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Scarface (1983 film)
Scarface is a 1983 American crime film directed by Brian De Palma and written by Oliver Stone, a remake of the 1932 film of the same name.
The film tells the story of Cuban refugee Tony Montana who arrives in 1980s Miami with nothing and rises to become a powerful drug kingpin.
The cast also features Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Robert Loggia and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Scarface was released on December 9, 1983
and was a box office success, grossing $44 million. Initial critical reception was negative, with criticism over excessive violence and profanity
and graphic drug usage. Some Cuban expatriates in Miami objected to the film's portrayal of Cubans as criminals and drug traffickers.
In the years that followed, the film has received reappraisal from critics, considered by some to be one of the best crime films ever made,
especially in the gangster genre. Screenwriters and directors such as Martin Scorsese have praised the film,
which has been referenced extensively in pop culture, especially in rap and hip hop music as well as comic books, TV and video games.
The film has long since become a cult classic.
Plot
In 1980, Cuban refugee and ex-con Antonio "Tony" Montana arrives in Miami, Florida as part of the Mariel boatlift, where he is sent
to a refugee camp with his best friends, Manny Ribera, Angel and Chi-Chi. The four are released and given green cards in exchange
for assassinating a former Cuban government official at the request of wealthy drug dealer Frank Lopez. They become dishwashers in a diner,
to Tony's disgust, proclaiming he was meant for bigger things. Frank's right-hand man, Omar Suarez, gives them a job: purchase cocaine
from Colombian dealers, but the deal goes bad. Angel is dismembered with a chainsaw, while Manny and Chi-Chi rescue Tony and kill the Colombians.
Suspecting that Omar set them up, Tony and Manny insist on personally delivering the recovered drugs and money to Frank. During their meeting,
Tony is attracted to Frank's trophy wife, Elvira Hancock. Frank hires and befriends Tony and Manny. Months later, Tony visits his mother Georgina
and younger sister Gina, of whom he is fiercely protective. Disgusted by his life of crime, Georgina throws Tony out. Manny is attracted to Gina,
but Tony angrily tells him to stay away from her. Frank sends Tony and Omar to Bolivia to meet with cocaine kingpin Alejandro Sosa.
Tony negotiates a deal without Frank's approval, angering Omar, who leaves to contact Frank. Sosa claims that Omar is a police informant
and that Frank is weak. Tony witnesses a beaten Omar hanged from a helicopter. Tony vouches for Frank's organization. Sosa, taking a liking to Tony,
agrees to the deal, but not before warning Tony to never betray him. Back in Miami, Frank is infuriated by Omar's demise
and the unauthorized deal struck by Tony. At a nightclub, corrupt detective Mel Bernstein attempts to extort money from Tony in return
for police protection and information. Tony angers Frank further by openly pursuing Elvira in the club. Spotting Gina with her boyfriend,
Tony angrily beats the two of them. Hitmen attempt to assassinate Tony, but he escapes. Tony, certain that his boss sent both Bernstein
and the assassins, confronts Frank, with Manny and Chi-Chi in tow. At gunpoint, Frank confesses to the attempted hit and begs for his life, but he
and Bernstein are killed. Tony marries Elvira and becomes the distributor of Sosa's product. He builds a multimillion-dollar empire,
living in a vast, heavily guarded estate. By 1983, however, Tony becomes unsatisfied with his lifestyle and cocaine addiction.
His money launderer demands a greater percentage, while Manny resents Tony's growing paranoia and abusive treatment of Elvira. A sting
by federal agents results in Tony being charged with tax evasion, with an inevitable prison sentence. Sosa offers to use his government connections
to keep a desperate Tony out of prison, but only if Tony assassinates a journalist intending to expose Sosa. Later, Tony, during a public dinner,
accuses Manny of causing his arrest and Elvira of being an infertile junkie, causing Elvira to leave him. He travels to New York City
to carry out the assassination with Sosa's henchman, Alberto, who plants a bomb on the journalist's car. However,
the journalist is unexpectedly accompanied by his wife and children. Disgusted, Tony kills Alberto and returns to Miami. An enraged Sosa calls Tony
to promise retribution. Tony, at his mother's behest, tracks down Gina, who has secretly married Manny. After killing Manny,
a distraught Tony returns to his mansion, where he begins a massive coke binge. While Sosa's men invade the mansion and kill Tony's men,
a drugged Gina accuses Tony of wanting her for himself and attempts to kill him, but is slain by one of Sosa's men, who is in turn killed by Tony.
With Tony's men all dead - including Chi-Chi - and assassins at the door, Tony turns a grenade launcher-equipped M16A1 on Sosa's men,
mowing down many. Tony is repeatedly shot, but continues to taunt until he is fatally shot from behind by a shotgun blast.
His limp body falls into a fountain below, in front of a statue reading "The World is Yours".
Cast
 [^]  Richard Belzer portrays the Babylon Club M.C. De Palma regulars Charles Durning
and Dennis Franz provided uncredited voiceover dubbing of the Immigration
and Naturalization Service officers who interrogate Montana in the opening scene. Lana Clarkson appears as Manny's dance partner at the Babylon Club.
Development
 [^]  Scarface began development after Al Pacino saw the 1932 film of the same name at the Tiffany Theater while in Los Angeles.
He later called his manager, producer Martin Bregman, and informed him of his belief in the potential for a remake of that film.
