Scarface review "Say hello to my little friend!!!"

OK, revistation time again! 

Actually the posts I have been revisiting are in fact films that I have recently been re-watching again and they will serve as an inspiration to update the previous posts I had done for them, so that's why you will have been seeing more of these post revisitations of late. 

But I am not billing this post as a revisitation as such, simply because I didn't titled as Scarface in the first place as I just quoted the famous line from the film "Say hello to my little friend!".  However I will of course expand on my original review of the film as usual in this post.

Anyway with that said let's take a look at this film again....

And yep as you can imagine...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, film is set in 1980, and the film's main character, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) is a Cuban refugee who arrives in America during the Mariel boatlift (which was a real life mass emigration of Cubans into the US).  Tony along with his best friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) are sent to "Freedom camp" which is refugee camp.  After a while Manny tells Tony the news that they can recieve green cards if in return that Tony does a hit on a Cuban government official, on behalf of a drug kingpin Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia), which Tony does.

On the outside, Tony and Manny are offered a deal from Frank's henchman, Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham) to buy cocaine from Colombian drug dealers.  However the deal itself goes sour, as Tonny and one of his crew, Angel, are captured by the Colombians, and Angel is killed by a chainsaw, but before Tony suffers the same fate, Manny bursts in and rescues him.  Tony then kills the Colombian who nearly chainsawed him, and takes the money from the deal, and then contacts Suarez and defiantly tells him that he will take the money to Frank himself.  Frank on meeting Tony is impressed by him and he decides to hire him and Manny to work for him.  Tony also meets Frank's girlfriend, Elvira (Michelle Pfieffer) who is stuck up and cold in manner, but Tony falls for her instantly.

Months later Tony reunites with his family, his mother Georgina (Miriam Colon) and his beautiful younger sister, Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) who Tony is very protective off.  Tony's mother however is far from pleased to see him and refuses to take his money, after which Tony leaves angrily, and Gina goes out after him, and Tony gives her the money anyway.  Manny clearly smitten by Gina, is warned by Tony to stay away from her.

Some time after this Frank sends Tony along with Suarez to meet with cocaine kingpin Aljeandro Sosa (Paul Shenar) where Tony does a deal with Sosa without Frank's consent, which angers Suarez, but Sosa allows Suarez to call Frank before they move on.  However Sosa soon reveals to Tony that Suarez is a police informant, and he shows Tony that his men have Suarez up in a helicopter, beaten up with a rope around his neck, they hang him from the helicopter.  Sosa despite his dislike for Frank, admires Tony's honesty and fortright nature and decides to the deal with Tony.

Tony returns to Frank with the news of the deal, who is outraged and tells Tony that to stall the deal for now, but soon after their partnership falls apart.  Tony later on at a nightclub is shaken down by a corrupt cop Mel Bernstein (Harris Yulin) who proposes to tax him in return for inside police information and protection.  Tony also tries to come onto Elvira, while Frank is present, who angrily tells him to leave, but Tony instead says "the only thing that gives orders in this world is balls!" and Frank leaves.  Not longer after thought an attempt is made on Tony's life in the club, who barely escapes alive after killing the hitmen.

Tony then get's Manny and his men together, and they soon confront Frank at his office, who confesses to have ordered the hit on him, and pleads with him to spare his life, but Tony has Manny shoot Frank dead, and Tony kills Bernstein who is also present.  With nothing in his way, Tony takes over Frank's business and also takes Elvira with him, and he soon rises in power and partners with Sosa on his drug deals, turning his business in a multi-million dollar empire.  But from here Tony's life becomes increasingly complicated and its not long before events in his career and personal life spiral wildly out of control....

THOUGHTS (Warning: this section may refers to some spoilers!)

While it can be said to be a remake of the 1932 film of the same name, there is not a great deal of similarity between the two films, and for De Palma's Scarface is the more memorable and relevant of the two films, as it mirrored the real life events of the time as a result of the Cuban mass immigration, and the political and social repercussions as a result in America.

