SCARFACE (1983) - Movie Review 

Love the way they redubbed the swearing for TV. “How did you beauty scar tough guy? Eating pineapple!” “That city out there is one great chicken waiting to get plucked”. Marvellous

I liked how De Palma included some details into Montana's character to portray him as a poorly educated person from the gutter who lacks the manners and experience on how he should conduct himself. There's the scene in which he dines at Alejandro Sosa's manor and is given a bowl of water with lemon in it. That's for cleaning ones hands after dining, but Montana actually takes out the slice of lemon and eats it. Details like these tell so much from so little. When he first meets Elvira he has a rather clunky and embarrassing discussion with her on the dance floor and asks her where she's from and that her last name sounds like a "big bird". He later offers his lawyer two million dollars (or something like that) to "buy an entire court" as if courts are equally corrupt as he is used to where he comes from. His lawyer rolls his eyes and informs him that "it will be hard to convince a jury you found all that money in the back of a taxi cab". I also always liked the introduction scene with the immigrant office who clearly doesn't believe a single word Montana says. Time and time again Montana revises his story but never tells the truth. We learn that he's a blunt character who is willing to bend reality whichever way benefits him. Interesting to note is also how he completely ignores his boss's advice on how to survive in the illegal drug business and that pretty much is his undoing. F.Murray Abraham's acting is memorable too as is the often overlooked Harris Yulin.

Michelle Pfeiffer sniffing snowdrifts Siberian tigers in the back garden Making Bank deposits in Laundry bags Gotta love the 80s…

"Look at the pelican fly...come ooooon pelican!"

The biggest character development in the entire movie is the proliferation and increasingly lax presentation of Tony's desk cocaine.

The way the goons take over his home at the end like locusts, all crawling in on him and in the end they consume him. I think that is what the message is, greed consumes you, greed pushes people away, greed will be your downfall.

I saw Scarface during its opening weekend without knowing anything about it. Age 14. Memorable.

I saw this film in a theater in L.A. when it came out. Three people ran out screaming during the chainsaw scene. I thought it was a great film, but it doesn't go for subtlety. I remember when the film let out a lot of people were disappointed. It's a guilty pleasure kind of movie. As for capturing the era, the film totally nails it. Scarface has to be what it is to capture the drug scene. This film would have been utterly ineffectual if a more subtle director like Sydny Lumet, who was originally lined up to direct, was behind the camera. De Palma was the right choice.

This movie is DePalma's true masterpiece. It is endlessly re-watchable and entertaining af.

Glad you mentioned Pfeiffer's performance. Like you said, the characters around Tony are so one dimensional, intentionally, but as a result it's easy to overlook just how great the acting is. She brings so much depth to that. We're drawn to her and we want to learn more about her and why she is the way she is, but Tony couldn't give a fuck about her, so neither should we. I love her body language in the restaurant scene.

I've often described De Palma's Scarface as epic schlock. It's rough, crude, melodramatic and trashy, yet at the same time that is part of its appeal, and kind of what it is trying to embody in a way. It is debatable if that makes the movie good if the work itself takes on the negatives of what it depicts, but there is something compelling and really just flat-out entertaining about those qualities as it pertains to this film. You never mentioned the screenwriter, Oliver Stone. I find it interesting because neither De Palma or Stone are known for subtelty, but De Palma is a formalist primarily concerned with the mechanics behind cinematic imagery (even if he is fascinated by a very thin slice of it), whereas Stone always tries to communicate a large theme about politics or society, and his politics are always apparent whereas De Palma's are either implicit or accidental. Makes for an interesting pairing of sensibilites.

You missed alot of the symbolism, complexities and meaning of the film and the brilliant foreshading that pays off later in the film. You never talked once about the political commentary on America or the fact the script was from Oliver Stone at the height of his powers as a Writer and just before he hit the big time as a Director. The reason this film struck a very powerful chord with immigrants not only coming to America but moving to any Western Country is it deals with their idea of what their idea of "making it" represents in a twisted hightened version that many immigrants who work in fast food places or manual labour jobs dream about. Lastly, you missed the very subtle references to Shakespeare's Richard III , which if you watch the film in this context you understand how multi-layered the film truly is.

