Scarface (1983 movie)
Scarface is a 1983 American crime drama movie directed by Brian De Palma, written for the screenplay by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman. It stars Al Pacino. The story is about Tony Montana, a Cuban criminal who moves to Miami, Florida and creates his own cocaine business. It is a loose remake of the 1932 movie of the same name. The movie made $66.4 million.
| Scarface | |
|---|---|
 Official Logo | |
| Directed by | Brian De Palma |
| Produced by | Martin Bregman |
| Screenplay by | Oliver Stone |
| Based on | Scarface by Armitage Trail Scarface by W. R. Burnett Ben Hecht John Lee Mahin Seton I. Miller |
| Starring | Al Pacino Michelle Pfeiffer Steven Bauer Robert Loggia Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio |
| Music by | Giorgio Moroder |
| Cinematography | John A. Alonzo |
| Edited by | Jerry Greenberg David Ray |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 169 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $23.5–37 million[3][4][5] |
| Box office | $66.4 million[6] |
Story
Tony Montana (Al Pacino) is a prisoner from Cuba who is coming to the United States on a boat to escape the oppressive Communist government. Once there, he works for Frank Lopez, a Miami drug lord.
Soon, Tony kills Frank and takes over his business. He also marries Elvira (Michelle Pfeiffer), Frank's girlfriend who at first refused to go out with Tony because of Frank. Soon, Tony becomes very rich and powerful because of his growing cocaine empire. He meets Alejandro Sosa, a powerful Bolivian drug lord. Elvira later leaves Tony because she feels that despite all of their money and power, Tony's criminal lifestyle and drug problems make them losers.
Tony is eventually arrested for not paying taxes and even though he would be able to bribe some of the judges, he will still have to go to jail for three years. Sosa offers to have one of his contacts in the Justice Department write off Tony's charges if Tony helps kill a journalist who is going to make a speech against Sosa to the United Nations. One of Soza's men plants a bomb on the target's car, but when Tony sees the journalist's family inside it, he prevents the explosion of the bomb. Tony later visits his best friend, Manny (Steven Bauer), but when he sees his sister, Gina, with him, he kills him. Gina reveals that she and Manny got married a few days earlier and wanted to surprise Tony. Tony, feeling extreme guilt for killing his friend and ruining his sister's life, withdraws to his mansion and begins to snort large amounts of cocaine. Sosa gets angry and sends many men to Miami to kill Tony. When the men enter Tony's mansion, they kill Gina and most of his men. Angry and sad at the death of his sister, Tony singlehandedly kills many of Sosa's men in a major shootout. Tony is then shot in the back by an assassin with a shotgun, and falls into his fountain below, dead.
Scarface (1983 Movie) Media
Oliver Stone (pictured in 1987) wrote the script for Scarface while struggling with his own addiction to cocaine.
Brian De Palma (pictured in 2011), director of the film
Michelle Pfeiffer was an almost unknown actress when she appeared in Scarface, and both star Al Pacino and director Brian De Palma initially argued against her casting.
Mural of Pacino's "Tony Montana" character in Wynwood in 2012
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Scarface (1983). AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
- ↑ ScarfaceBritish Board of Film Classification. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
- ↑ Harmetz, Aljean. MOVIE 'SCARFACE' RECEIVES X RATING. The New York Times (October 30, 1983). Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- ↑ Inside 'Scarface's' Sometimes Rocky Road to Becoming a Classic. Variety (December 7, 2018). Retrieved July 17, 2019.
- ↑ Bailey, Jason (April 20, 2018). Revisiting the Controversy Surrounding Scarface. https://www.vulture.com/2018/04/revisiting-the-controversy-surrounding-scarface.html. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
- ↑ Scarface (1983). Box Office MojoIMDb. Retrieved July 17, 2019.