Wake up to see his little friend

Rating: 5/10 (1 March 2009)

I probably shouldn't have waited so long to see one of the most popular mobster and Al Pacino movies of all time, 'Scarface' (1983) for the first time last night. Enormously dated, 'Scarface' probably would've been more enjoyable during the "Cuba" scare, tail end of the disco era and "excess of the 80s" period. What 'Casino' and 'Goodfellas' had going for them, was they were both already period piece movies (and much more enjoyable than 'Scarface.') I realize 'Scarface' was a remake, and Oliver Stone and Brian De Palma seemed to want to take a new, "updated" present day take on the older "Al Capone" story line, but they didn't seem to make it timeless. Such as, for someone who's never seen 'Casino' or 'Goodfellas' and finally decide to view them, it would be as if they saw it for the first time in the 1990s. 'Scarface' pretty much had to be seen in/around 1983 to be completely enjoyed. Also, it might have been more shocking with all the F-bombs, violence and unpredictability of the rise/fall of a madman mobster. This is not to say it was a bad movie and Pacino did pretty good, though at times hard to understand and like most of his movies, he looks half-asleep throughout. It's three hours and even though any movie buff knows where it's going and what scenes to look for (amateur, rise, excess, fall, etc), it still was interesting to see what a lot of guys call a "classic." Recommended, but not over 'Casino' and 'Goodfellas.' Side note: I've already heard the line "Say hello to my little friend," 600x before, I couldn't help but wait the entire movie to see the scene that made Pacino's line so famous. Luckily, it was one of the times he appeared awake.