“Chi Chi! Get the yayo!” “Tambien, Tony.” ❄️ ❄️

Now I gotta go back and watch both Scarfaces. Both are classics.

OMG ! I literally searched Scarface Review in your channel today and you posted now ! Thank you :D

I never thought about Tony essentially being a caricature... That's a very interesting (and now that I think about it, spot-on) interpretation of the character. It's been quite a few years since my last viewing, so I definitely wanna check it out with this viewpoint in mind. As always, your reviews are a joy to listen to. Have you seen Louis Malle's "A Murmur of The Heart"? It'd be an interesting film to hear you cover lol.

I always tell the truth- even when I lie.

I love the very end of the “Push it to the Limit” montage where you have Elvira with the slicked-back hair and the silky robe. We just witnessed all of these “happy” occurrences for Tony, but now we see her finally alone and she is snorting, drinking, and smoking within like 10 seconds. She is hiding behind layers and layers of the stimulants to suppress the pain. Then, she looks towards the camera almost saying “Help me” with her beautiful eyes. Such great character depth.

Very in-depth! Analyzing and psychology aside, this movie inspired a lot of people to imitate Tony Montana. Keep in mind, 90%+ of viewers will let the archetype inspire them, they won't focus on character flaws. Even those flaws may not be flaws at all, but natural traits of those who are more on the predatory & psychopathic side.

I think a very big praise going to Oliver Stone also for writting this whole thing

It's weird cuz I always thought this was kind of an exploitation film in the 80's and 90's before it had so much exposure, due to the violence, excess and synth score but mostly of course cuz of the chainsaw scene.

What do you think of Carlito's Way? I feel like it sacrifices some of the satire to create more emotionally resonant characters (or at least Pacino's character), but in best way to balance between the two

Holy cow I love your reviews, but especially this one! I recently subscribed to you (fellow artist and weird film fan) and have been enjoying yer content!

@12:52 - “I don’t really buy Elvira & Tony’s relationship”… You’re not really supposed to-that’s the point.

In terms of the supporting characters and the actors who portray them, three things either came to my mind or recall being said by the actors themselves: - *Michelle Pfeiffer* is very good at showing what is at first a *repressed pain* that later morphs into a *determined vengeance* through *gradual, piecemeal actions* that ends up *destroying* the target, but also *herself* in some way. We all recall this *archetype of the scorned woman* that also channels through her in "Batman Returns" (1992), "Murder on the Orient Express" (2018), and in a passive way in "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988). - I was really rooting for Steven Bauer's "Manny Ray", and took it personally when he was killed because I know what it feels like to be acquainted with someone who would never want me with any of his sisters. And to the point that it's a *deal breaker for me when it comes to male friendships.* - *F. Murray Abraham* , who was shooting for both "Scarface" and "Amadeus" at the exact same time, said that jumping between locations and sets for both movies was *"a romantic vacation from the other".*

Dr Palma is a very underrated director. Probably the number one underrated director in film history. And scarface is his masterpiece to me.

Hilarious this gigantic epic was dedicated to Howard Hawks, a man of the utmost brevity.

Hugely obsessed with De Palma this summer. Carrie has been a always childhood favorite. Its heightened artificial quality like an after school special mixed the pure depth and real emotion - he's a true contemplative genius with a knack for pursuing the heart of American entertainment. You must watch Dressed to Kill would love to hear your thoughts on it. Its like the Moby Dick of stigma. The most beautiful photography of 80's NYC. The camera work is sumptuous and the colors are so deep. The narrative is bizarre and seems to delve into the inner workings of Hitchcock's Psycho and why that movie had the power to change of American cinema. The best part of the whole movie for me though is Angie Dickenson, she is truly a force of nature. I've watch the museum sequence nearly once a week over the last two months - its cinema perfection: high schmaltz with labyrinthine camera work and a whole lot of Freud, orchestral swooning strings and zero dialogue. Dickenson could pull off a multipart 3 and 1/2 hour silent epic with the pure talent of her incredible face expression (emoting Emoting EMOTING). A true actress. Great channel! Glad I found it today looking forward into watching through all this content.

Greetings from New Orleans.. enjoying the commentary!

I see pacino as montana and i'm amazed. The accent, the eyes and the expressions with the arms, his posture... i just think go myself, how the hell is this the same guy who played the silent mastermind michael corleone in godfather 1 and 2...

