EVERYBODY, SCARFACE IS 40 YEARS OLD! YEA? You know there are times when you watch so many movies or go back in time and watch some of these classic films and question whether these films still stand the test of time or not as good as I remember, and stepping back into the world of Scarface, it's really a complex question of "is this still entertaining or Al Pacino literally chewing the scenery entertaining or a huge bore, some of wanting to just skip to the entertaining parts". You may find this surprising; Scarface was indeed the first ever Al Pacino film I've seen when I was young and had only a few Dish on Demand movies I can watch that wasn't Starz or HBO. And strangely Scarface was one of those movies I found on Netflix and decided to take a leap of faith and watch a full two hours and fifty minutes of Scarface.
After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.
I'll say again that yes, Scarface was in fact the first ever Al Pacino movie I've ever seen growing up and it was literally at the time when AMC wasn't what it was now, moreover I was able to watch movies in certain channels that my parents didn't block from our viewership like Starz or HBO, and Scarface was without a doubt in one of those channels like AMC or other certain channels that I can watch, though the thing about it is, movies like Scarface they we're able to cut out a huge chunk of the violence, nudity and profanity so everyone can watch and enjoy though we all know watching those kind of movies on TV, do suck the fun out of them but at the time that was how I was able to watch films like Scarface. The development of the film alone is a little on the interesting side of it moreover a bit convenient, Al Pacino saw the original 1932 version of Scarface while he was in LA at the time, then later called his manager, producer Martin Bergman, and informed him of his belief in the potential for a remake of that film. On the other hand of the development writer at the time Oliver Stone who was battling a cocaine addiction of his own ("whop there it is") didn't enjoy much of the original movie, stating in his own words about the concept of remaking Scarface in the same aspect, "I didn't want to do an Italian mafia movie...We'd had dozens of these things. But then Bergman came back to me and said, Sidney Lumet has a great idea-he wants to do it as a Marielito picture in Miami. I said, That interesting! Sidney's idea was a good one". Sorry not sorry if I spoiled the entire movie for you but in all honesty that's basically the entire movie in a nut shell when it comes to the movie, I mean sure I could of kept my mouth shut and not spoil it for you but it's really just the quick rise and fall of a Cuban gangster, who broke the one cardinal rule, for which is never get high or wasted on your own product, kids if you ever want to be a full-fledged gangster "never get high or wasted on your own product" it's so simple. Having gone back and watched the original Scarface, I kind of felt betrayed moreover disappointed because it feels like Oliver Stone just copied and pasted a lot of scenes from the original movie for which to me is just lazy and granted both movies are decades apart but to me who remembered watching the movie numerous times on TV and seeing both films it's a little disappointing for sure but then what can you do and it's not just Oliver Stone it's also Brian De Palma as well because even in the finale scene you can see the reminiscence of the original film for which deep down you can't really do anything about it, it is what it is. I will say the one critique I have with the movie is Al Pacino's Cuban accent and really I don't have a problem with his appearance he does look like a Cuban immigrant but is accent is just terrible like he's trying to act Cuban but it's a strange blend of maybe Cuban or a man whose gibbering so much you don't truly understand what he's talking about surprisingly out of all of the actors in the movie both Al Pacino and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio who are both Italian decent and there playing Cuban immigrants, though the only difference is Mastrantonio's accent was a trillion times better than Pacino's accent like hers she sounds like a Cuban but Pacino's, I don't know if Brian De Palma was trying constantly to tell him to improve is accent and maybe thirty or forty takes and De Palma was just in a f**k it mode and continued filming after that. The film alone is like two hours and fifty minutes long and for sure there times where you feel like it's turning into a snore fest but when the action kicks in, it really kicks it up a notch like the final confrontation and that was one of the many scenes that I'd turn back on and watch that sequence all the way through because it's one of those moments that's amazing especially watching it at a young age moreover you when you watch it now you can see Al's performance where you truly don't understand what he's say and the gibberish was at a nuclear height. The movie itself is an entertaining movie from start to finish and really was a movie that you'd never thought or needed to be made because this was made at a time during the 80's that the Miami Vice was becoming a fashion statement as well as cocaine traffic was becoming an all-time high in the 1980's Miami, almost like Casablanca addressing POW camps at the height of WWII. When it comes to an Al Pacino movie, you really must separate his filmography from chewing the scenery and not chewing the scenery and Scarface was defiantly one of those films that Pacino literally chews the scenery, and you may or may not see the chew marks. I would most certainly recommend watching Scarface from start to finish I mean it's one of those films that has that 80's vibe's but most importantly is one of those iconic films from the 80's that you can point to and say that movie was fun to watch although very long but once you get to the entertaining parts of the movie then you will most certainly be entertained by the end of the movie.
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