Scarface is a 1983 American crime film directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana. A contemporary remake of the original 1932 film of the same name, the film tells the story of Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who comes to Miami in 1980 as a result of the Mariel Boatlift, and becomes a drug cartel kingpin during the cocaine boom of the 1980s. The movie chronicles his rise to the top of Miami's cocaine empire. The film is dedicated to Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht, the director and principal screenwriter of the original 1932 film, respectively.

The initial critical response to Scarface was mixed garnering criticism for excessive violence and graphic language. The Cuban community in Miami objected to the film's portrayal of Cubans as criminals and drug traffickers. The film has since gathered a cult following and become an important cultural icon, inspiring posters, clothing, and other references. The film's grainy black and white poster has become an often parodied icon.

Plot[link]

In 1980, Tony Montana (Al Pacino), a Cuban refugee, arrives in Miami, Florida during the Mariel boatlift. He and his best friend, Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer), along with friends/associates Angel (Pepe Serna) and Chi-Chi (Ángel Salazar) are sent to a refugee camp. They are promised release and green cards when Manny makes a deal with wealthy drug dealer Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia) for killing a former Cuban government official who murdered Lopez's brother long ago. Following the assassination and their release, they languish in a small Cuban sandwich shop across from a popular night club while they await more work from Lopez. Insulted by the small job originally offered by Frank's henchman Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham), they gain a job for $5,000 to buy cocaine from Colombian dealers led by a drug lord named Hector The Toad. The deal quickly goes bad, with Hector dismembering Angel with a chainsaw in order to get the money without delivering the cocaine. Before they can do the same to Tony, Manny and Chi-Chi storm the apartment and kill the Colombians. Hector tries to flee but is killed by Tony in the street. Suspecting a set-up by Omar, Tony and Manny insist on taking the money (which he instructed Manny to leave in the car until he and no one else came to retrieve it) and cocaine (that they took while leaving the bloodbath) to Frank personally. Frank likes their style and hires Tony and Manny to work for him. This is when Tony first meets and develops a romantic interest in Frank's girlfriend, Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer). Frank then extends a job offer to Tony and Manny and asks them to accompany him to dinner at a club like the one they recently worked across from. It's there that they are introduced to the drug commandments, which are to never underestimate the other guy's greed and to never get high on your own supply.

Months later, Tony visits his mother, Georgina (Míriam Colón), and younger sister, Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), of whom he is fiercely protective. Gina is excited to see him again, but his mother is disgusted by his life of crime and throws him out. Manny, who is waiting in the car, comments about Gina's beauty, but Tony angrily warns Manny to stay away from her.

Frank sends Tony and Omar to Bolivia to make a transaction with cocaine kingpin Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar). The tension between Tony and Omar peaks when Tony agrees to take more of a shipment than they had been authorized to. Omar agrees to head back home to talk with Frank personally, while Tony is asked to stay behind with Sosa, to "keep him on ice". After Omar's departure, Sosa discloses to Tony that he is a police informant who caused some of their known associates to be incarcerated. Tony's gaze is directed upwards, to witness Omar being pushed and hanged from a helicopter. When asked if the rest of Frank's organization can be trusted, a disgusted Tony states that he never liked or trusted Omar, but vouches for Frank. Sosa and Tony part ways with a business understanding, but not before Sosa warns Tony never to betray him. Upon returning to Miami, Frank is infuriated with not only with Omar's demise, but the much larger deal Tony struck that he is afraid he can not deliver. When Tony offers to do whatever is necessary to come up with the money owed, Frank questions his loyalty and methods, then comments that the Sosa deal was "stolen". Tony then establishes his own operations and informs Elvira of his intentions to marry and have children with her.

Soon after, Tony openly pursues Elvira and gets into a tiff with Frank in which the balance of power is shown by Tony remaining in the club Frank introduced him to instead of leaving as instructed. Next, Tony is shaken down by corrupt Miami detective Mel Bernstein (Harris Yulin), who proposes to "tax" Tony on his transactions in return for police protection and information. There is no rest for the weary as Gina has taken up his advice and gotten out to have some fun with a low level drug dealer, and follows them to a restroom stall, where Gina is snorting cocaine. Tony throws the man out of the bathroom and slaps Gina after she angrily confronts him about trying to be a brother this many years later. Manny, sympathizing with Gina, takes her home. Gina reveals her attraction to Manny, but he wards her off, fearful of Tony's wrath should he catch them together. Back at the club, Tony is attacked and wounded by two gunmen but manages to escape, killing both of them in the process. He calls Manny to inform him of the attempted hit and instructs his men to call Frank's office at a specific time with the message, "He got away". When they enters Frank's office, they catch him off guard since Tony is merely wounded and not dead. Frank accuses the Diaz brothers of the hit and is promising to avenge Tony when the pre-arranged phone call comes in. Tony then reveals that he knows Frank sent both Bernstein (who is in the office as well) and the hitmen. Frank begs for his life, offering $10 million in cash and even Elvira. Manny shoots him dead on Tony's order before Tony then kills Bernstein, who tries to save his own life by offering to clean up Frank's murder. On his way out, Tony hires Ernie. Now having vanquished his last enemy, Tony retrieves Elvira as well, having taken all that once was Frank's.

