For its 20-year anniversary, Brian De Palma's "Scarface" is coming out in a shiny new special edition DVD and is also getting a limited theatrical re-release. I think that's nice, as most comedies don't usually receive that kind of treatment, and "Scarface" is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.
There is an intense (and inexplicable) cult of personality around this movie. Gangsters (real and wannabe) clasp it to their bosoms like horror movie fans and "Alien." Watch any episode of "MTV Cribs" that features a hip hop artist and somewhere in his house you'll find a "Scarface" poster or two (Pacino in the white suit and "The World Is Yours" motif being the most popular). Conversely, family groups took easy aim at it back in 1983 for its violence and drug content. Much was made, at the time, of the fact that the f-word is used 206 times, which was a record in 1983. [Numerous movies have since lapped it, including "Dead Presidents" and "Made" (the record - 422 times - is held by either "Casino" or "Tuck Everlasting," I'll have to look it up)] The arbiters of decency would have you believe everything pertaining to "Scarface" was deadly serious.
But the opposite is actually true. Al Pacino, as mush-mouthed Cuban scumbag Tony Montana, has some of the best lines since "Some Like It Hot:" "I bury those cock-a-roaches!" "Get outta the way of the television!" "Look at dem pelicangs!" Are you kidding me? And who could forget Tony's immortal "Say hello to my little friend," right before he takes approximately 800 rounds from a rival drug gang's Uzis, causing him to jerk spasmodically from their impact for thirty seconds? If Pacino hadn't signed on, Jerry Lewis should've taken the part.
Sure, Tony doesn't take shit from anyone and rises to the top of the Miami drug dealer heap through sheer force of will, but how is it possible to see him as anything less than a caricature? What self-respecting criminal would model his felony career around a guy who allows a bunch of thugs to walk into his mansion and blow him away? I understand the whole dark side appeal of an unrepentant bastard like Montana, but pick a guy with some brains (and one who doesn't want to have sex with his own sister). It's romantic to watch Tony take his bullet shower at the end, but most "wannabe criminal men" don't want to acknowledge the fact that most gangsters go out like Jimmy Conway in "Goodfellas," not Tony Montana.
Screenwriter Oliver Stone penned the script while he was trying to kick a cocaine habit of his own, so the guy was obviously not in his right mind. A leopard skin upholstered car? Even for the 80's that's a bit much. And De Palma inserts some nice cinematic elements, but those can't disguise the ultimately shallow characters and the weak story. If it wasn't for the cartoony and slapstick violence, there'd be nothing to recommend this. You can play some decent drinking games with "Scarface," but get some perspective people.
Or at least rent "Mean Streets."