Pacino originally wanted to retain the period piece aspect, but realized that, because of its melodramatic nature it would be difficult
to accomplish. Sidney Lumet became attached as the director, developing the idea for Montana to be Cuban arriving in America
during the Mariel boatlift. Bregman and Lumet's creative differences saw Lumet drop out of the project. Lumet had wanted
to make a more political story that focused on blaming the current Presidential administration for the influx of cocaine into the United States,
and Bregman disagreed with Lumet's views. Bregman replaced him with Brian De Palma, and hired writer Oliver Stone,
later stating that it took only four phone calls to secure their involvement. Stone had seen the original 1932 Scarface
and didn't enjoy the film so he initially rejected the offer. Only after he talked to Lumet was he convinced to accept the offer
since they agreed on transforming the film from a period piece to a contemporary film, saying "Sidney had a great idea
to take the 1930’s American prohibition gangster movie and make it into a modern immigrant gangster movie dealing
with the same problems that we had then, that we’re prohibiting drugs instead of alcohol.
There’s a prohibition against drugs that’s created the same criminal class as created the Mafia."
Stone researched the script while battling his own cocaine addiction. He and Bregman performed their own research, travelling to Miami, Florida
where they were given access to records from the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Organized Crime Bureau. Stone moved to Paris to write the script,
believing he could not break his addiction while in the United States, stating in a 2003 interview that he was completely off drugs at the time
"because I don't think cocaine helps writing. It's very destructive to the brain cells."
Casting
Pacino insisted on taking the lead role as Tony Montana, although Robert De Niro had been offered it and had turned it down. Pacino worked
with experts in knife combat, trainers, and boxer Roberto Duran to attain the body type that he wanted for the role.
Duran also helped inspire the character, who had "a certain lion in him", according to Pacino.
Meryl Streep's immigrant character in Sophie's Choice also influenced Pacino's portrayal of Tony Montana. Bauer
and a dialect coach helped him learn aspects of the Cuban Spanish language and pronunciation. Pfeiffer was an unknown actress at the time,
and both Pacino and De Palma had argued against her casting, but Bregman fought for her inclusion. Glenn Close was the original choice
for the role, while others were also considered, including Geena Davis, Carrie Fisher, Kelly McGillis, Sharon Stone, and Sigourney Weaver.
Bauer got his role without even auditioning. During the audition process, casting director Alixe Gordin saw Bauer
and instantly noted that he was right for the role of Manny, a judgment with which both De Palma and Bregman agreed.
He was the only actual Cuban in the principal cast. John Travolta was considered for the role.
Filming
Pacino was injured during rehearsals for a gunfight after he grabbed the barrel of a prop gun which had just been used
to fire several dummy bullets. His hand stuck to the hot barrel and he was unable to remove it immediately; the injury sidelined him for two weeks.
The gunfight scene also includes a single camera shot directed by Steven Spielberg, who was visiting the set at the time. During filming,
some Cuban-Americans objected to the film's Cuban-American characters being portrayed as criminals by non-Cuban-American actors. To counter this,
the film features a disclaimer during its credits stating that the film characters were not representative of the Cuban-American community.
The entertainment industry initially hated the film, with actress Liza Minnelli asking Pacino what he had done to leave the insiders subdued
at a post-screening meal. However, during the meal, actor Eddie Murphy told Pacino that he loved the film. Despite its Miami setting,
much of the film was actually shot in Los Angeles, as the Miami Tourist board was afraid that the film would deter tourism
with its depiction of the state as a haven for drugs and gangsters. Tony's opulent Miami mansion was portrayed by El Fureidis,
a Roman-styled mansion in Santa Barbara, California. The picture was shot for 24 weeks from November 22, 1982 to May 6, 1983.
The special effects were performed by Ken Pepiot and Stan Parks.
Rating
Scarface was given an X rating in North America three times for extreme violence, frequent strong language, and hard drug usage.
The restrictive rating was more associated with pornography at the time, and it both limited the number of cinemas willing to screen such a film
and restricted promotional advertising, which would potentially adversely affect any box office takings.
An early scene was singled out as the cause of the X rating, where Montana's associate Angel is dismembered with a chainsaw off screen.
De Palma made edits to the scene and resubmitted it to the Motion Picture Association of America, but was again given an X rating.
He made further edits and resubmitted it from three to five times before refusing to further edit the film, telling Universal
to either release it in its current form or fire and replace him with someone who would edit it. Universal opted to appeal the MPAA's decision.
Studio president Robert Rehme attended the hearing which was presided over by his friend MPAA President Jack Valenti.
Among those speaking on behalf of the film during the appeal were film critic Roger Ebert,
the head of Florida's Broward County organized crime division, and the head of a major theater chain named Alan Friedberg.
MPAA member Richard Heffner later admitted that he could have fought harder to retain the X rating,
but he believed that Valenti did not support the decision, as he did not want to alienate the big film studios.
The decision was overwhelmingly in favor of releasing the film with a less restrictive R rating. In response, De Palma argued that,
if the latest version of the film was now considered an R, then his original version would also be rated R,
rationalizing that the edits which he made were minor. The MPAA told De Palma that only his latest edit would be certified as an R.
De Palma believed that the changes were so slight that no one would notice if he released his original version anyway, which he ultimately did.
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