Al Pacino owns the role of Tony Montana, a small time Cuban hoodlum who makes his way over to Miami on a banana boat in the early '80's with his comrades in crime. Tony wants to live the American dream and later confesses to wanting the world and everything in it. Getting out of the Federal pen and getting a green card is as easy as a simple assassination in the yard for Tony and company, and he and his buddies soon find themselves negotiating a potential drug deal for a local coke dealer. The deal goes sour in the worst of ways and here's where SCARFACE shows its metal teeth, with an incredible chainsaw sequence that rivals anything we've seen in Texas. One of Tony's friends is butchered but he ends up with the cash and the yahoo (coke), insisting on delivering it directly to the big man, Frank Lopez, played expertly by Robert Loggia. Becoming Lopez's right hand man, we get to watch Tony's lust for power and the world evolve, including going after Lopez's hot fuckable porcelain Barbie of a wife, played to the hilt by Michelle Pfeiffer. The rules of the game are ignored by Tony and his surviving crew: don't get high on your own supply and never underestimate the other guy's greed. We watch as they take over the operation, make millions and millions of dollars, but lose their souls (and eventually, their lives) in the process. Tony is incredible to watch, Pacino chews up the scenery with powerhouse zeal, you cannot take your eyes off him. There's power plays, double crosses, murders, assassinations, and incredible insight into the cocaine biz of the '80's. Everything in the movie is exaggerated hyperkinetic motion, making the viewer feel like they're snorting mounts of coke with Tony. Amazingly, you end up rooting for Tony despite his viciousness, he's still the underdog and who wouldn't want to have a few weeks in life laundering millions of undeclared dollars in money bags, buying what you want and having the time of your life? Of course, there's a price for everything, and when Tony screws over one of his biggest suppliers in an assassination gone bad (where he reveals his own code of what it right and wrong), well let's just say a Bolivian army visits his mansion as Tony self-destructs and mows down all his friends and family as well. Running nearly three hours, this movie has always moved as brisk as the wind for me, and there's so many great lines and scenes that it's one I can watch over and over again, it just never gets old. The perfectly dated synth Giorgio Moroder soundtrack score is haunting, evocative, and moving: the true soul of the picture. It's director Brian DePalma in his prime, man, so there's this great late 70's, early 80's horror movie feel to many of the scenes, even though it is a crime thriller at heart. The ending is incredible, with Pacino fighting an army with his little friend of a gun, so coked up that he can't even feel all the bullets riddling his body and taking him down. It's a glorious, surreal moment and Pacino should've won an Academy Award for this performance. SCARFACE is eons above the GODFATHER movies and proves it by its incredible fan base and popularity today. This is one of the best, most entertaining movies of all time. Period. This is star Al Pacino, director Brian DePalma, and writer Oliver Stone at the peak of their greatness. SCARFACE just cannot be topped in terms of over-the-top storytelling, violence, and debauchery. And yes, it all has a message at the end too, one that should be heeded by all: just because a man gains the world, it doesn't mean he will keep his soul, or his life. It's a fleeting achievement. SCARFACE Powerful, moving, emotional, action-packed, violent, and just plain fun to watch. Also features the word fuck used in about every way possible, maybe still the most times in any mainstream movie.
Al Pacino owns the role of Tony Montana, a small time Cuban hoodlum who makes his way over to Miami on a banana boat in the early '80's with his comrades in crime. Tony wants to live the American dream and later confesses to wanting the world and everything in it. Getting out of the Federal pen and getting a green card is as easy as a simple assassination in the yard for Tony and company, and he and his buddies soon find themselves negotiating a potential drug deal for a local coke dealer. The deal goes sour in the worst of ways and here's where SCARFACE shows its metal teeth, with an incredible chainsaw sequence that rivals anything we've seen in Texas. One of Tony's friends is butchered but he ends up with the cash and the yahoo (coke), insisting on delivering it directly to the big man, Frank Lopez, played expertly by Robert Loggia. Becoming Lopez's right hand man, we get to watch Tony's lust for power and the world evolve, including going after Lopez's hot fuckable porcelain Barbie of a wife, played to the hilt by Michelle Pfeiffer. The rules of the game are ignored by Tony and his surviving crew: don't get high on your own supply and never underestimate the other guy's greed. We watch as they take over the operation, make millions and millions of dollars, but lose their souls (and eventually, their lives) in the process. Tony is incredible to watch, Pacino chews up the scenery with powerhouse zeal, you cannot take your eyes off him. There's power plays, double crosses, murders, assassinations, and incredible insight into the cocaine biz of the '80's. Everything in the movie is exaggerated hyperkinetic motion, making the viewer feel like they're snorting mounts of coke with Tony. Amazingly, you end up rooting for Tony despite his viciousness, he's still the underdog and who wouldn't want to have a few weeks in life laundering millions of undeclared dollars in money bags, buying what you want and having the time of your life? Of course, there's a price for everything, and when Tony screws over one of his biggest suppliers in an assassination gone bad (where he reveals his own code of what it right and wrong), well let's just say a Bolivian army visits his mansion as Tony self-destructs and mows down all his friends and family as well. Running nearly three hours, this movie has always moved as brisk as the wind for me, and there's so many great lines and scenes that it's one I can watch over and over again, it just never gets old. The perfectly dated synth Giorgio Moroder soundtrack score is haunting, evocative, and moving: the true soul of the picture. It's director Brian DePalma in his prime, man, so there's this great late 70's, early 80's horror movie feel to many of the scenes, even though it is a crime thriller at heart. The ending is incredible, with Pacino fighting an army with his little friend of a gun, so coked up that he can't even feel all the bullets riddling his body and taking him down. It's a glorious, surreal moment and Pacino should've won an Academy Award for this performance. SCARFACE is eons above the GODFATHER movies and proves it by its incredible fan base and popularity today. This is one of the best, most entertaining movies of all time. Period. This is star Al Pacino, director Brian DePalma, and writer Oliver Stone at the peak of their greatness. SCARFACE just cannot be topped in terms of over-the-top storytelling, violence, and debauchery. And yes, it all has a message at the end too, one that should be heeded by all: just because a man gains the world, it doesn't mean he will keep his soul, or his life. It's a fleeting achievement. SCARFACE Powerful, moving, emotional, action-packed, violent, and just plain fun to watch. Also features the word fuck used in about every way possible, maybe still the most times in any mainstream movie.