The business with Sosa grows, he marries Elvira, opens a beauty parlor for Gina, and attains all he wanted since his arrival. Yet over time, Tony's idyllic life begins to crack: Elvira's already strong cocaine use intensifies from loneliness, the banker that launders his money is demanding more to do so, and Tony starts to take credit for all of his and Manny's success since they arrived, leaving his once strong brother-like relationship with Manny broken. Tony is eventually charged with money laundering and tax evasion after police stage a sting operation that he insisted on handling over his friend. He is arrested and makes bail, but his lawyer explains there will be a huge fine and up to three years in jail, which Tony said he'd never return to. Sosa flies Tony to Colombia, and offers him a way out. In exchange for the use of Sosa's government connections to keep him out of jail, Tony must fly to New York City with Sosa's henchman Alberto (Mark Margolis) to help assassinate a Bolivian journalist intent on exposing Sosa during a speech to the United Nations. Drunk and now drug addicted, Tony is at dinner with a stoned Elvira and miserable second banana Manny. Tony then lashes out at Elvira because due to her drug us she can not have kids and Manny for his present legal issues. When Elvira questions not only what kind of father he would be but if he'd be alive when the child reached school age, he tried to attack her. She announces her bodyguard is her only friend and that she is leaving him. He then blows up at the stunned diners, saying he is the villain they need him to be so they can pretend they are better than they really are.

Tony arrives in New York with Chi Chi, Ernie, and Alberto. They stake out the journalist's apartment and Alberto wires the man's car with a remote bomb. The next morning, upon seeing the journalist accompanied in the car by his family, Tony tries to call off the operation, horrified by the idea of killing the journalist's wife and children. Alberto states that Sosa's explicit instructions are to tail the journalist and blow up his car in front of the United Nations building, and refuses to call off the hit. Before Alberto can detonate the bomb, Tony shoots him in the head. When he calls home to check in with Manny, he is told that he's been missing for a few days, as has Gina. He returns home to a furious Sosa and the kingpin reminds Tony of their first conversation, where he warned Tony never to betray him. He then leaves to his mother's house, where she rages at him about the changes in her daughter since he arrived back in their lives and sends him off with the address she had followed Gina to in Coconut Grove.

Tony arrives at that address and Manny answers the door in a robe. When Gina appears from upstairs, also in only a robe, he kills Manny in a fit of rage. A stunned Gina runs down the stairs, holds a dead Manny in her arms and tearfully states they had just gotten married the previous day and they had planned to surprise him. Tony and his men bring an extremely distraught Gina back to Tony's mansion. Tony's men ask him what they are going to do, and he declares war on Sosa before he slams his face in and snorts from a large pile of cocaine in his office. He is too late, since even before they returned from Manny's, Sosa's men were infiltrating his property. Heavily armed men surround the mansion and quietly begin killing Tony's guards along the way, including Ernie, and Elvira's former bodyguard, Nick The Pig. At this point, a heavily-drugged Gina enters Tony's office and accuses Tony of wanting her for himself, before shooting him in the leg. One of Sosa's gunmen bursts into the room and kills Gina. Tony kills the gunman and upon seeing Gina's corpse, falls into heavy rumination. Chi Chi is then killed when Tony fails to open the door despite his frantic pleas. Finally, in a cocaine-fueled fury, Tony makes his last stand, using an M16 equipped with an under-barrel M203 grenade launcher, and extended magazines opening fire and killing dozens of Sosa's men while issuing the famous line: "Say hello to my little friend!" Tony takes many hits but manages to survive until he is fatally shot in the back by Sosa's henchman the Skull. Tony's corpse falls from the staircase into the fountain at the bottom, in front of the statue reading "The World is Yours."

