Scarface (1983 film)

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Scarface
Directed by Brian de Palma
Produced by Martin Bregman
Written by Oliver Stone
Starring Al Pacino
Steven Bauer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Robert Loggia
Music by Giorgio Moroder
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Jakarra
Release date(s) December 9, 1983
Running time 170 min.
Language English
Budget $25,000,000 (estimate)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Scarface is a 1983 motion picture directed by Brian de Palma, written by Oliver Stone and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana, 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 movie 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, somewhat notably within the world of hip-hop. It developed a phenomenal cult following and is today one the most celebrated films of all time (ranked 223 on the Internet Movie Database). The movie is also notable for its tragic qualities.

==PlScarface]].

Contents

[edit] Production and controversy

Scarface was directed by Brian De Palma, produced by Martin Bragman, 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 (one set of crime scene photos Stone was shown depicted a man who had been dismembered with a chainsaw and stuffed into an aluminum trashcan). Also, 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. As a result, numerous employees who worked on the films received death threats.[citation needed] 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 the graphic language and violence. DePalma would edit the film two additional times, toning down the violence but still getting an X-rating from the MPAA. After the film was rejected for a third time, DePalma, when he appealed the MPAA's decision, convinced the MPAA with help from a panel of various real life police officers and narcotics officers, who told the MPAA that the violence in DePalma's films 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 there were no real differences between the two "clean" cuts he put together and the original director's cut version, arranged to have his original "X" cut released to theaters with an R-rating.

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 is uttered in the movie 223 times.

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

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

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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

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

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

[edit] 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. One hip-hop artist - Brad Jordan (later 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 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.

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.

[edit] 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. It is unknown of the timespan that Scarface enravels over, before Montana's demise.

[edit] 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. It's a turn-based strategy game.

[edit] 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."[1] The plans for a prospective sequel drew both praise as well as cricitism, 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.[2]

[edit] 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 rface.htm and gathered a large cult following. On the 2 Disc Special Edition, director Brian De Palma said that only one film critic enjoyed the movie. He is probably referring to Roger Ebert who rated it four stars out of four [1] and has since named it one of the greatest movies of all-time[2].

[edit] Cast

[edit] Character inspiration

  • Tony Montana shares many traits as Jay Gatsby from the book The Great Gatsby, as he rises from a poor background to become a leader in the drung trade (Gatsby was an alchohol smuggler during Prohibition), uses his wealth to woo a love interest, is murdered, and ultimatly ends up dead at the bottom of his own pool.
  • The news report on cocaine smuggling that Tony watches on television relates to how in the 1980's much of the city of Miami was restored and developed into the resort environment it has become now from the cocaine trade of the 1970's and 1980's as told by drug trafficker George Jung.
  • Emilio Rebenga is based on Fidel Castro comrade and fellow revolutionary Che Guevara. Che Guevara, like Rebenga was banished from Cuba by Castro. Che Guevara he spoke of distrust of the Soviet Union. The Rebenga character was imprisoned in Cuba before being released during the Mariel Boatlift. The real life Che Guevara was executed in Bolivia in 1967. The Rebenga character could also be based on Cuban Chief of Police Esteban Ventura Novo who was indicted in absentia at a Cuban War Crime Tribunal for the murders of many Castro revolutionaries. Novo was well known for wearing an ice cream white suit in public often. This reflect the Rebenga character's wardrobe.
  • Mel Bernstein, played by Harris Yulin, is based on Hialeah, Miami police officer Richard Caride and another officer, Gilbert Fernandez Jr.. Officer Richard Caride was the leader of a team of cops that were experts in burglary. The Mel Bernstein character discusses an extortion team like the one Richard Carride operated in Florida with Tony Montana at The Babylon. Carride was not murdered by drug dealers. Caride was indicted for second-degree murder of a Coconut Grove nightclub owner and his girlfriend after a failed cocaine robbery in 1985.
  • "Jerry the Banker", who offers to help launder Montana's drug profits, is loosely based on Robert Vesco. While serving time in prison for his money swindles, Vesco told cocaine traffickers Carlos Lehder and George Jung how to launder their drug profits in offshore bank accounts.
  • Sosa associate Edward Straussa is based on Spanish General and dictatorFrancisco Franco.
  • Babylon habitual Nacho "El Gordo" Contreras is based on Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha.
  • The Bolivian investigative reporter is based loosely on Bogotá newspaper editor Guillermo Cano Isaza. He had published a series of essays about the pernicious influence of the Colombian cartel in his paper, El Espectador. On December 17, 1986, Guillermo was machine-gunned in his car outside the newspaper offices.
  • Frank Lopez's character namesake may be a play on Alfonso Ramon Lopez, American baseball star and manager born in Tampa, Florida because of Frank Lopez character's minor-league baseball teams.
  • Tony Montana's lawyer is based on Moe Kessler. Moe Kessler was the lawyer for Meyer Lansky relative Joe Ippolito who murdered Donald Aronow. Kessler was also suspected to be the actual leader of Ippolito's drug operation. Hollywood, Florida cops suspect Mel had arranged for a shipment of 200 kilos of cocaine from Bolivia and was involved in a smuggling ring that was based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Bejamin Kramer who murdered Donald Aronow also consulted with Kessler every day. Kessler was a known associate of "Little" Roy Thompson who had been indicted previously on drug smuggling with Dade County judge Steadman Stahl.

[edit] References

  • "Scarface Politics" in Vassilis K. Fouskas. 2003. Zones of Conflict. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0-7453-2029-5. Pp. 34-62.
  1. ^ Ozone Magazine - "Son of Tony" Feb 2002 article
  2. ^ Latin Rapper - "Cuban Link Starts His Chain Reaction"

[edit] External links

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