Character wise the film is also brilliantly written and Tony Montana is a memorable antagonist with a complex background, as it is suggested that he was an assassin back in Cuba, but also his family have made it over with his mother and sister.  But more interestingly in the film despite his sociopathic behaviour he is to a lesser extent show to be a moral character aswell, as he clearly is very protective of his younger sister Gina, and he wants to keep her away from that part of his life.

Also later in the film when Tony is given the task by Sosa to do a hit on a political activist who is threat to Sosa's business partners, by planting a bomb underneath his car.  But when the day comes and Tony is set on killing the activist, he sees that the activist has picked up his wife and daughter, and he refuses to kill the activist and his family, as he says "this is so fucking bad!" realising of course he too has a family to think of.  And its bizarre in a way that Tony Montana has become such an iconic character, as he's hardly a role model, with so many films and TV shows referencing him, and to this day there are plenty of T-shirts and memoribilia to be seen with Tony Montana on them with infamous lines from the film. 

PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)

In terms of the performances the cast are all top notch here.

Starting with Al Pacino who gives one of his best performances as Tony Montana, as he plays him as a sociopathic egomaniac, who has ruthless ambition as well as a potty mouth!  Pacino has many highlights in the film and plenty of great dialouge, of which there are too many mention all at once but I will mention a fair few.

And for starters there is the scene where Tony after just meeting Frank's girlfriend, Elvira and they all go out for drinks, Elvira asks Tony to dance with her, so they go and dance and Tony tries to chat to her but she is cold toward him.  So, Tony rather offended tells Elvira "Hey, baby, what is your problem? Huh, you got a problem? You're good looking, you got a beautiful body, beautiful legs, beautiful face, all these guys in love with you. Only you got a look in your eye like you haven't been fucked in a year!". Elvira angrily then says "Hey, Joe. How, when and how I fuck is none of your business!" and Tony turned on by her attitude says "Now your talking, baby!  Keep it coming!".  Elvira however is annoyed by Tony's advances and says "Don't call me "baby".  I'm NOT your baby!" and Tony grins and says "Not yet, you gotta give me some time!".  Elvira then stops dancing and looks at Tony with disgust and tells him "Even if I were blind, desparate, stuck on a desert island and begging for it, you'd be the last thing I'd ever fuck!!".

Then there is the scene when Tony witnesses one of Frank's closest associates, Suarez, being executed as he his hung from a helicopter by Sosa's men. Sosa tells Tony that Suarez was an informant for the police and asks him how does he know Tony isn't one too.  So, Tony firmly says to Sosa "Hey, Sosa, let's get this straight right now.  I never fucked over anybody in my life, who didn't have it coming. All I have in this world is my world and my balls and I don't break em for nobody!". 

Then we have the scene where Tony confronts Frank over the attempt on his life, which Frank arranged but was bungled as Tony managed to kill the hitmen. So, Tony says to Frank "You know what a chazzer is, Frank? Its a pig that doesn't fly straight, and neither do you, Frank!" and as Frank pleads with Tony to spare him, Franks begs and says "Come on, please, Tony. I never did nothing to nobody!".  So, Tony bitterly says "No, you did nothing to nobody. You let someone else do it for you!" and Frank continues to beg for his life at Tony's feet and Tony appears to relent and says "I ain't gonna kill you" and Frank immediately says "Oh Christ! Thank you!".  However, Tony then turns to Manny and says "Manolo, shoot that piece of shit!" so Manny then shoots Frank dead.

Tony then turns his attentions to Mel, the corrupt cop, who is in cahoots with Frank and he says to him "Every dog has his day, huh Mel?".  Mel then says to Tony that Frank messed up but Tony says to him "You too, Mel.  You fucked up" and Mel warns him "Don't go too far, Tony" and Tony says "I ain't, Mel. YOU are!" and he shoots Mel in the stomach, who gasps desparately and says "Can't shoot a cop!" and Tony says "Whoever said you was one!".  Mel then pleads with Tony to let him go and straighten things out but Tony mocks him and says "Sure, Mel. Maybe you can hand out yourself one of them first class tickets to the Resurrection!".  Mel with his last words angrily says to Tony "Fucking punk!  Son of a bitch!" and Tony aims his gun at Mel and says "So long, Mel.  Have a nice trip" and Mel shouts his last words "FUCK YOU!!" and Tony shoots him dead.