Cast[link]

• Al Pacino as Tony Montana
• Steven Bauer as Manny Ribera (Credits list as "Manny Ray")
• Michelle Pfeiffer as Elvira Hancock
• Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Gina Montana
• Robert Loggia as Frank Lopez
• F. Murray Abraham as Omar Suárez
• Harris Yulin as Mel Bernstein
• Paul Shenar as Alejandro Sosa
• Ángel Salazar as Chi Chi
• Michael P. Moran as Nick "The Pig"
• Pepe Serna as Angel Fernandez
• Míriam Colón as Georgina Montana
• Al Israel as Hector "The Toad"
• Michael Alldredge as George Sheffield
• Mark Margolis as Alberto "The Shadow"
• Geno Silva as "The Skull"

Reaction[link]

Scarface premiered on December 1, 1983 in New York City where it was initially greeted with mixed reaction. The film's two stars, Al Pacino and Steven Bauer, were joined in attendance by Burt and Diane Lane, Melanie Griffith, Raquel Welch, Joan Collins; her then-boyfriend Peter Holm and Eddie Murphy among others.^[3] According to AMC's "DVD TV: Much More Movie" airing, Cher loved it, Lucille Ball, who came with her family, hated it because of the graphic violence and language, and Dustin Hoffman was said to have fallen asleep. Writers Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving were among those who allegedly walked out in disgust after the notorious chainsaw scene. At the middle of the film, Martin Scorsese turned to Steven Bauer and told him, "You guys are great – but be prepared, because they're going to hate it in Hollywood ... because it's about them".^[4]

Scarface, upon its first release, drew controversy regarding the violence and graphic language in the film, and received many negative reviews from movie critics. Despite this, the film grossed $65 million worldwide, and has since gathered a large following. On the two-disc Special Edition, the film's producer, Martin Bregman, said that the film was well received by only one notable critic, Vincent Canby of The New York Times. However, Roger Ebert rated it four stars out of four in his 1983 review and he later added it to his "Great Movies" list.^[5] Over the years, reviews for the film have changed from negative to favorably positive. Some stated that editing was a problem in the movie. In one case, where Omar Suarez is hanging from the helicopter, his shoe falls off randomly and it seems as if he is dancing while hanging from the helicopter. Rotten Tomatoes holds an average of 89% with a consensus of "Director Brian De Palma and star Al Pacino take it to the limit in this stylized, ultra-violent and eminently quotable gangster epic that walks a thin white line between moral drama and celebratory excess".^[6] Despite the film getting mixed to negative reviews upon its release, Scarface managed to gain more favorable positive reviews after its release in 1983.

Rating[link]

Scarface was given an X rating three times (original, second, and third cuts) for extreme violence, frequent strong language and hard drug usage. Director Brian De Palma pulled in a panel of experts, including real narcotics officers, who stated that the film was an accurate portrayal of the real-life drug underworld and should be widely seen. This convinced the 20 members of the ratings board to give the third cut an "R" rating by a vote of 18 to 2. De Palma later asked the studio if he could release the original director's cut, but was told that he could not. However, since the studio executives did not know the differences among the three submitted cuts, De Palma released the director's cut to theaters anyway with an unapproved "R".^[7]

Box office[link]

Scarface was released on December 9, 1983, in 997 theaters, grossing USD $4.6 million in its opening weekend. The film went on to make $45.4 million in North America and $20.5 million internationally for a worldwide total of $65.9 million (over $135 million, when adjusted for inflation, as of 2010).

Critical reception[link]

Roger Ebert wrote "DePalma and his writer, Oliver Stone, have created a gallery of specific individuals, and one of the fascinations of the movie is that we aren't watching crime-movie clichés, we're watching people who are criminals".^[8] He later added it to his "Great Movies" list.^[9] Vincent Canby also praised the film in his review for the New York Times: "[T]he dominant mood of the film is...bleak and futile: What goes up must always come down. When it comes down in Scarface, the crash is as terrifying as it is vivid and arresting".^[10]

Leonard Maltin was among those critics who held a negative opinion towards Scarface. He gave the film 1½ stars out of four, stating that "...[Scarface] wallows in excess and unpleasantness for nearly three hours, and offers no new insights except that crime doesn't pay. At least the 1932 movie moved". In later editions of his annual movie guide, Maltin included an addendum to his review stating his surprise with the film's newfound popularity as a cult-classic.^[11]

In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, "If Scarface makes you shudder, it's from what you think you see and from the accumulated tension of this feral landscape. It's a grand, shallow, decadent entertainment, which like all good Hollywood gangster movies delivers the punch and counterpunch of glamour and disgust".^[12] Jay Scott, in his review for the Globe and Mail, writes, "For a while, Al Pacino is hypnotic as Montana. But the effort expended on the flawless Cuban accent and the attempts to flesh out a character cut from inch-thick cardboard are hopeless".^[13] In his review for the Washington Post, Gary Arnold wrote, "A movie that appeared intent on revealing an alarmingly contemporary criminal subculture gradually reverts to underworld cliche, covering its derivative tracks with outrageous decor and an apocalyptic, production number finale, ingeniously choreographed to leave the antihero floating face down in a literal bloodbath".^[14]

It currently holds a "Fresh" rating of 89% from Rotten Tomatoes , and an average score of 65/100 from Metacritic.

Pacino earned a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama and Steven Bauer was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as well. However, DePalma was nominated for, but did not win, a Razzie Award for Worst Director.

