a baseball game.

In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City during "An Old Friend" cut-scene Sonny Forelli speaks of plans to embark in the cocaine business in Vice City and says that "even those Cuban refugees, a.k.a. Marielitos are cutting themselves a nice piece of the action". This is reminiscent of Cuban refugee Tony Montana. Vice City, based on Miami, Florida with the game's look is set in 1986. In the film, Al Pacino's character immigrates from Cuba to Miami in 1980.

In the movie Epic Movie one of the characters is seen having made his own scarface movie in a parody of MTV cribs, this is a mockery of all the rappers featured on MTV's Cribs having some sort of Scarface merchandise or decorating.

Video game

A licensed video game, Scarface: The World Is Yours has been released in September and October 2006, developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games. The game is a pseudo-sequel, and goes on the premise that Tony actually survived the raid on his mansion from the end of the film, shooting his way out of his mansion and escaping. The rest of the game deals with Tony getting his revenge on Sosa. It is a free roaming game similar to the Grand Theft Auto titles and includes a lot of freedom over drug running, laundering money, buying items for the player's mansion, buying cars and protecting shipments of drugs from the police. The Xbox 360 version of this title was recently cancelled. However, a PlayStation Portable version has been released in place of it under the name of Money. Power. Respect. It is a turn-based strategy game. A Wii version of the PS2 and Xbox games has also been announced.

As well as the official video game Scarface is widley thought to have inspired the story of Tommy Vercetti in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Prospective sequel

In the year 2001, plans were laid into motion for hip hop artist Cuban Link to write and star in a sequel to Scarface entitled Son of Tony. The plans for a prospective sequel drew both praise as well as criticism, and after several years Cuban Link had expressed that he may no longer be involved with the project as the result of movie rights issues and creative control.

Books and Comics

Dark Horse Comic imprint, DH Press, released a novel called '''Scarface: The Beginning''' by L. A. Banks. Also, IDW Publishing is releasing a new series called Scarface: Scarred for life which seems to be a tie-in of the videogame. This series is been written by John Layman with art of Dave Crosland.

Critical reception

Scarface, upon its first release, drew controversy regarding the violence and graphic language in the film, and received a vast majority of negative reviews by many movie critics. Despite this, the film grossed $65 million worldwide and gathered a large cult following. On the 2 Disc Special Edition, director Brian De Palma said that the film was well received by only one notable critic, Vincent Canby of the New York Times.

Cast

• Al Pacino - Tony Montana
• Steven Bauer - Manny Ray
• Michelle Pfeiffer - Elvira
• Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio - Gina
• Robert Loggia - Frank Lopez
• Miriam Colon - Mama Montana
• F. Murray Abraham - Omar Suarez
• Paul Shenar - Alejandro Sosa
• Harris Yulin - Chief Detective Narcotics- Miami Division Mel Bernstein
• Ángel Salazar - Chi Chi
• Arnaldo Santana - Ernie
• Pepe Serna - Angel
• Michael P. Moran - Nick The Pig
• Al Israel - Hector The Toad
• Mark Margolis - Alberto
• Joe Marmo- Nacho Contreras

References

• "Scarface Politics" in Vassilis K. Fouskas. 2003. Zones of Conflict. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0-7453-2029-5. Pp. 34-62.

External links

• Scarface (1983) at IMDb
• Scarface1983.com
• The Scarface Soundboard- with audio clips, quotes and more.