What exactly is a cult classic? I think it is when a passionate fanbase, regarding a generational sub-culture, boosts the film's recognition by audience participation, whether if it is word-of-mouth or quoting the movie. There are some out there that can be defined as a cult classic and Scarface, the 1983 version, is one of them. Do I think it is a classic, per se? I'll answer that towards the end. But, the story regarding the behind-the-scenes of making this movie was quite interesting.
Al Pacino saw the 1932 version of the same name starring Paul Muny in a theater in Los Angeles and contacted his manager and the movie's producer, Martin Bregman, telling him that the movie could be remade. It was almost a long span of 50 years and it was already a gangster classic. Director Sidney Lumet was initially in charge to direct the movie but he and Bregman had creative differences as Lumet wanted to make a political gangster flick. So, Bregman met with director Brian De Palma and writer/director Oliver Stone. It is interesting because Stone was battling with his own cocaine addiction so he moved to Paris to write the script while De Palma was researching and scouting in Miami.
I'm glad that De Palma, Stone and Bregman decided to turn this remake into a contemporary piece and not simply a re-hash. They mixed politics and crime with pop culture and style to make such an over-the-top crime movie that not all audiences enjoyed because it was met with such controversy due to the strong violence, frequent language and hard drug usage. It was rated X by the Motion Picture Association of America, in which the studios cannot promote the movie with an X rating. They edit the movie and it all came out fine but not all audiences react favorably again. Cher, Eddie Murphy and Martin Scorsese loved the movie. But, Dustin Hoffman and Lucille Ball hated the movie. Even, the critics were divisive. Movie critics Roger Ebert and Vincent Casby loved the movie but Gene Siskel and Leonard Maltin did not like the movie. So, this is a movie that was ahead of its time that considered to be a classic, but all I know is that Scarface is a sublime motion picture that goes beyond the violent actions, it is about one character's notion to get to the top even though he pays the price in the end physically and emotionally.
Cuban refugee and ex-con Tony Montana (Al Pacino), who is part of the Mariel boat lift as Castro has granted them freedom to immigrate to the United States, is being questioned by security as he, his best friend - Manny (Steven Bauer) and his other friends - Chi Chi (Ángel Salazar) and Angel (Papa Serna) - are being sent to the refugee camp in Miami. They get hired to assassinate a former Cuban government official at the request of an affluent drug-dealer named Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia). In exchange for their successful assassination, all four of them get green cards.
Tony and Manny are dishwashers and Tony is disgusted of his job. A little later, they meet Frank's henchman and right-hand man, Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham), and initially, Tony disapproves of the job because of the low pay and the job itself of unloading drugs at the docks. So, Omar gives them a challenging job of purchasing cocaine from Columbian drug-dealers, in which the deal goes sour, resulting in Angel getting killed by a chainsaw and Manny getting injured on the job. Tony insists on taking the cocaine to Frank and Frank is appreciative of the good job they made. They also meet Frank's trophy mistress, Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer), but she is tough to deal with. Tony becomes attracted to her.
Months later, as Tony and Manny become more successful under Frank, Tony reunites with his mother, Georgina (Miriam Colon) and his sister, Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). But, Georgina is disgusted with his past behavior that she makes Tony leave. Frank sends Omar and Tony to Bolivia to meet with cocaine kingpin Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar). As something happens that I will reveal a little later in the spoilers, Tony is seduced to Sosa's power and vows to work with his organization, but Sosa makes his promise to never betray him. The deal angers Frank and they have a falling out which causes Tony to go his separate way, ascending into the top but with consequences on the horizon.
SPOILER ALERT! (But, it has been out for 35 years. Also, most of the clips have strong language and strong sexual dialogue.)
The character of Tony Montana is a fascinating anti-hero, fascinating character study. Even though the inspiration is behind Tony's ascension to power, as he came from a poor background, it is his personality that makes his path to the American Dream worrisome. He is a criminal who did bad things even though it is ironic he was a soldier in the Cuban army. But, the opening is quite extraordinary setting up the character as he has been given questions regarding his life, record and even his sexuality. Except for not being homosexual, every answer is lies. Tony Montana is a deceitful character right from the beginning, so, even though you may not like him as a hero, he is going to be an "inspirational scoundrel", not making the journey boring.
It is pretty obvious that the scene is central on Tony from his deception to his toughness, like the immigration officer pointing out the scar on his face. He shows no remorse to other people's emotions and feelings about him. He does not care where he is sent because he is confident, due to his intelligence on the streets and in prison. But, even though, the American Dream is viewed as a positive outcome for immigrants, like a rebirth. But, his American Dream is viewed as a negative influence even though it is, again, an inspirational influence to some.
You can see here the positive influences vs negative influences of the American Dream here in this scene. Tony's mother works very hard for a living and wants to make a good name for herself, her family and also the Cuban community. She criticizes his way of life as she sees his deceit as Gina is being naive of his prison life and his troubled past. Tony's mother is a person with morals who works hard for the money and she is correct to say that he is a bum, a criminal bum who is in the wrong side of the system getting dirty money, killing people and selling drugs.