Also the scene where he sits in his obscenely large bath tub in his mansion, and he watches current affairs programmes on his TV, swearing away, Elvira chastises him for it and calls him boring for talking about money all the time, so he changes channel instead where we see a pelican on screen and he says "OK! Look at that, a pelican!  Lovely pelican, fly fly!".   Later in the scene he tells Manny to back out of his money laundering deal who calls him an asshole and he says "Hey fuck you, Manny, who put this together??? ME!  Who do I trust??? ME!".

Then there is the scene where Tony and Sosa's assassin, Alberto the shadow (Mark Margolis, who would later appear in Breaking Bad) tail the journalist they are supposed to kill with a car bomb.  However when they observe the journalist pick up his wife and two children, Tony changes his mind as he refuses to do the job but Alberto insists they go ahead.

So, as Tony reluctantly drives off and tails the journalist, he expresses his disgust over the siutation "This is so fucking bad!".  So, he angrily says to Alberto "Bet you feel good, huh? Bet you feel good to kill a mother and her kids, huh, bet you feel big... ". Alberto in Spanish tells Tony to shut up but Tony continues " ...Like, you big man. Well, fuck you. What do you think I am?! You think I'd kill two kids and a woman?! Fuck that! I don't need that shit in my life!".  So, as Alberto is about to press the detonator switch, Tony suddenly turns to Alberto and shouts "YOU DIE, MOTHERFUCKER!!" and shoots in the head.  Tony then rants loudly at the dead Alberto "What'd you think of that, huh? What you think, I'm a fucking worm like you? I told you, man, I told you! Don't fuck with me!!! I told you, no fucking kids!!! No, but you wouldn't listen, why, you stupid fuck, look at you now!!".

Another great scene is when Tony heads back to his mansion where Sosa has been repeatedly trying to call him, so Tony finally speaks to Sosa, who is furious that the hit didn't go as planned.  So, Sosa asks Tony "What happened, Tony?" and Tony tells him "Your guy Alberto... you know he's a piece of shit. I told him to do something he didn't listen to me, so I had to cancel his fucking contract!".  Sosa, however is not happy and says "My partners and I are pissed off, Tony!" but Tony tries to placate and says "That's okay. No big deal, we can do it next month".  However, Sosa tells Tony that they found the bomb underneath the journalist's and they have tightened security around him, so now Sosa and his partners will take alot of heat for this.

So, Sosa furiously says to Tony "There's not going to be a next time you fucking dumb cocksucker..." and Tony rather offended says "Hey!  Take it easy when you talk to me".  Sosa angrily then shouts at Tony "I told you a long time ago, you fucking little monkey, not to fuck with me!!".  Tony then suddenly explodes and shouts at Sosa "HEY!!  WHO THE FUCK YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING TO??!! YOU WANNA FUCK..." Sosa then hangs up in disgust.  However Tony, oblivious to Sosa hanging up, continues to rant at him "Who the fuck you think I am?!! Your fucking bell boy?!! Come on! Bring it! You wanna go to war? We take you to war! Okay?!!!". 

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH REFERS TO THE END OF THE FILM!

And near the end when he is overrun by Sosa's men who storm his mansion, he grabs his M16 assault rifle with a grenade launcher attachment, he shouts out the infamous line "Say hello to my little friend!!".  And later after Tony mows down some more of Sosa's men, he yells at them "GO AHEAD!!! YOU FUCKIN MARICON!! I'M TONY MONTANA!!! YOU FUCK WITH ME, YOU'RE FUCKIN WITH THE BEST!!  YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME!! YOU NEED A FUCKIN ARMY TO TAKE ME!!".  And as Sosa's men continue to open fire on Tony, who even manage to him hit with several bullet, he is still standing and furiously shouts "I'LL TAKE YOUR FUCKIN BULLETS!!  GO AHEAD!!! GO AHEAD!!" only for one of Sosa's assassins to quietly sneak up and shoot him in the back and he falls down into a fountain below.