Legacy[link]

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten Top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Scarface was acknowledged as the tenth best in the gangster film genre.^[15] The line "Say hello to my little friend!" (spoken by Montana of his M16A2's M203-grenade-launcher) took 61st place on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list. Entertainment Weekly ranked the film #8 on their list of "The Top 50 Cult Films",^[16] and Empire Magazine placed it among the top 500 films of all time, at #284.^[17] In 2010, VH1 rated the movie at number 5 in its list of 100 greatest movies of all time. Scarface was one of the first films to make frequent use of the word "fuck", and the first one in which the expletive is used over 200 times.

Certain popular characters from Scarface have been referenced in other popular movies and even rap songs. Jay-Z has referenced scenes from the movie in his debut album of Reasonable Doubt. F. Murray Abraham role of Omar Suarez is one of the most popular characters from the Scarface venture and the imitation of his role can be heard in Brooklyn's Finest. This character became so popular due to his witty, enigmatic and sexually frustrated nature that a potential spin off was visioned by De Palma but was subsequently shelved when Body Double was announced.

Releases[link]

Steven Bauer played Tony Montana's friend Manny Ribera.

VHS[link]

Scarface was initially released by MCA Home Video on VHS, CED Videodisc, and Beta in the summer of 1984 – a two-tape set in 1.33:1 pan and scan ratio – and quickly became a bestseller, preluding its cult status.^[18] A 2.35:1 Widescreen VHS would follow years later in 1998 to coincide with the special edition DVD release. The last VHS release was in 2003 to counterpart the 20th anniversary edition DVD.

TV version[link]

The TV version of Scarface premiered on ABC on January 7, 1989.^[19] 32 minutes were edited out, and much of the dialog, including the constant use of the word "fuck", which was muted after the beginning of "f-" or replaced with less offensive alternatives. In addition, aside from being heavily cut for content and time, the following scenes were added in order to make up for anything that was cut:

• An extra Freedom Town scene, in which Tony is in a phone booth trying to call a young girl (presumably Gina), and then watches television with Manny and Chi Chi.
• At the Babylon Club, before Frank points to Tony El Gordo, he points to him Louis and Miguel Echevierra.
• While visiting his mother's house, Tony presents to her a gift. He then says "So here we are, the Three Musketeers" as he opens the champagne bottle, and makes a toast to America.
• A scene that shows Sosa talking to his fiancee, Gabriella Martini, on a white horse.
• A scene where Tony meets his lawyer for the first time.
• A scene in New York City where Tony is approached by police while planting a car-bomb, and pretends to be looking for his lost dog.

Some of these scenes appear as extras on DVD, but in a rough-cut fashion, as opposed to the versions that were seen on television.

DVD[link]

Scarface has been released on DVD several times in the United States.

The first release was by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on the film's 15th anniversary in 1998 under the studio's "Collector's Edition" line. The DVD featured a non-anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, a "Making of" documentary, outtakes, production notes and cast and crew biographies. This release was not successful, and many fans and reviewers complained about its unwatchable video transfer and muddled sound, describing it as "one of the worst big studio releases out there".^[20]

This DVD quickly went out of print, subsequently fetching outrageous prices on secondhand sites such as eBay. In 2003, Universal released a remastered two disc "Anniversary Edition" to coincide with the film's 20th anniversary re-release, featuring two documentaries — one re-edited from the last release to include new interviews with Steven Bauer (Manny Ray) and another produced by Def Jam Recordings featuring interviews with various rappers on the film's cult success in the hip-hop world and other extras ported over from the previous DVD. New to this edition was a 2.35:1 Anamorphic widescreen transfer and 5.1 surround sound in both Dolby Digital and DTS. An alternate, 1.33:1 pan and scan version of the DVD was also made available.

The limited, 20th anniversary theatrical re-release in 2003 also boasted a remastered soundtrack with enhanced sound effects and music but the DVD's 5.1 tracks were mixed from the film's original four-track stereo audio, resulting in noticeably limited frequency and surround effects. A limited edition box set was also released featuring a gold money clip embossed with the "Tony Montana" monogram, production stills, lobby cards, and a DVD of the original Scarface. In 2005, Universal released a single disc 'movie only' version of the Anniversary Edition with the deleted scenes as the sole bonus feature.

In the fall of 2006, Universal released the movie in a two-disc "Platinum Edition" featuring the remastered audio from the theatrical re-release in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround. Most of the extras (with the exception of the Def Jam documentary, production notes, and cast and crew biographies) from the Anniversary Edition were also included. New features to this edition were two featurettes relating to the new video game and the criminal and cultural world of Miami in the 1980s, and a "Scarface Scorecard", which kept track of the number of bullets fired and "F-bombs" throughout the film.

