Scarface is a 1983 motion picture about Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who has come to Florida in 1980 as a result of the Mariel Boatlift and entered into a life of organized crime and cocaine dealing. The film was released to theatres by Universal Pictures.
It is loosely based on a 1932 movie of the same name, (see Scarface (1932)).
Plot Summary
Tony Montana is one of "Los Bandidos" who in 1980 were sent from Cubas prisons to Miami. Tony arrives in Cuba with amongst others his trusted sidekick Manny. They are sprung from a detention camp for Cuban refugees by carrying out a hit for Frank Lopez a Miami mobster. In return they get their green cards. Tony and Manny begin life in Miami as dishwashers but are soon forcing their way into whatever angle they can. Tony gains the respect of Lopez and after establishing himself as a player in the drugs scene under Lopez he makes contact with his hitherto lost family in Miami, his mother and sister Gina. Tony is not content to follow Frank and is soon cutting deals with Alejandro Sosa a Bolivian cocaine producer with some heavy government connections. Tony eventually takes both Franks business and Franks woman, the cold yet vulnerable Elvira. Eventually Tony is busted for tax evasion after a money laundering sting and faces a jail sentence. Sosa offers Tony a way out jail in return for helping with the execution of a crusading Bolivian politician who is beginning to threaten both Sosa and his influential network of freinds. Tony is unable to go through with the hit against the Bolivian after finding that the mans family will be killed alongside the target. Tony returns from the failed hit to confront Sosa. He then discovers that Gina and Manny have been having a relationship. Tony kills Manny only to discover that Gina and Manny were married the day before. Tony retreats to his gaurded home and waits for Sosa's small army to take him and his empire down. Gina is gunned down whilst taunting Tony for the killing of her love Manny and after defying many bullets Tony is eventually killed.
Analysis
Tony arrives in Miami with nothing but the clothes on his back but he says he knows what he wants -"whats coming to me". Tony has no problem killing and in fact he regards it as fun. At the start of the movie Tony is questioned by the US authorities and we see that he has a tattoo on his hand with the word Madre inside a heart, this is a Cuban prison tattoo signifiying the rank of executioner. He also shows no fear and enjoys confrontation of all kinds always ready to take any situation to the next level. He refuses to bow to men who would think themselves better than him and knows enough of the rules to know that their are no rules when it comes to reaching the top in the Miami underworld. As the movie carries on with the story of Tony's apparent success, Tony's humanity begins to emerge along with his loss of interest in the superficial trappings of that success. We find Tony by the time of the restuarant scene a man lost. With his relationship with Elvira all but over, he looks round at the other dinners in their own tuxedos and realises that acceptance is as far from him as it has always been he will always be the bad man.
Although an adept operator in a treacherous world Tony remains a truthful man "All I got is my word and two balls and I dont break 'em". And although a violent man his violence he believes can always be justified "I never fucked anybody over in my life didn't have it comin' to him"
Tony is also a man who commands love of the few people close to him, For Manny and Gina Tony is a father figure and although the union seems political rather than romantic Elvira does have some feeling for Tony although this must be questioned given her vulnerability. However Tony's greed makes him squander this love. He is denied and brutally mocked by the two women he cares about. First Elvira who Tony has won from his one time boss Frank denies him both the love and the son he craves and after Tony's slaying of Manny, Gina taunts Tony with her body. This last twisted act by Gina is in a way symbolic of Tonys futile quest for a son.
It is Tony's compassion that proves to be his downfall. We also see that Tony is ultimately a pawn chosen for his unique qualities but unaware that the empire that he has seemingly created from nothing was there before he arrived from Cuba and will be there after he has gone. Alejandro Sosa and his cabal of South American and Washington goverment figures are the real power brokers although men like Tony prove useful to conceal their own hands. However we see that Tony may have uwittingly won his fight with authority during the call to Sosa after New York, when we see Sosas empire is crumbling thanks to Tonys uncompromising compassion, but at this point this possible victory for Tony is lost to him. Salvation for Tony comes near the end when he realises that he has lost Manny and is at last released from the hate that has consumed him all his life. The grief that Tony feels whilst waiting to die is the most poignant emotion that Tony experiences during the movie.
Scarface and hip-hop
Scarface is also notable for its extensive popularity by 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 and outsider status. Mafioso fashion became a prominent part of hip hop fashion, quotes from the film (often sampled lines of dialogue) are prominent in many hip-hop songs, and rapper Scarface named himself after the film and its protagonist. "Tony Montana is an ultimate gangsta", says Latino hip-hop musician Fat Joe. "It’s like the code of the streets, man; everybody who thinks they gangsta or are gangsta live by that movie." [1]
A number of hip-hop stars have featured Scarface memorabilia as being among their prized possessions when filmed for MTV's television show Cribs, and Universal Pictures, whose parent company, Vivendi Universal, owns a number of prominent hip-hop records, supported the Scarface-hip hop connection with both a hip-hop soundtrack to Scarface and a documentary on Scarface's lavish boxed-set DVD re-release in 2003. Plans were made to re-score Scarface with a completely hip-hop based soundtrack, but Oliver Stone refused to approve such a version of the film.
The Scarface influence on hip-hop has been decried by many critics, many of them part of what is labeled as alternative hip hop, who feel that the fixiation of these rappers on a character such as Montana are poor influences for young people. Looking up to Scarface and Montana, they argue, would cause children and teenagers to romanticize crime, violence, and the mafioso lifestyle.
Profanity and violence
The movie contains a good deal of profanity (the word fuck is used 182 times by Pacino alone) and violence, including a notorious shower scene featuring a chainsaw. It is the origin of the phrase "Say hello to my little friend", which Tony says before blowing away a door with an M203 grenade launcher and taking on a hit squad sent to assassinate him.
Information
Starring
Crew
-
Brian De Palma - Director / Screenwriter
- Martin Bregman - Producer
- Peter Saphier - Producer / Co-producer
-
Oliver Stone - Screenwriter
- John A. Alonzo - Cinematographer
-
Giorgio Moroder - Composer (Music Score)
- Jerry Greenberg - Editor
- Jerry Greenberg - Editor
- David Ray - Editor
- Ferdinando Scarfiotti - Production Designer
- Ed Richardson - Art Director
- Steve Schwartz - Art Director / Set Designer
- Louis A. Stroller - Executive Producer
- Geoff Hubbard - Set Designer
- Blake Russell - Set Designer
- Bruce Weintraub - Set Designer
- Pat Norris - Costume Designer
- Charles D. Knight - Sound/Sound Designer
- Stan Parks - Special Effects
- Ken Pepiot - Special Effects
- Joe Napolitano - First Assistant Director
- Jerry Ziesmer - First Assistant Director
- James M. Halty - Stunts
- Chuck Picerni, Jr. - Stunts
- Mario Roberts - Stunts
External links
Last updated: 05-17-2005 17:59:04