As for the other cast members, Steve Bauer is excellent as Manny, who has the daunting job of playing off Pacino at his very best, but he does a great here, and he plays Manny as the more cautious and level headed of the two as well as a charmer and a bit of a womaniser.

Bauer has some great moments in the film as well, such as when Manny decides to try and pick up a girl at a beach after Tony's failed attempt to ask a pretty girl if she wants to have ice cream with him.  So, Manny tells Tony "Come on, that won't work. You can't do it that way.  You know how you pick up chicks in this country?" and he leans forward and sticks his tongue quickly much to Tony's disgust.  And as another pretty girl in a bikini walks by, Manny decides to try it on with her, so he confidently walks up to her and starts to chat to her and while this happens, Tony goes up a young boy and says "You want to see something funny? My friends over there, he's gonna stick his tongue out at that girl!".  So, Manny suddenly sticks his tongue but the girl is not impressed at all and slaps him in the face and shouts "You're sick!" and Manny walks away and shouts to her "Bitch! Lesbian!".

Another good scene for Bauer is when Manny drives Tony's young sister, Gina home after Tony catches her in the nightclub with some guy, who tried to make out with her in a toilet.  So, Manny explains to Gina "Come on, Gina. Put yourself in his place, okay? Right now, you happen to be the best thing in his life. The only thing that's any good, that's pure. Of course he doesn't want you mixing with those people...growing up to be like him. He has this father thing for you. Feels like he has to protect you".  Gina asks "Protect me against what?" and Manny says "Against guys like that asshole you were dancing with tonight!".  Gina protests and says that the guy was nice and knows how to treat a woman and Manny scoffs and says "He knows how to treat a woman?!  By taking her to the toilet to make out?!".

Then after we see a dispondent looking Tony in the club watching an act about to take to the stage, we cut back to Manny and Gina.  And Manny says "You should go out with someone who is on the ball and is going somewhere in life" and Gina asks "Like who?" and Manny says "For instance someone, who's got a real job like a banker, or a doctor, or a lawyer".  Gina however then asks Manny "Why don't you take me out?" and this is met with an awkward silence from Manny "Are you crazy?" and Gina says "I see the way you look at me, Manolo!  You think I'm blind?  I see".  Manny however tries to make her see it would be a bad idea "Look, Gina...Tony and I are like brothers. You're his kid sister.  That's where it ends and that's where it stays".  Gina then teasingly asks Manny "Are you afraid of Tony?" which angers Manny who shouts "I'm not afraid of anybody!  That's not the point here!!" and this leave Gina with a wry smile.   

Robert Loggia also does a great job here as Frank Lopez, the drug dealer, who in the end hasn't got the gumption to stand up to Tony and instead tries to have him killed.

Loggia has some great moments in the film as well, and some great dialogue, such as the one where we first see Frank when Tony brings him the Colombian's coke and the money from their bungled deal.  So, Frank warmly greets Tony and tells him "You're gonna find, you stay loyal in this business...you're gonna move up. You're gonna move up fast. And you'll find out your biggest problem...is not bringing in the stuff... but what to do with all the fucking cash!" and he laughs loudly.  Frank then asks where his girlfriend, Elvira is and she jokes "Jesus!  That broad, she spends half her life dressing and the other half undressing!!" and he laughs again.

Then there is the scene where after only Tony returns from the meeting with Sosa (as Suarez was killed by Sosa's men) having a made an unauthorised deal, Frank is furious with Tony.  So, Frank shouts at Tony "You what?! You made a deal for FUCKING $18 million... without even checking with me?!! Are you crazy, Montana?!!". Tony however insists that it was a good deal and he then really starts to impose himself on Frank as he says he bury all their opposition, which clearly unsettles Frank.