Blu-ray[link]

Universal Studios released Scarface on Blu-ray on September 6, 2011 in a two-disc, limited edition, steelbox package.^[21] The set contains a remastered, 1080p widescreen transfer of the film in 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound, as well as a digital copy. Disc two is a DVD of the 1932 Scarface, featuring a TMC-produced introduction by Robert Osborne and an alternate ending. Bonus features for the 1983 Scarface are ported over from prior editions, including the deleted scenes, The Making of Scarface documentary, the Scarface: The Video Game featurette, and a new retrospective documentary: The Scarface Phenomenon. The Blu-ray also features BD-Live, Pocket-Blu app access, and "U-control"; featuring the "Scarface Scoreboard" from the 2006 Platinum Edition DVD, and picture-in-picture cast and crew interviews along with celebrity fan retrospectives, outtakes, and scene comparisons between the 1932 and 1983 versions, and the 1987 television edit.^[22]

A special gift set, limited to 1,000 copies, features the Blu-ray set housed in a cigar humidor, designed by world-renowned humidor craftsman Daniel Marshall. The humidor box set retails for an MSRP of $999.99.^[23]

Universal also launched a "National Fan Art Contest" via Facebook. The top 25 submissions selected by Universal were entered in a poll where fans voted on their 10 favorite works to be featured as art cards in the Blu-ray set. The Grand-Prize winner had their artwork featured on a billboard in a major US city in order to promote the release. To celebrate the release of Scarface on Blu-ray, Universal Studios and Fathom Events teamed up to make a Scarface Special Event. The event included Scarface coming back to selected theatres nationwide for one night only on Wednesday, August 31, 2011. A twenty minute documentary on how the film impacted the world today also featured.

A single-disc version, featuring only the first disc of the film and special features in standard Blu-ray packaging was released on October 11 of the same year.

Spanish-language version[link]

When released in Spain, the film was titled El Precio del Poder (The Price of Power).^[24][25] The US and Latin American editions of the DVD feature a Spanish language track, but give the title as Caracortada (Spanish for "Cutface"; a literal translation of "Scarface" into Spanish is "Cara cicatrizada"). Hector `The Toad` calls Tony Montana `Cara de cicatriz` whilst he is being chained in the shower after Angel has been killed.

Pop culture[link]

Soundtrack[link]

The music in Scarface was produced by Academy Award-winning Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder. Reflecting Moroder's style, the soundtrack consists mostly of synthesized new wave, electronic music.

Music references[link]

The electronic band Unkle sampled the scene in which Tony meets with Frank at the club and the infamous restaurant scene on their mix album Edit Music for a Film: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Reconstruction, as well as the music from the DVD menu.

The Lonely Island released the song "Jack Sparrow" in 2011, which features ballad singer Michael Bolton singing about Tony Montana. The Lonely Island's song "Trouble On Dookie Island" during the intro, Al Pacino as "Scarface" can be heard saying "all I have in this world is my balls and my word, and I don't break 'em for no one".

Inside the American rap/hip-hop culture the film is universally popular. Radio and television personality Adam Carolla once commented on his morning radio show that it seemed whenever a celebrity home tour TV program detailed a rapper's house, there was always a Scarface homage somewhere in the home, if not an outright shrine. American rapper Future released the song "Tony Montana" in 2011, featuring raps inspired by Al Pacino's character. The song also features a verse from the popular Canadian rapper, Drake.

The Rap group Geto Boys, included the rapper Scarface and used various samplings from the movie, in their album "Geto Boys". Under the track "Scarface", the sampling mixed with beats uses the phrases "All I have in this world, is balls and my word", "I buried the cockroaches" and the ever famous "Say hello to my little friend".

Video games[link]

A licensed video game, Scarface: The World Is Yours, was released in September and October 2006, followed by an update in June 2007. It was developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games. The game is a quasi-sequel based on the premise that Tony survived the raid on his mansion at the end of the film - however, he lost his criminal empire, and the player's goal is to rebuild it. Wii, PS2, Xbox, and PC versions have been released.

Radical and Vivendi also released a second licensed video game, Scarface: Money, Power, Respect, in October 2006. The game is much like Scarface: The World is Yours, but deals more with the controlling of drugs and managing of the Montana cocaine empire and turf, whereas Money, Power, Respect is mostly focused on getting rid of gangs, gaining respect and overall reconstruction of the empire. To date, only a PSP version of this game has been released.

The hit game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City also has some homages to Scarface, such as an area with the famous bloody bathroom in an empty apartment, along with a chainsaw that can be used as a weapon. The Malibu Club is also very similar to the Babylon Club. Other similarities include a drugs deal that goes wrong, a mission to kill a cocaine-dealing boss similar to Tony and Manny's killing of Frank, and a mansion featuring an office and hall very similar to those of Tony's mansion in the movie. Furthermore, the protagonist Tommy Vercetti is heavily based upon Tony Montana. The final mission in which Tommy must fend off dozens of armed men as they storm the mansion parallels the bloodbath ending in the film.