It's epic. The final scene in the 1983 version is the most glorious celebration of delirious madness I've ever seen in a movie....

Given your love for the gangster genre. I would be very curious to know what you thought about Once Upon A Time In America which came out the following year and was Sergio Leone's last film. To me its a masterpiece up there with The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and Goodfellas as one the best of the entire genre.

Why was Tony so hard to kill at the end? Because you can't kill an archetype.

One of my favorite gangster movies of all time. Great video Maggie and take care and stay safe 👍.

Woman as a personification of saintwood. The mother, the sister. The best of him, that should remain untouched. His mother sees right through him. And as for balls, it takes a great amount of courage to turn one's back to a son. In this case, probably more courage than he'll ever have. Then there is the line even he wont cross: kill the man going to the U.N. because he's with his family. There's a choice here, he knows what it means not to kill this man. and still he doesn't do it. So there's a strange morality in the character here.

Great review ... It's even better if you watch it a second time from about 10:00 and change 'mirrors' for 'spoons', 'Tony' for 'Tommy', and 'Elvira' for 'Lisa'.

Are you going to do SNAKE EYES? I just saw it right now I really liked it!

I think this movie has aged quite well. Still feels timeless to this day.

During the scene where Tony and Elvira are sitting in the Cadillac at the car dealership, Al Pacino surreptitiously slips on the hat that Michelle Pfeiffer was wearing while she was looking away, which was not scripted. When she turns back and sees him wearing it, her amused reaction was genuine and to her credit, she stayed in character and ad-libbed a line. Brian De Palma decided to keep that unscripted exchange in the movie to show Elvira's gradual warming up to Montana. When director Brian De Palma submitted the film to the MPAA, they gave it an "X" rating. He then made some cuts and resubmitted it a second time; again the film was given an "X" rating (one of the reasons apparently being that Octavio the Clown was shot too many times). He yet again made some further cuts and submitted it a third time; yet again it was given an "X". De Palma refused to cut the film any further to qualify it for an R. He and producer Martin Bregman arranged a hearing with the MPAA. They brought in a panel of experts, including real narcotics officers, who stated that not only was the film an accurate portrayal of real life in the drug underworld, but ultimately it was an anti-drug film and should be widely seen. This convinced the arbitrators that the third submitted cut of the film deserved an "R rating" by a vote of 18-2. However, De Palma surmised that if the third cut of the film was judged an "R", then the very first cut should have been an "R" as well, to which the MPAA disagreed. However, since he believed the studio execs wouldn't know the differences between the different cuts that had been submitted, De Palma released the first cut of the film to cinemas anyway, confessing to the fact only after its home video release several months later. Tony Montana uses "yeyo" as slang for cocaine. Al Pacino learned the word while learning the Cuban accent, and ad-libbed it during the chainsaw scene. Brian De Palma liked it enough to keep using it throughout the film. Al Pacino reportedly stated that Tony Montana was one of his favorites of all the characters he has played. Miriam Colon, who plays Tony's mother, was only four years older than Al Pacino. To help stay in character, Al Pacino asked director of photography John A. Alonzo to speak to him only in Spanish. Despite the title, Tony Montana is called "Scarface" only once throughout the film, and in Spanish at that ("Cara cicatriz"). Brian De Palma liked the script so much that he dropped out of directing Flashdance (1983) to direct this film. Oliver Stone named Tony Montana after his favourite American football player, Joe Montana. Michelle Pfeiffer accidentally cut Al Pacino's face during production. Although Tony Montana is supposed to be Cuban, making his first language Spanish, he only speaks three line of Spanish during the entire movie. Steven Bauer is the only real-life Cuban in the principal cast. Al Pacino, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Robert Loggia are Italian-American. Miriam Colon is Puerto Rican. F. Murray Abraham, whose character is of unspecified Latino descent, is Syrian-American and Italian-American. Angel Salazar, who plays Chi Chi, is Cuban-American. Bauer and Salazar were often consulted by their co-stars and director Brian De Palma for advice on Cuban attitudes and culture. Scarface was actually a nickname of Al Capone, who was an Italian-American gangster. Body count: 42. The only main characters who survive the film (Tony's mother, Sosa and Elvira) are ones who cut ties with Tony. In The Simpsons (1989), Homer Simpson quotes Tony Montana's famous "Money, Power, Women" speech when Marge Simpson goes into the backyard and finds Homer guarding a mountain of sugar with a baseball bat.

