Gangster's Damnation

Rating: 9/10 (9 May 2020)

Al Pacino absolutely steals the show in this high-charged and gratuitous crime film, written by Oliver Stone a few years before his masterpiece "Platoon", and directed by Brian de Palma. I find it fascinating how the film manages to be a glamourous depiction of a gangster's rise to power and riches and also an extremely anti-gangster movie, showing his disillusionment when at the top wondering if this is really the life he had in mind while chasing his twisted version of the American Dream - epitomised in one scene by the subliminal messaging on a blimp flying overhead, "The World Is Yours". Tony Montana (Al Pacino) is a Cuban refugee who arrives in Miami and ends up in a camp under a freeway, before carrying out a hit for a mobster and getting his green-card. After some wheeling and dealing and a couple of jobs, along with his best friend Manny (Steven Bauer), Montana, ruthless and extremely street-smart, sees his opportunity to take-over the cocaine drug in Miami and wipes out any and all opposition. He becomes the top-dog, but inevitably, and thanks to his erratic temper and personality, it won't be long before someone tries to take him down. Al Pacino is brilliant to watch here. Some think his performance is over-the-top but I personally think it's superb and think he was completely in charge of it. Stone's screenplay, like his screenplay for "Platoon" would later be, is harsh, full of sharp, natural and uncompromising dialogue. De Palma took this and chose to make it a glamourous depiction of the gangster's lifestyle, with bright-lightning, the uncanny background painting in the office of the palm trees and sunsets - a perfect allegory, really, for the life Montana is striving for - accompanied by a superb, pulsating score. It's interesting that he done it this way, because Stone's script was neutral in that a director could have made it very grim and with an unrelenting dark atmosphere all through if they'd seen fit. That's how versatile Stone's writing is here. De Palma does a wonderful job because the film, and Montana, goes out with a serious bang. The ending is as flashy, gratuitous and relentless as Pacino's galvanising performance.