It seems every movie Al Pacino made from the 1970s until the late 1990s has been great. Ever since he made viewers take a second look at Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” and “Godfather: Part II “(we’ll just eliminate the third installment out of sheer pity), Pacino has been one of the most memorable “bad guys” in Hollywood.
Part of what makes Pacino such a versatile actor is his ability to portray characters as people we love to hate. The audience feels sorry for Michael Corleone at the beginning of “The Godfather” — we cheer for him as he resists his family’s pressure to join its mob activities. Then our sympathy is quickly turned to disappointment, as he decides he needs to avenge his father’s shooting. Nonetheless, Michael’s character is a little understandable, if quite dramatized.
In 1983, however, Pacino stepped into what would become one of his most memorable characters — Tony Montana, also known as Scarface. Even if you’ve never had the pleasure of watching Brian De Palma’s classic remake of the poor-immigrant-turned-millionaire epic, you’ve undoubtedly heard some of its most famous lines (does “Say hello to my little friend!” ring a bell?). Backed by a killer soundtrack of the early 1980s’ best offerings, “Scarface” has yet to be matched in the gangster-film world.
And in case the original release wasn’t enough for you, this month brings the release of a “Scarface” Deluxe Edition DVD set. Not only is the 1983 movie included; you also get deleted scenes, two making-of documentaries and a look at the TV version. In the world of re-releases, this one should definitely top the list.
Tony Montana (Pacino) is a Cuban immigrant to the United States who starts out where many early-’80s immigrants started out — in a Florida refugee camp. After murdering a prominent Cuban, Montana and his best friend Manny Ray (Steven Bauer, “Traffic”) are able to get out of the camp and begin their rise to criminal power in south Florida.
Although he originally sets out to make it in America legitimately, before long, Montana has a huge mansion, a gorgeous girlfriend (Michelle Pfeifer, “I Am Sam) — and several hundred pounds of cocaine. Plagued by that ever-present egomania that accompanies a quick rise to success and fame, Montana finds himself with more enemies than friends, defending his life at every turn.
As far as gangster-flicks go, the gore in “Scarface” has just as much as would be expected. There’s a particularly memorable scene in which punishment is dealt out via a chainsaw — in a hotel shower, of course, so as not to mess up the carpet. However, the gore doesn’t seem excessive, as each scene involving blood fits in well with the story and probably depicts the harsh reality of high-quantity drug dealing.
The last scene in “Scarface” is, without a doubt, one of the most hardcore of any movie before or since. We all knew Montana’s high-maintenance, many-enemies lifestyle would catch up to him sooner or later, and in this final scene it finally does. As more than just a few of his foes charge into his mansion with machine guns, there’s clearly no hope for our classic bad-guy hero. But, predictably, he doesn’t go down without a fight, ending the film with a coked-out, screaming fit, even as he’s pelted with bullets.
Pacino’s roles in “The Godfather” trilogy, “Scarface,” and his other bad-guy efforts, in the ’90s most notably as Satan in “Devil’s Advocate,” have more than earned him a place among the greats (Ray Liotta in “Goodfellas,” Joe Pesci in “Goodfellas” and “Casino”), and more than makes up for the likes of the 2002’s box-office failure “Simone.” “Scarface” was great in 1983; the 20th-annivesary DVD only improves upon a classic.
Grade: A