The soundtrack to Scarface can also be heard in Grand Theft Auto III, as the songs are featured on the car radio station Flashback FM.

In Global Operations on the Columbia map, the Drug Lord's office is nearly identical to Tony Montana's and the rest of the mansion is very similar to Tony Montana's.

The game, Hitman: Codename 47 features one of the antagonists, Pablo Belisario Ochoa, a Colombian drug lord heavily based on Tony Montana from Scarface.^{[citation needed]}

Books and comics[link]

Dark Horse Comics' imprint DH Press released a novel called Scarface: The Beginning by L. A. Banks.^[26][27]

IDW publishing released a limited series called Scarface: Scarred For Life. It starts with corrupt police officers finding Tony has survived the final mansion showdown. Similar to the game 'The World Is Yours' Tony works at rebuilding his criminal empire.^[28]

Television and film[link]

Animated show The Simpsons parodies the film in the episode Lisa's Rival when Homer acquires a large pile of sugar. While guarding the pile, Homer drifts off to sleep murmuring "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women" in a faux-Cuban accent, echoing Tony's sentiments about how to win over American women. The Canadian band First You Get the Sugar was named in reference to this parody.

In 2001, plans were set into motion for hip hop artist Cuban Link to write and star in a sequel to Scarface entitled Son of Tony.^[29] The plans for a prospective sequel drew both praise as well as criticism, and after several years Cuban Link indicated that he may no longer be involved with the project as the result of movie rights issues and creative control.^[30]

USA Network announced in 2003 they would be producing a mini-series based on the movie; however, the series' current status is unknown.^{[citation needed]}

The South Park episode Medicinal Fried Chicken is a parody of events that take place in the movie, where Eric Cartman suffers from KFC withdrawal syndrome after the fast food products have been effectively outlawed in Colorado, so he and his friend work out a deal with Colonel Sanders. Eric's excessive consumption of the product is an impediment to Colonel's plans and his inability to carry out a murder of Jamie Oliver as the Colonel's utmost critic finds Sanders outraged, seeking for vengeance, emulating the Sosa-Tony situation. Sanders is quoted as saying "Don't ever try to fuck me, Eric", directly paraphrasing Sosa's minatory remarks to Tony not long after they had met for the first time.

Universal announced in 2011 that the studio is developing a new version of Scarface. The studio claims that the new film is neither a sequel nor a remake, but will take elements from both this version and its 1932 predecessor, including the basic premise: a man who becomes a kingpin in his quest for the American Dream. Martin Bregman, who produced the 1983 remake, will produce this version,^[31] with a screenplay by David Ayer.^[32]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Scarface

• Scarface at the Internet Movie Database
• Scarface at AllRovi
• Scarface at Box Office Mojo
• Scarface at Rotten Tomatoes

Robert Loggia (born Salvatore Loggia;^[1] January 3, 1930) is an American actor and director.

Early life[link]

Loggia, an Italian American, was born on Staten Island, the son of Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, and Elena Blandino, a homemaker,^[2] both of whom were born in Sicily, Italy.^[3][4] After studying at Wagner College and journalism at the University of Missouri (class of 1951) and serving in the US Army, Loggia began a long career as a supporting player in movies, on stage and television.

Career[link]

Loggia was a radio and TV anchor in Southern Command Network in the Panama Canal Zone. Loggia first came to prominence playing real-life American lawman Elfego Baca in a 1958 series of Walt Disney television shows. He starred as the proverbial cat-burglar-turned-good in a short-lived series called T.H.E. Cat. In 1972 he played Frank Carver on the CBS soap opera The Secret Storm.^[5] His many television credits include appearances on Frasier, The Bionic Woman, Overland Trail, Target: The Corruptors!, The Eleventh Hour, Breaking Point, Combat!, Custer, Columbo, Ellery Queen, Gunsmoke 1965 episode-Chief Joseph,Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels, The Rockford Files (three times as three different characters), Magnum, P.I., Quincy ME, The Sopranos, Monk, Oliver Stone's miniseries Wild Palms and Little House on the Prairie.

His film roles include An Officer and a Gentleman, Mercy Mission: The Rescue of Flight 771, based on the Air New Zealand Flight 103 incident, Scarface, Prizzi's Honor, Over The Top, Independence Day, Necessary Roughness, Return to Me, Armed and Dangerous, and Big (for which he won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor).

