Violent chronicle about the rise and fall of a dangerous gangster and easily ranks as one of the very best in the mobster genre

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2013)

Remake from classical movie titled Scarface (1934) , in fact , De Palma's Scarface is dedicated to Ben Hecht and Howard Hawks. When Fidel Castro opens the harbor at Mariel, Cuba, he sends 125,000 Cuban refugees to reunite with their relatives in the United States. Among all the refugees, there is one who wants it all, his name is Tony Montana (Al Pacino reportedly stated that Tony was one of his favorites of all the characters he's played) but the world will remember him by another name , Scarface , being a fictional character . In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel while succumbing to greed . As Tony and his faithful friend Manny (John Travolta was considered for the role of Manny Ribera but was to Steven Bauer who is the only actual Cuban in the main cast and subsequently married Melanie Griffith) arrive in the U.S. and beginning working small time jobs importing and exporting cocaine. Soon, they are hired by Omar Suarez (during filming F. Murray Abraham was notified that he had won the part of Antonio Salieri in Amadeus) to do business to a group of Colombians. When the issue goes awry , Tony and Manny leave with the money and flee rapidly . Soon after , Tony meets with drug ringleader Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia , outstanding as a rival gangster) and falls for his boss's girl , Elvira (Michelle Pffeifer , Kay Lenz, Glenn Close , Kelly McGillis and Kristy McNichol both reportedly wanted the role , but De Palma turned them down). Later on , Tony reunites with his mother and sister (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio).
This exciting film packs thrills , chills , noisy action violence and results to be pretty entertaining , in spite of its long runtime , as it runs nearly three hours . It's one of the most violent , gruesome , thrilling intriguing gangster move ever made . Al Pacino , in the title role , is firs-rate as the Cuban gangster and receives magnificent support from Steven Bauer , Robert Loggia, Mark Margolis , Harris Yulin and early deceased Paul Shenar gives a bravura performance as a Colombian kingpin . Interesting screenplay by Oliver Stone who wrote this film while fighting a cocaine addiction . The original idea was to make this film a remake of Scarface, which took place in Chicago, but this proved to be impossible due to budget constraints. There was a huge controversy in the city of Miami during the making of the film over whether the producers should be allowed to shoot in the city. The Miami Tourist Board decided not to allow filming, as they were afraid the movie would discourage tourism to Miami, particularly as it showed Miami's latest Cuban immigrants as gangsters and drug dealers. A majority of the film was shot in Los Angeles, California standing in for Miami, Florida. This was done because production would have been endangered by protest from angry Cuban-Americans over the film's reported subject matter. Streets and buildings used for shooting were redressed by the art directors to have the 'feel' of Miami. The movie displays a colorful cinematography by excellent and veteran cameraman John A Alonzo . Furthermore , it has a commercial musical score composed by synthesizer by usual of the 8os , Giorgo Moroder. The motion picture was very well directed by Brian De Palma who liked the script so much that he dropped out of directing Flashdance to direct this film. Ranked #10 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Gangster". Scarface, the version starring Paul Muni, was ranked #6 in June 2008