Posted on 09/30/2003 5:49:45 AM PDT by Pikamax
'Scarface' leaves its mark on an admiring audience
09/28/03
Clint O'Connor Plain Dealer Reporter
So you've got a movie considered so violent, foul-mouthed and drug-ridden by the ratings board at the Motion Picture Association of America that members stick it with an X. The movie studio goes bonkers, because an X is really bad for the box office. What do you do?
If you're Brian De Palma, you cut the film and resubmit it to the MPAA.
He did, and they gave it another X (now called NC-17). He cut it again. Again he received an X. Three X's, and you're out, right? Wrong. Producer Marty Bregman and a team of psychologists launched an elaborate appeal to the MPAA, explaining that "Scarface," their stunner of a gangster movie, was actually an anti-drug expose.
It got an R. And the film that hit theaters in 1983 was the first "X-rated" version that De Palma submitted.
Largely panned by critics, the film took on a kind of cult status. Casual viewers remember Cuban drug-dealer Tony Montana face-down in a mammoth mound of cocaine or wielding a machine gun bigger than him. Devotees saw something else: the classic immigrant coming to America and rising from the gutter.
Twenty years later, it's fascinating to pop "Scarface" in the DVD player and cruise along for nearly three hours. I enjoyed it much more than I did in 1983. It suddenly had more nuance and texture. De Palma and screenwriter Oliver Stone were on top of their game.
And, as he usually does, Al Pacino, as Tony, took my breath away. The man just eats up the camera like few other actors can. His Tony is often absurd and over the top, but always captivating.
The cast in general is first class: Michelle Pfeiffer, who's never been better, Robert Loggia, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and F. Murray Abraham.
"Scarface," based on Howard Hawks' 1932 gangster classic starring Paul Muni, follows Cuban refugee Montana as he lands in Miami and gets caught up in the high-speed drug trade, mostly cocaine.
The film is packed with classic lines - "Lesson No. 1: Don't underestimate the other guy's greed. Lesson No. 2: Don't get high on your own supply," and Tony's dating advice, "In this country, you got to make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the woman."
Universal has put together a two-disc anniversary edition, which hits stores Tuesday for $26.98. (A deluxe gift set that includes the 1932 "Scarface" goes for $59.98).
The anniversary edition includes the usual extras, in this case, interesting ones. There are interviews with De Palma, Pacino, Bregman and Stone and his giant ego.
The most entertaining extra is "Def Jam Presents: Origins of a Hip-Hop Classic." The 20-minute documentary traces the film's enormous influence on a generation of hip-hoppers. P. Diddy, Snoop Dog, Big Boi, Fat Joe and several others rate "Scarface" as the greatest movie of all time - the cinematic bible of pulling yourself up from nothing and learning the rules of the streets. They see Tony as the "ultimate ghetto superhero." (A new CD from Def Jam is also out - "Scarface: Music Inspired by the Motion Picture," featuring Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., Cam'Ron and others.)
Conversely, the music in "Scarface" is by Giorgio Moroder. It's a very early-'80s Miami, bouncy-techno-synthesizer sound. De Palma said he was looking for a soundtrack that was "endless disco coked-up music," and he got it.
In hilarious and expletive-enhanced fashion, the rappers confess to watching it "63 times." And that's no lie. They can quote every line in the movie.
"Scarface" is sociology and pop-culture origins in motion.
Who knew?
Tony Montana, role model.
("Scarface" has moments of extreme violence, lots of blood and gun play, drug use and Olympian use of the F-word.)
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
I remember when it first came out to savage reviews(accurate IMHO). Pacino was lambasted for his laughable accent and he tried mightily to distance himself from the movie.
Ahh, I guess one generations chickensh*t is another chicken salad
Actually, it was pretty good if you look at it as a comedy.
It's a movie. It's supposed to be entertaining. And it did all that. That's why they've sold a lot ever since their 20th anniversary DVD came out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.