Scarface (1983)

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writer:

Oliver Stone (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 December 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

He was Tony Montana. The world will remember him by another name...SCARFACE.

Plot:

In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug empire while succumbing to greed. (Cartel not Mafia)

Plot Keywords:

Cuban | Refugee | Miami | Friend | Drugs

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Al Pacino	...	Tony Montana
Steven Bauer	...	Manny Ribera
Michelle Pfeiffer	...	Elvira Hancock
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio	...	Gina Montana
Robert Loggia	...	Frank Lopez
Miriam Colon	...	Mama Montana
F. Murray Abraham	...	Omar Suarez
Paul Shenar	...	Alejandro Sosa
Harris Yulin	...	Mel Bernstein
Ángel Salazar	...	Chi Chi
Arnaldo Santana	...	Ernie
Pepe Serna	...	Angel
Michael P. Moran	...	Nick The Pig
Al Israel	...	Hector The Toad
Dennis Holahan	...	Jerry The Banker

Also Known As:

Caracortada (Argentina) (Chile) [es]
A Força do Poder (Portugal) [pt]
A sebhelyesarcú (Hungary) [hu]
Czlowiek z blizna (Poland) [pl]
El precio del poder (Scarface) (Spain) [es]
Le balafré (Canada: French title) [fr]
Pneey Zaleket (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Scarface (Brazil) [pt]
Scarface (Denmark) [da]
Scarface (France) [fr]
Scarface - Arpinaama (Finland) [fi]
Scarface - Toni, das Narbengesicht (West Germany) [de]
Sicilyali (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Skarfejs - Lices sa oziljkom (Yugoslavia: Serbian title) [sr]
Yarali yüz (Turkey: Turkish title) (video title) [tr]

Runtime:

170 min | 81 min (DVD version by VCA)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Belgium:KNT | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1990) | Finland:K-18 | Colombia:18 | Mexico:C | West Germany:18 (video premiere) (cut) (1985) | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-15 (DVD version) (re-rated) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (re-rating) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:R | Brazil:18 | Netherlands:18 (original rating) | South Korea:18 | Israel:18 | Australia:MA (Cable TV rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Chile:18 | Denmark:15 | France:-12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:15 (re-rating) (2000) | Norway:18 (original rating) | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/18 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Taiwan:R-18 | UK:18 | USA:R (re-rating on appeal) | USA:X (original rating) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

728 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

In the opening sequence with Tony Montana (Al Pacino) and the immigration officers, Charles Durning's voice has clearly been used to overdub an actor playing one of the officers. Another of the officers is dubbed by Brian De Palma's regular Dennis Franz. If you listen carefully, Al Pacino also had to overdub his own voice at three or four different points in the same scene.

Goofs:

Continuity: Octavio's hat falls off when he first gets shot by the two nightclub hit men. A couple of seconds later, after several cuts, he's shot again, and his hat is not only back on his head but this time it doesn't come off.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Fidel Castro: ...al esfuerzo y al heroísmo de una revolución... ¡No los queremos! ¡No los necesitamos!
[... to the effort and heroism of a revolution... We don't want them! We don't need them!]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The O'Reilly Factor: (2008-02-26)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

I'm Hot Tonight

Grandiose, bloodyminded and implacable

This is one of my all time favorites.

If the movie has a flaw, it's that it comes at you like a raging bull. It doesn't so much engage the viewer as assault him. ''Scarface'' is as voracious and unyielding a production as Tony Montana himself. Nothing is left to the viewer's imagination.

Moroder's languorous synthpop fits the action to a tee. Like the chorus in a Greek tragedy, it wails and gnashes, broods and tugs, a constant reminder of Tony's inexorable fate.

Not so much a tale of caution as a disaster in progress, ''Scarface'' rips across the screen with the unstoppable force of a runaway train.