Frank however still tries to maintain his composure as the boss and he warns Tony of Sosa "Let me tell you something about that greaseball cocksucker. He is a snake, that's what he is. You turn your back on him, he'll stick it in. You don't trust a guy like that. You want me to believe... Omar was a stoolie because Sosa said so? You bought that line? Maybe I made a mistake sending you down there. Maybe you and Sosa know something I don't know!".  Tony feeling a little threatened asks "Like what?" and Frank clearly more nervous, tries to turn it back on Tony and asks "You tell ME like what?!" and Tony asks Frank "Are you calling me a liar, Frank? Is that what you're calling me?".  Frank however again sees that Tony is stronger than him and backs off a little and he says "Let's just say I want things to stay the way they are for now.  You STALL you're deal with Sosa".

And just before Tony goes, Frank warns him "Tony.  Remember I told you when you started...the guys who last in this business are the guys that fly straight, quiet, low key...but the guys that want it all, chica, champagne, flash...they don't last!".

Then there is the scene where Frank sees Tony trying to chat up Elvira at the club after their earlier chat where Tony said he wants her to marry him but she brushes him off and Frank walks up and angrily confronts him.  So, Frank says to Tony "Why don't you find your own girl?!" and Tony says "That's what I am doing" but Frank tells him "Go do it somewhere else!" and Tony teases him "Maybe I don't hear so good sometimes" and Frank warns him "You won't hear anything if you go on like this!". Tony then asks Frank "You going to do something?!" and Frank shouts back "You're FUCKING right I am going to do something!!! I'm giving you orders!  Blow!". Tony however finally has had it with Frank and shows himself to be the stronger man and he boldly says to him "Amigo, the only thing in this world that gives orders is balls! Balls!" and Frank backs off and says to Elvira "Let's go" and they leave.  

WARNING: AGAIN THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH FEATURES A BIG SPOILER!!

And last of all is Loggia's final scene where Frank meets his end when Tony confronts him at his office, having survived the attempt on his life.  So, as Frank confesses he was behind the attempted hit he pleads for his life and get's down on his knees "Please, Tony? Elvira? You want Elvira? You can have her. I'll go away. I'm gonna disappear. You'll never see me again. Please, Tony, I don't want to die. I never did nothing to nobody!". Frank then begs "Oh, please don't kill me!" and Tony says "I ain't gonna kill you" and Frank gasps with relief and says "Oh, Christ!  Thank yoU!" but Tony then turns to Manny and says "Manolo, shoot that piece of shit!" and Frank shouts with horror "NO! NO!!" and Manny shoots Frank dead.

Michelle Pfieffer is also excellent as the beautiful yet cold and drug addled Elvira, who resists Tony as long as she can until he takes over Frank's business empire, and they soon enter a loveless marriage.

Michelle's best scenes includes the scene where Elvira dances with Tony in a nightclub and he comes onto her but Elvira is repelled by his advances.  So as the two of them dance together, Tony tries to put her at ease and tells her "I'm just trying to be friendly" and Elvira says "I already got friends, I don't need another one!  Especially one that just got off a banana boat!".  Tony takes offence and says "You got the wrong guy.  I didn't just get off a banana boat.  I am a political refugee from Cuba!".  Elvira then grins and says "Sorry.  I didn't realise you were so sensitive about your diplomatic status".

Tony again, feeling offended, asks Elvira what her problem is and she has a look in her eye like she hasn't had sex in a year, so Elvira angrily tells Tony "Hey, Jose! Who, why, when and how I fuck is none of your business!".  Tony suddenly turned on says to her "Now you're talking to me, baby! Keep it coming!  That I like!" and Elvira, annoyed says "Don't call me "baby". I'm not your baby!" and Tony grins and says "Not yet, you gotta give me some time!". Elvira then stops dancing and looks at Tony in disgust and says "Even if I were blind, desperate... starved and begging for it on a desert island... you'd be the last thing I'd ever fuck!".

And lastly there is the scene where Elvira decides to leave Tony during a dinner, where he drunkenly berates her for being a drug addict and infertile. So, as Tony says to her "I can't even have a little baby with her!  Her woman is so fucking polluted!" Elvira is livid and she says through gritted teeth "You son of a bitch!  You fuck!" and she throws her drink in Tony's face and she yells "How dare you talk to me like that!!". 

