A timeless tale of an underdog who reached the top

Rating: 10/10 (6 November 2006)

"Scarface" is the story of a Cuban immigrant who arrives in the US through a boat sent by Fidel Castro himself to purposely send all of his criminals to American soil and crap on Uncle Sam. His name is Tony Montana (Al Pacino) Upon Tony's arrival in America, he is already spotted as a potential threat and is interrogated by customs agents who find out a little bit of his history and decide to send him to a special camp where all Cuban undesirables are sent. Some time later, opportunity knocks in the form of murdering a Cuban general, sent to prison by Fidel himself, who tortured and killed govt. officials back in Cuba and now one of those official's brother, who is a powerful man in Miami, wants him dead. Tony, his best friend Manolo (Steven Bauer), and a few other friends carry out this task and earn themselves a Green Card. But this is only the beginning....This powerful man, turns out to be Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia) a wealthy Miami drug lord whom Tony ends up working for. Frank Lopez's right hand man is Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham) a guy who does not like Tony Montana's determination and attitude and calls him derogatory names like "peasant" and "dish washer" but Tony is not exactly crazy about him either. We also meet Tony's sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth Manstrantonio) a beautiful 19-year old for whom Manolo falls for, but Tony does not want Manolo anywhere near his sister, because is the only pure untouched thing in his life and does not want her to be corrupted by his world, but eventually this does happen. Later on, Tony falls head over heels for Frank's sexy, young wife Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer) who despite her beauty and wealth, is always miserable and does nothing but snort coke all day and never cracks a single smile. Tony starts making the moves on Elvira, until later on in the movie, snatches her away from Frank, but not before removing Frank from the map, but that comes later. During one of Tony's business trips we meet yet another character, The ruthless and even more powerful drug kingpin, Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar) a Bolivian landowner who has a drug empire that stretches all across South America. Tony does his best, at first to impress this new acquaintance, and when Sosa questions him about his loyalty, Tony is quick to assure Sosa that he is also someone not to be messed with and is a man of his word. When Tony reaches the top and is now more powerful than his boss, Frank, ever was. Manolo, Tony's right hand man begins to take care of Tony's finances, but, in Tony's words, Manolo cares more about women than business and therefore, does not trust him completely when it comes to money.
During the almost three hours of the movie we get to see Tony's rise and then, after a hot-tempered decision, his imminent fall. Scarface is a story of not only an underdog who works his way up until he reaches the "American dream", but of the consequences of living in the fast lane. Like one of the songs from the movie soundtrack talks about "Push it to the Limit" which, thanks to this movie, is now a classic.
Yes, this movie nowadays is idolized by pop culture and by rappers and gangsters all over the world. But the question is why a movie who did not do too well at the box office at the time of its release is more popular now than it was two decades ago?. Because the story and the message behind it is timeless. Perhaps because back in the early 80's people were not ready for an in-your-face, tell-it-like-it-is movie about something that is very real nowadays, drug trafficking, and for the standards of the time, the movie was very graphic. That perhaps, drove some moviegoers away and is maybe the reason why it was so panned by critics back then. But now, times are different and perhaps this movie speaks to the generation of today, who are more aware that these things are happening out there, or perhaps, because it sends out the same message their favorite hip-hop artists often talk about, which is making it to the top and earning respect through having balls and determination like Tony had. Yes, some people see it as a movie that glorifies crime and drugs and easy money. But the movie really has a deeper message. No one stays on top of the world forever. The world was his, yes, but not for long. In a few words..one of the best crime-drama movies of all time.