Please review De Palma’s much-maligned MISSION TO MARS (2000). I actually like it quite a lot, myself, and wonder what you’d make of it, especially if you continue to enjoy reviewing De Palma films.

I like it when they film in Miami Beach. Especially the seedy areas which are sadly disappearing. That location has much more character than does LA.

Would love to hear your take on some of harmony korines films.

Thoughts on Carlitos way?

Can you please review Michael Mann’s Heat? It is easily my favorite Al Pacino film of all time. Would love to hear your thoughts on it. Also review The Insider by Michael Mann.

Alot of people say they prefer carlito's way over scarface but i disagree completely...one of my all time favorite films, i wish they would release the uncut footage when manny gets chainsawed in the bathtub. They had to cut that scene to avoid an X rating. Great review!

Curious to see what your opinion is of the Nick Cage movie "Lord of War" which in it's own way is also a gangster picture, especially the scenes in Africa.

I liked Dead End. That was one of Bogart's last roles playing the heavy in the 30's. Scarface (1983) is also wonderful.

Always rewatch it whenever it’s comes back on Netflix.

This film was panned by the same critics that years later call it a classic. I think it is a classic and it is over the top but thats the point.

Miss Deep Focus Lens, great stuff. Tony is also refugee he is man without his island. It fucks with your identity. You think you not welcome anywhere. You always feel like you got to earn it. Where I have opposite experience. Being Irish you can walk into the most dodgiest situations and still be welcome.

As a huge DePalma fan, I never liked this movie, but your thoughts on it tell me it might be time to revisit it. I always thought it was kind of corny, but I had never considered not taking it literally like you pointed out.

‘My top 3 Brian De Palma films are: ‘Scarface’, ‘Carrie’, and ‘’The Untouchables’.

One aspect of Scarface that I really liked is how early it was with a critique on the War on Drugs. It may have gone over most audience members heads but it isn’t particularly subtle, Oliver Stone never tends to do subtle. What is ironic is that Tony Montana is watching a pundit on TV during the scene in the bathtub who is against legalization of drugs, whereupon Montana rages on how wrong he is and basically channels Oliver Stones own feelings on the issue, the irony being that the War on Drugs is what made Montanas wealth.

Great review ☄️

Thank you for another great review.

Hell yeah! Love the storming of the compound.

Please review “Sisters” by Brian de Palma

You should do a review on 1983 Quest for Fire. My new favorite

Moment when he killed the guy who was going to detonate the bomb targeting a woman and her child was kinda emotional for me. He is a killer and drug dealer but still has some humanity in him. Tony: NO WOMAN. NO CHILD. WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM? 😢😢

"Scarface" has continually struck me as the least interesting of De Palma's films. He was brought in as a replacement for Sidney Lumet, handed $35-ish million and an Oliver Stone script, and encouraged to go nuts. Had Stone directed the film himself, there'd be a stronger vision and more satisfying depth. As it stands, De Palma's end result is more of an aesthetic exercise that happens to take a good acting ensemble along for the ride. "Mission Impossible" has similar problems but isn't quite as dull in the execution. Part of it baffles me because the 80s usually overshadows the 90s, at least where style is concerned.

To think this movie is getting a remake is heartbreaking and annoying.

I'll admit I never saw the original by Howard Hawks.

Give her another quaalude, she'll love me in the morning 🌄

And the film being written by Oliver Stone who had conducted deep research in South America with cocaine cartels (Oliver was a coke addict at the time as well, which only increases the realism).

Catch phrase, “Say hello to my little frien.”

Tony Montana, one of the greatest characters of all time!

Brian De Palma is a goddamn genius.

Good review. You may want to check your mic, though - it's got some tinny-ness or something going on in this one.