In 1985, Loggia was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of crusty private detective Sam Ransom in the thriller Jagged Edge. He was nominated for an Emmy in 1989 for his portrayal of FBI agent Nick Mancuso in the TV series Mancuso, FBI, a follow up to the previous year's miniseries Favorite Son. Loggia appeared as mobsters in multiple films including Sykes in Disney's Oliver & Company (1988), Salvatore "The Shark" Macelli in John Landis' Innocent Blood and Mr. Eddy in David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997) and The Don's Analyst (1997).

In 1998, Loggia appeared in a television commercial lampooning obscure celebrity endorsements. In it, a young boy names Loggia as someone he would trust to recommend Minute Maid orange-tangerine blend; Robert Loggia instantly appears and endorses the drink, to which the boy exclaims, "Whoa, Robert Loggia!"^[6] The commercial was later referenced in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle in which Loggia made a guest appearance as "Grandpa Victor" (for which he received his second Emmy nomination); Loggia drinks some orange juice, then spits it out and complains about the pulp. In a similar vein, Loggia has been parodied on an episode of the show Family Guy titled "Peter's Two Dads." Loggia also played a violent mobster named Feech La Manna on a few episodes of the series The Sopranos.

In addition to his role in Oliver & Company (1988), Loggia has had several other voice acting roles. A recurring role on the Adult Swim animated comedy Tom Goes to the Mayor, as crooked cop Ray Machowski in the video game Grand Theft Auto III, as Admiral Petrarch in FreeSpace 2, as the narrator of the Scarface: The World is Yours game adaptation, and in the anime movie A Dog of Flanders (1997).^[7]

In August 2009, Loggia appeared in one of Apple's Get a Mac advertisements. The advertisement features Loggia as a personal trainer hired by PC to get him back on top of his game.

On October 26, 2009, TVGuide.com announced Loggia joined the cast of the TNT series Men of a Certain Age.^[8] The role had him teaming up again with his Necessary Roughness co-star Scott Bakula.

In 2010, he was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of his humanitarian efforts.

On December 17, 2011, Loggia was honored by his alma mater, University of Missouri, with an honorary degree for his career and humanitarian efforts.^[9]

In 2012 Loggia portrayed Saint Peter during his final imprisonment in The Apostle Peter and the Last Supper.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Robert Loggia at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Loggia at the Internet Broadway Database
• Robert Loggia at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

Al Pacino
Al Pacino attending the Venice Film Festival in September 2004
Born	Alfredo James Pacino (1940-04-25) April 25, 1940 (age 72) New York City
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1968–present
Children	2 daughters, 1 son

Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (/pəˈtʃiːnɵ/; born April 25, 1940) is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and Tony Montana in Scarface, though he has also appeared several times on the other side of the law — as a police officer, a detective and a lawyer. His role as Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman won him the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1993 after receiving seven previous Oscar nominations, one of them being in the same year.

He made his feature film debut in the 1969 film Me, Natalie in a minor supporting role, before playing the leading role in the 1971 drama The Panic in Needle Park. Pacino made his major breakthrough when he was given the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather in 1972, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Other Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor were for Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross. Oscar nominations for Best Actor include The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice for All and Scent of a Woman.

In addition to a career in film, he has also enjoyed a successful career on stage, winning Tony Awards for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. A longtime fan of Shakespeare, he made his directorial debut with Looking for Richard, a quasi-documentary on the play Richard III. Pacino has received numerous lifetime achievement awards, including one from the American Film Institute. He is a method actor, taught mainly by Lee Strasberg and Charles Laughton at the Actors Studio in New York.

Although he has never married, Pacino has had several relationships with actresses and has three children.

Early life and education[link]

Pacino was born in East Harlem, New York City to Italian American parents Rose and Salvatore Pacino, who divorced when he was two years old.^[1] When he was two, his mother moved to the South Bronx near the Bronx Zoo, to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who originated from Corleone, Sicily.^[2] His father moved to Covina, California, and worked as an insurance salesman and restaurateur.^[1] Pacino attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York.^[2] During his teenage years 'Sonny', as he was known to his friends, aimed to become a baseball player, though he was also nicknamed 'The Actor'.^[3] Pacino flunked nearly all of his classes except English and dropped out of school at 17. His mother disagreed with his decision; they had an argument and he left home. He worked at a string of low-paying jobs, including messenger boy, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, in order to finance his acting studies.^[1]

He started smoking at age nine, drinking and casual marijuana use at age thirteen, but never took hard drugs.^[4] His two closest friends died young of drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30.^[5] Growing up in the Bronx, he got into occasional fights and was something of a troublemaker at school.^[6]

He acted in basement plays in New York's theatrical underground but was rejected for the Actors Studio while still a teenager.^[3] Pacino then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio (HB Studio), where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend.^[3] During this period, he was frequently unemployed and homeless, and sometimes had to sleep on the street, in theaters, or at friends' houses.^[2][7] In 1962, his mother died at the age of 43.^[8] The following year, his grandfather, James Gerardi, one of the most influential people in his life, also died.^[1]