Elvira then angrily says to Tony "What makes you so much better than me?! What do you do?!  You deal drugs and you kill people!  Oh, that's wonderful!  A real contribution to human history!". Elvira then says to Tony "You wanna kid?  What kind of father would you make?!" and Tony furiously tries to grab her but Manny holds him back.  Elvira continues "And you don't even know how to be a husband...!" and again Tony furiously goes for her but he is held back and Elvira shouts "Do we ever go anywhere without having 600 thugs hanging around us all the time?!!".  After Manny restrains Tony again, Elvira calms down a little and tearfully says to Tony "Can't you see...what we're becoming, Tony.  We're losers. We're not winners".  Elvira then grabs her things and she says to Tony "I'm going home. Alone!  I'm leaving you!  I don't need this shit anymore!" and she walks out.

Next up is Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Tony's young sister Gina, who Tony is very protective of, and Mary does a fine job with her sympathetic and ultimately tragic role.  It was suggested in the film that Tony actually harbors incestuous feelings for her, but looking at it again, it is more that Tony is just overly protective of her. 

And I will mention two of Mary's scenes the first being the one where Gina at Frank's club goes into a toilet to make out with a guy and Tony notices them going into the toilet, he furiously follows them and confronts Gina. So, after Manny throws out the guy, Frank grabs Gina's face and tells her "If I catch you here again, I'm gonna wipe you all over the place!".  Gina angrily challenges Tony and says "Do it now.  I wanna see it!  I wanna see it now, big shot!" but Tony angrily pushes her away and shouts "Get outta here!".  So, Gina angrily tells Tony "You got some nerve, Tony! You can't tell me what to do, Tony. No more. I am not a baby anymore. I'll do what I wanna do. I'll see whoever I wanna see. And if I wanna fuck 'em, Tony, then I'll fuck 'em!" and Tony slaps her and storms out, leaving Manny to pick her up and comfort her.
 
WARNING: ANOTHER BIG SPOILER COMING UP!!

And lastly there is the scene where after Tony has killed Manny out of rage when he learns that Manny and Gina are a couple, Tony takes a hysterical Gina back to his mansion where she is sedated.  However a little later, while Tony is coked out of his mind in his office, Gina enters wearing just a robe and she carries a gun and she says to Tony suggestively "Is this what you want, Tony? You can't stand for another man to be touching me. So you want me, Tony? Here I am, Tony. I am all yours now, Tony, you see? I'm all yours now".  Gina however raises the gun and starts firing it at Tony randomly, who ducks out the way but he ends up taking a bullet in his thigh. Gina continues firing the gun and shouts "Come and get me. Come and get me. You do it now before it's too late. Come on, Tony. Fuck me! Fuck me! Come on and just fuck me!".  But....then I will say no more!

F. Murray Abraham is also excellent as Omar Suarez, Frank's devious henchman who clearly despises Tony from the start.

And for time I will only mention his first scene where Suarez meets with Tony and Manny and gives them a small paying job, which annoys Tony, so Suarez suggests an alternative to Tony, to attend a drug deal with Colombians.  So, Suarez says to Tony "Okay, all right, big man! You want to make some big bucks? Let's see how tough you are! There's a bunch of Colombians coming in Friday. New guys. They say they got two keys for us, for openers. Pure coke. Hotel in Miami Beach. I want you to go over there. If it's what they say, pay 'em and bring it back. Do that, you get $5,000!".  And before Suarez goes, he warns Tony "Be at Hector's Bodega at noon Friday. You get the buy money then. If anything happens to that buy money... my boss will stick your heads up your asses... faster than a rabbit gets fucked!" and drives off. 
 Paul Shenar does a great job as Sosa, Tony's business partner, who work well together at first but their relationship takes a nasty turn later on.

Shenar also has some good scenes that include the scene where he Sosa meets with Tony and Suarez at his mansion and they have lunch together. However, as Tony takes the lead in the business meeting, this annoys Suarez, so Sosa suggests that Suarez talk to Frank about the deal before they go ahead with it. So, as Suarez is lead out by Sosa's men toward a helicopter, Sosa stops Tony from going with him and they chat and it soon becomes apparent that Sosa has discovered info on Suarez.