If anyone will pardon the tangent and is interested in *true-life crime* dramas, you'll love *Vincent Cassel* in the *two-part biopic "Mesrine" (2008)* : "Instinct of Death" and "Public Enemy Number 1", featuring an all-star international cast playing even the small roles, including the current face of "L'Oréal Paris" - France's second highest-in-demand actress, Leila Bekhti. It's about a French guy who comes home from the war in Algeria, and he can't find a stable job, so he becomes a criminal. The plot follows the exploits of *real-life criminal mastermind Jacques Mesrine* over a period of 2 decades until his very public, televised demise! His controversial life and death still effects the legal and criminal punishment systems of France and Canada even today! And there is a whole lot of "method acting" to be found here, thanks to Vincent Cassel himself!

Dr Palma should have made it clear that the Elvira character was with Toni because he would supply her with coke. She had no interest in tony

"...rotting technicolor world." That's a good one.

Wow, i rewatched it yesterday

My fav visual shot in the film is when Montana and Elvira is in the convertible sniffing cocaine and the camera zooms in and tracks out like Hitchcock and my second fav visual shot is when Montana takes his bazooka gun and blasts the goons to bits. I was like "Whoa" lol. Great film overall

Scarface had the bad timing of coming out a few years deep into the backlash against director driven movies. Just look at the Best Picture nominees from 1981 through 1985; they’re all by-committee “safe” movies. “Blow Out,” maybe De Palma and John Travolta’s best movie, completely ignored. Same thing with Michael Mann’s “Thief” and Bob Fosse’s “Star 80.”

Al Pacino's Cuban accent is comical.

The one question that no one is asking: how plausible was Tony's rise?! This among other things make the movie a dud for me.

Its not a bad film altogether. Its got its cheesy OTT moments, but *in my opinion* the "Push It To the Limit" montage is so dated. Overall, my picks for gangster movie standards are The Godfather and Goodfellas

One of my favorite movies

Scarface is my favorite gangster movie of all time

Scarface is a story of the American dream

Best Pacino performance, "Godfather" aside? "Donnie Brasco". See a;sp "Black Mass" for another terrific Johnny Depp performance.

scareface is my favorite movies of all time. than batman dark knight and the exorcist

Scarface is one of my least favorites of Pacino’s or de Palma. I prefer Carlito’s way .

My favorite movie all time!!

This is a better Mulholland Drive movie than Mulholland Drive.

I notice *you always wear red with black details* every time you're doing a film about either *gangs or where violence is prominent* : are you conveying the pain of death or the inevitable heartbreak of a fallen lifestyle as we see on screen? Or is it just a coincidence, and that I've simply put 2 and 2 together to come up with 57?

Phantom Of The Paradise next

i always felt sorry for frank. and pfeiffer's character was sad. when you are that pretty and don't have to work or be anything other than pretty, what do you do with your life. sit around and drink i guess

Nick the Pig is super relatable though.

What did she mean by “pre-code era” gangster film?

Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon are better early Pacino films in my opinion

I'm disappointed that you didn't mention that the screenplay was written by Oliver Stone. Also, clearly Carlito's Way is De Palma's magnum opus, but the reviewers killed it. C'est la vie dans le Cinematheque...

how are you? how's everything? i hope you're doing well :)

Even if you don't like the movie you can't deny is a classic it would be cool to hear your take on The shawshank redemption a movie that at leats to me is not that great, and not one of the greatest movies of all time

Nick cage is crazy in this film imo.

My favorite movie

Haven't seen Scarface in a very long time. I can't even remember when I saw it.. Just where I saw it. When hearing you talk about the movie I find it odd that rappers/gangsters/cool teens have no idea what the movie is about. I don't know if I am that deep in my thinking but those people have no idea what's going on. They just think Al Pacino is cool, he gets rich and powerful and the ending is cool. That's it. All the things you mention goes right above their head. I have a tendency to mostly see movies once. There is so much to see but I do feel there might be time to return to some I've seen before. Which is easier because you know what you are getting. I try to stay away from any kind of spoilers before seeing a movie. New or old. However.. With that.. You never know exactly what you go in for. Is it an artful movie, funny movie, good movie, bad movie, too much action, too little action.. You don't know. So seeing a movie with the wrong mood could give you the wrong impression. I think I was way too young when seeing to grasp anything you were talking about. I don't even think I knew who Brian de Palma was. Might rewatch Scarface some day not too far away!

Review Carlitos way

This film is a horror show

Cold piece