Scarface

Genre: crime drama

With: Al Pacino (Tony Montana), Steven Bauer (Manny Ribera), Michelle Pfeiffer (Elvira Hancock), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Gina Montana, Tony’s sister), Robert Loggia (Frank Lopez), Miriam Colon (Mama Montana), F. Murray Abraham (Omar Suarez)

Director: Brian De Palma

Release: 1983

Studio: Universal Pictures

Rating: R

MBiS score: 7.7/10

If You Want Chicas, You’ll Have to Move the Yeyo (and none of this is obscene, by the way…)

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Story-line: in 1980, when Fidel Castro allows thousands of Cubans to settle in the United States, many leave the island nation on humanitarian grounds but some are simply convicts that the Castro regime doesn’t want. Among the latter is one Antonio ‟Tony” Montana, a determined young man not shy of playing rough to fulfill his version of the American dream.   

Pluses: solid acting by Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer (for their splendid chemistry… and some hilarious scenes together), standout support from Robert Loggia and Steven Bauer, a restrained musical score by Giorgio Moroder and a mostly solid screenplay that carries sharp dialogues and a nuanced portrait of Tony Montana.

Minuses: several cheap scenes played either heavy-handedly or too softly (actors almost cracking up while delivering their lines; the Freedomtown riot looks like a kindergarten romp). The screenplay provides a rushed, wonky and Ramboesque ending that leaves a bitter aftertaste.     

Comments: although this film doesn’t rank highly as an artistic endeavour, it certainly qualifies as a guilty pleasure. In a way, SCARFACE is a tour de force, a three-hour showcase of violence, genuine drama, ostentation, humour and gruesomeness. Take Tony’s word for it: never trust those cock-a-woaches…  

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