So, in the scene Sosa says to Tony as they walk togther on the grounds of Sosa's mansion "I like you, Tony. There is no lying in you. Unfortunately, I don't feel the same about the rest of your organization".  Tony asks "What do you mean by that, Mr Sosa?" and Sosa explains "I'm talking about Omar Suarez" and Sosa points upward to a helicopter in the sky and Suarez gives Tony some binoculars and we see a bloody Suarez with a rope hung around his neck being goaded by Sosa's men.  Suarez tells Tony "This garbage was recognized by my associate at lunch... from several years ago in New York. He was an informer for the police. He put Vito Duval and Nello and Gino Ramos away for life". 

Tony then witnesses Sosa's men then push Suarez out of the helicopter and hang him from it, so Tony looks to Sosa who theateningly asks him "So how do I know you're not a chivato, too, Tony?".  Tony then tells Sosa that he never liked Suarez and all he has is his word and his balls and he "doesn't break em for nobody!".  So, Sosa takes a moment and says "I think you speak from the heart, Montana" and after some more discussion, Sosa finishes by saying to Tony "I think you and me, we can work this thing out... we do business together for a long time" but he warns him "Just remember... I'll only tell you one time... don't fuck me, Tony. Don't you ever try to fuck me". 

And last of all is the scene where after Tony bungles the hit he is supposed to carry out on a journalist, who is badmouthing Sosa in the press aswell as his business partners, which will now have dire repurcussions for Sosa and the others.  So, Sosa talks to Tony over the phone and asks him "What happened?" and Tony says "We had a little problem" and Sosa says "I heard" and Tony asks "How you hear that?" and Sosa, trying to calm himself says "Our friend gave a speech at the UN. He was not supposed to give that speech, Tony!". 

Tony then explains that Alberto didn't do what he asked him to, so he killed him, however Sosa is in no mood to listen and he angrily tells Tony "My partners and I are pissed off, Tony!".  Tony then says "That's okay.  We can do it next month" but Sosa tells Tony "No, Tony. You can't do that. They found what was under the car, Tony! Now, our friend has got security up the ass! And the heat is gonna come down hard on my partners and me... There's not gonna be a next time, you fucking dumb cocksucker! You blew it!"  Tony then says "Hey! Take it easy when you talk to me, okay?!".  Sosa however is furious at this point and he yells "I told you a long time ago, you fucking little monkey, not to fuck me!!!".  Tony then yells back "WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING TO????!!" and Sosa immediately hangs up. 

And last of all is Harris Yulin who is great as the corrupt cop, Mel Burnstein, who tries to shake down Tony and he has an excellent scene with Pacino where Tony has Frank killed and Mel is present at Frank's office, as he is working with Mel.

So, after Frank has been killed, Tony turns to Mel and says to him "Every dog has its day huh, Mel?" and Mel says "I told him. It didn't make any sense, clipping you when we had you working for us. He wouldn't listen. He got hot tonight, about the broad, you know? He fucked up". Tony however says to Mel "You too, Mel!  You fucked up" and Mel warns Tony "Don't go too far, Tony" and Tony says "I'm not, Mel. YOU are!" and he shoots him in the stomach.  Mel falls forward, clutching his stomach he gasps and says "You can't shoot a cop!" and Tony says "Whoever says you was one?" but Mel shouts "WAIT A MINUTE!!".  Mel then tries to catch his breath and he says "If you let me go, I'll fix this up" and Tony taunts Mel and says "Sure, Mel. Maybe you can hand out one of those first class tickets to the ressurection".  Mel, in disgust says "Fucking punk!  Son of a bitch!" and Tony stands up and aims his gun at Mel and says "So long, Mel. Have a good trip!" and Mel shouts his last words "FUCK YOU!!" and Tony shoots him dead. 

