watch this for your own good

Rating: Null/10 (8 November 2011)

John Caldera 10/18/2011 Film Review guidelines 8:35-9:55am
Film review guidelines: SCARFACE 1983 version All classic movies have something in common; they seem to separate normal people and extreme people. Though we all look the same, some are not what we seem. That's why SCARFACE has become such a success. The 1983 version of SCARFACE, directed by Brian DE Palma, was actually written by Oliver Stone, a well accomplished writer from new York (WALLSTREET), they combined their skills with the genius of Al Pacino, an actor who specializes in thrill and gangster pictures, to recreate the 1932 version of SCARFACE, which was originally set in the prohibition era and near perfect emulation of Al Capone starring Howard Hawks, Paul Muni, and George Raft. In these movies they both have "buddies" who they deal with, they are all criminals but one seems to stand out the most. They are all tough but one is the toughest. They all scheme but one is the smartest. Among them it is known Tony Montana is the one with no weakness. So goes the pecking order. The one who ultimately meets the criteria of a true warrior is the one the others follow. What they don't know is that you must choose your leaders wisely because your leader could be psychotic, not care about his own wellbeing let alone yours, and get you and everyone following him killed. The film is about a man imprisoned during the country's takeover by Fidel Castro. When Montana is freed from prison and sent to America, and interrogated, Tony Montana, a supposed half Cuban, and his buddies. So begins their rank and success as cocaine pushers. Money is not enough to satisfy Montana when he meets Elvira, the bosses' wife, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. His eyes wonder and he always wonders about what else is up for grabs. So eventually he gets sent to Columbia to make a big deal with Alejandro Sosa, the big boss. He has Omar killed, which incidentally helps Tony, but it's on the grounds that Omar was a police informant, something Lopez didn't have any knowledge of. This is a signal of weakness to Tony who makes the life altering decision to bring Frank into a much more expensive and dramatic deal that renews itself every month without any discussion. This destroys their work relationship along with knowledge of Tony selling cocaine to people behind Frank's back. The relationship is cut but Tony is not deterred from going after Franks wife more intensely now than ever. When he shows up and makes something of a scene at the Babylon club, Frank orders some thugs to have him killed there after they leave. Tony escapes again. So he shows up at Frank's office to find the crooked detective, Mel, which was extorting Tony for his business in Miami. It is there that Tony has Manny, his right hand man; shoot Frank in the chest, symbolizing a weak heart. Tony himself kills Mel, first a shot to the gut, for being too greedy then in the chest. The movie goes into a montage, speeding quickly through the rise of SCARFACE. His acquaintance with the bank manager, duffel bags full of money, and his marriage with ELVIRA, as well as his developing relationship with his sister GINA, which is a little more than strange, like he is in love with her or something. When the montage ends they are in a warehouse with gangsters from the mafia who turn out to be Federal Agents, and Tony gets busted. He then pays $400,000 for the best available lawyer. When it looks like he won't get out of trouble he agrees to assassinate a spokesman who defames the business of theirs and in return, the politicians working for Sosa will erase Tony's crimes from the record. When he gets back and finds Manny with his sister, Montana shoots him twice as dirty as if he were LOPEZ and not practically a family member. As hard as he is, killing kids is not in his vocabulary. And the assassination would have to kill the man's children while looking at their face's in the back window of the car with the car bomb underneath. Last second he kills Sosa's tag along thug instead. Well this act brings him to war with Sosa. Basically his world starts to crumble and all he can do is get mad threaten and go to war without working it out. He neglects the people he claims to love and can only dwell in hate, war, and darkness. Finally after taking on much of the assassination squad sent there, Tony is shot in the back by another henchman, a man who is like Tony in every way only he "flies straight". This man is how Tony could have made it as a thug. Having imprisoned his sister in his home, she tries to kill him but an assassin kills her first by mistake. When rage is his only real asset, then destruction can be the only thing he rides on and it doesn't stop at the competition.
People should see this movie because they should take the SCARFACE traits and worry about the people in their lives like him. You could be in danger. On the other hand, if you are a SCARFACE, sharpen your teeth on the bones of Frank Lopez, maybe then you could climb a professional ladder that way only in a more socially acceptable context. It's true that violent criminals can be great successes in whatever they do as long as it is something requiring resilience under oppression. The revolutionary without cause means absolutely nothing. That is why Tony Montana, and people similar, are in constant search of cause.