Al Pacino delivers a tour de force starring as Tony Montana







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Scarface (1983) - By Brian de Palme

Our Rating: 9.0 IMDb Ratings : 8 .3 Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller Cast: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer Country: USA

Language: English | Spanish Runtime: 170 min Color: Color (Technicolor)



Summary: In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel while succumbing to greed.





B rian De Palma's 1983 movie, Scarface, depicts cinema at its most macabre, and not for a second does Oliver Stone's cut-throat screenplay go awry in its unforgiving attempt to limn the naked reality associated with drug mafia and the kingpins who govern it. Brian De Palma's unquenchable thirst to mimic the gore reality on the celluloid didn't go well with the MPAA, which rated even the highly censored third cut of the Scarface as 'X'. Brian De Palma and the producer Martin Bergman arranged a hearing with the MPAA and roped in a panel of experts including some narcotics officers, who testified the Scarface's verisimilitude to the conditions prevalent in the drug underworld. Their testimonies greatly convinced the members of the rating board, who eventually condescended to give an 'R' rating to the aforesaid third cut of Scarface. Brian De Palma used the pervasive kerfuffle as a subterfuge to release the unedited original version of the movie instead of the curtailed one and kept this fact surreptitious for months until Scarface was released on videocassettes.



Al Pacino in Scarface (1983)

A remake of a 1932 classic of the same name, Scarface portrays the life of a young, tempestuous Cuban émigré named Tony Montana, highlighting his sanguinary journey from being a thug to becoming a kingpin of drug mafia. Montana's story is one of rise and fall, trust and deceit, love and hatred, greed and lust, but most importantly: life and death. He is a hapless victim of the vicissitudes of his time; a product of his tainted conscience and naked ambition. As the modern-day Macbeth, Montana is the quintessential anti-hero of American cinema: he adores his friends and family, but is unforgiving to his foes.





Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface (1983) Brian De Palma took yet another risk by choosing Al Pacino, who was then going through a lean patch in his career, to play Montana's part in Scarface. And, Pacino was too smart to let the opportunity go by. He delivered a thumping performance, one that ranks up there with the very best in cinema. Pacino took few months off to prepare himself for the role and to perfect his Cuban accent. It is apparent that Pacino used all his talent and guile to give Montana an ineffable charm and an element of frenzy, which not only brought Montana to life, but also made the portrayal singularly remarkable. Even today, Pacino's breathtaking performance manages to hold the viewer in a transfixion right from the movie's beginning till the end. In fact, it's clear from the very first scene itself (the first scene in which Pacino is interrogated by the police for being a Cuban emigrant) that Pacino was on an inexorable mission to outperform not only his contemporaries, but also himself. He punctiliously took care of the nuances and the subtleties in mannerisms needed for a portrayal as exorbitantly demanding as Montana's. As Tony Montana, Pacino not only substantiated his acting genius and answered his critics once and for all, but also established Montana as a cult figure in American cinema. Pacino's tour de force performance is well supported by the rest of cast Here, I would like to make a special mention of Michelle Pfeiffer and Steven Bauer . Pfeiffer looks absolutely ravishing in her intense portrayal of the quintessential, uber-sexy mobster's moll. The chemistry between Pfeiffer and Pacino is scintillating, and at times, awe-inspiring.