However, even though his American Dream is not a great example, he is chasing power with blood and lust. Blood is contributed to the people he kills for money and lust is when he chases after Elvira for the first half of the movie and persuades her to get married. According to critic Richard Corliss, if one does not get Tony, the other will, and in the end, both do get him. But, the bottom line is his initial temptations of blood and lust have begun a path for him to climb to the top of the criminal world, even when he has to have money, power and then the woman. Even Manny knew he had confidence because of his handsomeness and swagger to pick up women, his vulgar pick-up was too much but Tony got the big picture. Nevertheless, he is taking a dangerous shortcut.
The excess and materialistic environment starts to slowly become noticeable from the beginning when Tony, as a dishwasher, envies guys in $500 suits picking up women from their fancy cars. It is a sign of power that he desires. After he kills Frank Lopez because he betrayed him as Lopez hired two hitmen to assassinate him, Tony ascends to the top by working with Sosa being his drug distributor and then marrying Elvira. The material in the 80s is tacky which parallels the excessive nature of the criminal underworld that becomes shallow, matching Tony's shallowness as a character. All he cares is about the world coming to him not what is going around him. For example, even though he may be confident in working with Sosa in the long run and his prestigious lifestyle and getting rid of Omar, he does not think of what Frank may do to him or later, the beginning of a relationship between Manny and his sister, Gina, which Tony warned about earlier.
The great scene where he is on cocaine for the first time in the Babylon Club as he is about to get assassinated is the beginning of the decline of his life. Tony Montana's behavior is exemplary as he is experiencing lousiness, laziness and uncontrollable emotion not knowing he is about to get killed, even knowing right away that Frank sent an FBI agent to take Tony down. Tony's behavior is a character and it bites him in the end.
After getting so much money from his business with Sosa, he builds his own multi-million dollar empire and is drowned in the excess and materialistic environment - the clothes, the cocaine, the counter surveillance and his attitude. Elvira and Manny start to resent his attitude since he is on top of the world. It explains from this scene below that even with the wrong kind of success - the money and the woman of his dreams - Tony is still not happy. He was having fun with his journey but now, since he has gotten to his destination, he needed to sustain that. Again, his angry behavior takes over Tony at full speed. Greed, drugs and anger has consumed Tony and he becomes a ferocious animal.
The trouble has gotten worse for Tony since he gets arrested for money laundering but he will get out with a huge bail but he would have to go back because of tax evasion. Now, Sosa hires Tony to kill a journalist exposing Sosa and his operations in exchange for using his government connections to take care of his matter and for Tony to avoid going to prison. As you will see here, Tony's power does not compare to Sosa's power. Tony has just his own empire and his gang. Here, Sosa has all the power, real power - international and political connections - who want things to be handled the right way. Like people say, "money talks and BS walks." As I was observing one of my favorite scenes, Sosa glances at Tony, just slouching and not being as attentive, potentially thinking that because Tony is consumed by all the power, greed and drugs, that it may threaten his partnership with Tony.
Now, the ironic twist is what kills him. He is doing a good deed. What I noticed before the scene is after his stint at Freedom Town and before the scene is that Tony only kills people when he thinks they did something wrong towards him or causing harm towards him. Here, I don't think Tony wants to kill him because the journalist did nothing wrong to him. Tony is desperate for help because he is desperate to not want to go to prison. But, I digress. When he sees the journalist walking out with his family, Tony's loyalty to Sosa goes out the window because he is ill-favored of killing women and children. His faithful act of not killing the journalist and his family is what kills him in the end because he betrayed Sosa like he warned him earlier.
He knows his betrayal cost him dearly with severe consequences but he becomes worse as he killed Manny for marrying Gina behind his back. Remember, his behavior, him underestimating Sosa's power and greed and him breaking the "number-one" rule of getting high on his own supply is what made him worse in the end. You do not feel bad for him whatsoever. He got what was coming which was the "world" and after he got it, he broke the rules and not cared enough. He did not fly straight and dies.
The excessiveness and the lavish lifestyle empties one's life and becomes shallow like Tony and Elvira consuming so much drugs that they cannot have a baby. It is a soulless existence and they have nowhere else to go because they cannot do anything else. They are worthless to the normalways of society. The World is Yours is a perfect motto because you are destined to make your own free will but it takes discipline and because of Tony's free will, he lacked discipline and let go of his life.
Now, do I consider this as a classic? No. I think this is a very good and very well-made movie by director Brian De Palma, because he knows how to shoot a movie in an anamorphic lense real well, setting up the shot or finishing the shot with such decorum. It seems that sometimes, the violence and the excessiveness interferes with the character and there were a couple of scenes that dragged on a bit. Even though it is a highly entertaining movie with a great performance by Al Pacino, it is not one of my favorite gangster movies. I cannot comprehend why rappers think it is like the Bible to them maybe because of the "rags-to-riches" story because it parallels the journey that Tony comes from a poor neighborhood. But, Goodfellas and The Godfather & The Godfather Part II are much better movies of that caliber. Scarface is a tale of two cities, greed and immorality, that is potentially defined as a shortcut to the American Dream but it leads to a tumbling disaster that one can learn from.
I know, I know, I'm forgetting the finale. Here you go.
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