Scarface

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2007)

I had heard a lot about this controversial gangster crime thriller remake of the 1932 classic, from director Brian De Palma (Carrie, The Untouchables), and written by Oliver Stone, I can definitely see the stir it has caused. Basically scar faced (from childhood) Cuban refugee Tony Montana (Golden Globe nominated Al Pacino) and his friend Manny (Golden Globe nominated Steven Bauer) start out doing small time jobs, e.g. burger stand, before being hired by Omar Suarez (Last Action Hero's F. Murray Abraham) to pay money to Columbians for some cocaine. The deal goes wrong, but they leave (after some chainsawing) with the money and coke. Soon Tony meets drug kingpin Frank Lopez (Independence Day's Robert Loggia), and falls for his new boss's girlfriend Elvira (Michelle Pfeiffer). He grows even bigger with power and greed when he kills Lopez and Bernstein (Bean's Harris Yulin), and he has basically become the new godfather of illegal drugs, mostly cocaine. He obviously finds out the hard way that power doesn't last, when a gang with machine guns surround his house in the great climax. With many violent moments, very strong drug use (including a pile of cocaine on the table, which Tony pretty much dunks his face in) and containing 278 swear words, one every 36 seconds, including 226 'F' words, I love it. It was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for Giorgio Moroder. Al Pacino was number 1 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, he was number 26 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, and he was number 5 (along with Robert De Niro) on The World's Greatest Actor, the film was number 61 on 100 Years, 100 Quotes ("Say "hello" to my little friend!"), and it was number 31 on Film 4's 50 Films To See Before You Die. Very good!