Scarface (1983) Review

The masterful director Brian De Palma strongly believes that when you start a movie, you want to give the lead character a very impressive entrance. In 1983, he introduced one of the most iconic characters in the simplest of ways, a close-up, sitting in a chair. As the camera rolled around him 360 degrees, a face was introduced to modern audiences. Tony Montana, a political prisoner from Cuba, brought to life in an iconic fashion by the talented Al Pacino.

The concept of the film was developed by Sidney Lumet, who at the time was originally attached to direct. Lumet who had developed a rapport with Pacino, and had directed him in the critically acclaimed Dog Day Afternoon, developed the idea that the character should come from Cuba in the Mariel Harbor boat lift. An idea controversial screenwriter Oliver Stone ran with. However, with Lumet disliking the screenplay, he backed out of the project. De Palma was then approached and had to drop out of Flashdance in order to work on the project.

De Palma told John A. Alonzo, his director of photography, “John, I want you to give me the most beautiful pictures and I’m gonna put violence inside.” Which he achieved in his beautiful arrayed composition of Scarface in 1983. The well-written, well-performed, and well-directed film resulted in a controversial but iconic achievement. One that we almost did not witness in its original conception.

Before its release, after working through challenges to finish production on the film, De Palma had to fight to release his original vision of the film. Because the man behind the MPAA at the time had stamped the film with an “X,” it forced De Palma to revisit the film and make adjustments, but upon submitting the film a third time and still earning an “X,” he wasn’t going to cut it anymore. De Palma’s belief was that it wasn’t “overly violent,” and to keep cutting the material, would affect the “dramatic thrust of the movie.” So he made a stand, contacted his reporter friends, and expressed how it “was an outrage.” Which led to a tremendous amount of articles. Lined behind him was Martin Bregman, the producer on the film, who handled the matter as if it were a court case. They won hands down, with the vote being 18 to 2 in favor of them getting an “R” rating. Which earned the release of Scarface, the original, unchanged version that De Palma had so eagerly fought over.

As a result, modern audiences were able to experience the reinterpretation of a 1930s American Prohibition classic by turning it into a modern immigrant gangster film, a concept originally pitched by director Sidney Lumet and further fleshed out into the iconic version we know by Brian De Palma. It features breakout performances from Michelle Pfeiffer who portrays the love interest of Tony Montana and Steven Bauer who portrays his partner in crime. It also includes a memorable score from Giorgio Moroder, who beautifully captures the essence of Tony with a striking leitmotif.

While its runtime is not an alluring factor for some, coming at two hrs and 50 min, it is not unlike the gangster classic, Godfather, which actually runs eight minutes longer. Like the latter film, it is an iconic film, one that holds up well in this modern age and is worth a watch.

Personally, I find it bothersome that there are rumblings of a reboot on the horizon. It has an uphill battle with an iconic classic, which may have already set it for failure.