DIRECTOR, SCRIPT AND MUSIC

Moving onto the director, Brian De Palma does a terrific job here as well, as he provides a great mixture of drama, suspense and humour.  The action scenes in the film are superbly staged, and they are also quite tense, especially the scene where Tony is captured by the Colombians who are about to chainsaw him to death in a bathtub.  The scene where Tony also avoids getting assassinated in the nightclub is another tense well staged moment, as two hitman sit a table with uzis hidden under napkins, and a cocaine fuelled Tony barely notices until the last second.  And the final scene where Tony confronts Sosa's entire army as they storm his mansion is superb even if it is a bit over the top. 

Also, Oliver Stone, who at the time was as a screenwriter and this was prior to his directorial debut in Platoon, provides a richly well written screenplay with plenty of great dialogue.  Stone himself however at the time was struggling with his own addiction to cocaine, so this in some way is echoed in Tony's character.  And as I previously mentioned, it was at the time the most profane film ever made with over 200 uses of the word "fuck" (with probably over half of them delivered by Pacino!).

And before I finish I thought I would mention the memorable music score written by Giorgio Moroder, which is a mixture of sythensizer based music, and also reflects the new wave scene at the time in the 80s.  It also features several memorable songs which Moroder produced, such as "Push it to the limit" used in the montage scene where we see Tony rise in power, and songs used in the nightclub scenes such as "She's on fire" and "Shake it up". 

At times however, Mororder's score is a bit cheesy and melodramatic, especially in the tense close-up moments when we see Tony react to Gina flirting with a guy on the dancefloor in the club, and the synthesizer reaches fever pitch to reflect his rage.  Despite this though, this is still a pretty good score from Moroder overall even if it does sound a bit dated.   

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

As for flaws....yeah well OK Scarface might have the odd one or two but nothing major.

And I'd have to say one of the very few issues I have with Scarface, is to do with the film's lengthy running time of almost three hours, as it just feels a bit too long and there undoubtedly some scenes that do feel a bit sluggish.  This is especially notable in the scenes where Tony picks up a new car for Elvira and also the scene where Tony goes to visit his mother and his sister, Gina as both these scenes feel pretty padded out, although second scene is more necessary as it sets up Gina meeting Manny later on and Tony's jealously and protectiveness of Gina.   

I also thought it was a bit bizzare that Tony didn't even realise in the climactic action sequence that Gina was actually dead, after we clearly see her gunned down by one of Sosa's men. Yet, Tony in the next scene sees Gina's dead body and he goes over to comfort her, talking to her but he clearly doesn't have a clue to the fact that she is dead!  Yet, Tony still carries on talking to her saying "I love you and Manny too" etc.  I mean the guy is pretty strung out on coke but even at that, you'd still think he realised that his sister is a goner! 

The final action sequence while it is a great over the top finish to the movie, it also is a bit silly in itself how Tony is taking multiple gunfire from about half a dozen of Sosa's men, yet he is still standing at this point!  Its like these guys have deliberately poor aim or rather they are just intentionally trying to aim at all of Tony's non-vital organs, just to stall for time so that Sosa's assassin can deliver the final fatal shot to Tony's back, which leads into the unintentionally hilarious moment where Tony falls face first into fountain below and a wave of blood splashes out of both sides of the fountain as he impacts it!  However, all that said, I find it still remarkable how Tony would be even able to have survived that hail of bullets in the first place!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Scarface is to this day a great modern crime thriller and it far outstrips the original Scarface film from which it was loosely based, directed by Howard Hawks back in 1932.  And the script written by Oliver Stone has far more meaning to it as it reflects the Cuban mass immigration of the time into the United States. 

The film is also a perfect vehicle for Al Pacino's talents as he delivers an incredible performance as Tony Montana and he shows a man who is both psychotic but also charming at the same time.  Pacino is also ably supported by an excellent cast particularly Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfieffer and Robert Loggia, who all deliver strong performances.  And Brian De Palma's direction is terrific and he fills the film with his usual visual touches and it also features a memorable if at times, cheesy and dated sounding score by Giorgio Moroder.   

And after 35 years (yep its been that long!) this is still one of the great modern crime films and remains a must see and a film you can come back to time and time again.

Right, so that's it for now and I'll be back sometime soon with another post.

Till then, its bye for now!