Make way for the bad guy.

Rating: 9/10 (13 August 2015)

Recently, Calais has been under siege from refugees/immigrants fleeing Eastern Europe/Africa, desperate to get into the UK via the Channel Tunnel. This put me in mind of the opening scenes of Brian De Palma's Scarface, in which thousands of Cuban refugees flood into Florida looking for US citizenship. Time for a re-watch, methinks (any excuse).
Scarface stars Al Pacino as Cuban refugee Tony Montana who, having arrived in the US, does anything it takes to live the American dream. Working for a local crime boss, Tony gradually climbs the gangster ladder of success, accruing the wealth and power he desperately seeks, eventually becoming a major player in the cocaine smuggling business—but he makes more than a few enemies along the way.
Scarface, by director Brian De Palma, is a dark fable of greed, corruption, violence and power, the moral of which is that, in the end, crime never really pays, the film culminating with a nihilistic finalé in which almost nobody lives happily ever after. Oscar winner Oliver Stone's script is far from subtle, a deliberate exercise in excess; De Palma directs accordingly, with grandiose visuals and OTT violence aplenty, while star Pacino delivers a suitably larger-than-life performance, making his brutal coke-snorting Cuban one of crime cinema's most unforgettable and enduring characters.
The film also benefits from solid support from Michelle Pfeiffer as Montana's love interest Elvira, Robert Loggia as Montana's crime boss Frank Lopez, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Tony's sister Gina (owner of Florida's biggest hairdo), plus a wonderfully atmospheric synth score from Giorgio Moroder.
8.5 out of 10, rounded up to 9 for IMDb.