Actors Studio training[link]

After having spent four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio.^[3] The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.^[9] Pacino studied "method acting"^[1] under acting coach Lee Strasberg, who later appeared with Pacino in the films The Godfather Part II and in ...And Justice for All.^[2] During later interviews he spoke about Strasberg and the Studio's effect on his career. "The Actors Studio meant so much to me in my life. Lee Strasberg hasn’t been given the credit he deserves ... Next to Charlie, it sort of launched me. It really did. That was a remarkable turning point in my life. It was directly responsible for getting me to quit all those jobs and just stay acting."^[10] During another interview he added, "It was exciting to work for him [Lee Strasberg] because he was so interesting when he talked about a scene or talked about people. One would just want to hear him talk, because things he would say, you’d never heard before ... He had such a great understanding... he loved actors so much."^[11]

Pacino is currently co-president, along with Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel, of the Actors Studio.^[9]

Stage career[link]

In 1967, Pacino spent a season at the Charles Playhouse in Boston, performing in Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! (his first major paycheck: $125 a week); and in Jean-Claude Van Itallie's America, Hurrah, where he met actress Jill Clayburgh while working on this play. They went on to have a five-year romance and moved together back to New York City.^[12]

In 1968, Pacino starred in Israel Horovitz's The Indian Wants the Bronx at the Astor Place Theater, playing Murph, a street punk. The play opened January 17, 1968, and ran for 177 performances; it was staged in a double bill with Horovitz's It's Called the Sugar Plum, starring Clayburgh. Pacino won an Obie Award for Best Actor for his role, with John Cazale winning for Best Supporting actor and Horowitz for Best New Play.^[13] Martin Bregman saw the play and offered to be Pacino's manager, a partnership that became fruitful in the years to come, as Bregman encouraged Pacino to do The Godfather, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.^[14] Pacino and this production of The Indian Wants the Bronx traveled to Italy for a performance at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. It was Pacino's first journey to Italy; he later recalled that "performing for an Italian audience was a marvelous experience".^[12] Pacino and Clayburgh were cast in "Deadly Circle of Violence", an episode of the ABC television series N.Y.P.D., premiering November 12, 1968. Clayburgh at the time was also appearing on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, playing the role of Grace Bolton. Her father would send the couple money each month to help.^[15]

On February 25, 1969, Pacino made his Broadway debut in Don Petersen's Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? at the Belasco Theater. It closed after 39 performances on March 29, 1969, but Pacino received rave reviews and won the Tony Award on April 20, 1969.^[12] Pacino continued performing onstage in the 1970s, winning a second Tony Award for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and performing the title role in Richard III.^[1] In 1980s Pacino again achieved critical success on the stage while appearing in David Mamet's American Buffalo, for which Pacino was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.^[1] Since 1990 Pacino's stage work has included revivals of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie, Oscar Wilde's Salome and in 2005 Lyle Kessler's Orphans.^[16]

Pacino made his return to the stage in summer 2010, as Shylock in a Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice.^[17] The acclaimed production transferred to Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre in October, earning US$1 million at the box office in its first week.^[18][19] The performance also garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Play.^[20]

Film career[link]

Early film career[link]

Pacino found acting to be enjoyable and realized he had a gift for it while studying at The Actors Studio. However, his early work was not financially rewarding.^[2] After his success on stage, Pacino made his movie debut in 1969 with a brief screen appearance in Me, Natalie, an independent film starring Patty Duke.^[21] In 1970, Pacino signed with the talent agency Creative Management Associates (CMA).^[12]

1970s[link]

It was the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park, in which he played a heroin addict, that brought Pacino to the attention of director Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him as Michael Corleone in the blockbuster Mafia film The Godfather (1972). Although several established actors – including Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and then little-known Robert De Niro – also tried out for the part, Coppola selected the relatively unknown Pacino, much to the dismay of studio executives.^[2] Pacino was even teased on the set because of his short stature. Pacino's performance earned him an Academy Award nomination, and offered a prime example of his early acting style, described by Halliwell's Film Guide as "intense" and "tightly clenched". Pacino boycotted the Academy Award ceremony, as he was insulted at being nominated for the Supporting Acting award, noting that he had more screen time than costar and Best Actor winner Marlon Brando – who was himself boycotting the awards.^[22]

In 1973, he co-starred in Scarecrow, with Gene Hackman, and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. That same year Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor after starring in Serpico, based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico, who went undercover to expose the corruption of fellow officers.^[22] In 1974, Pacino reprised his role as Michael Corleone in the sequel The Godfather Part II, which became the first sequel to win the Best Picture Oscar; Pacino, meanwhile, was nominated for his third Oscar.^[22] Newsweek has described his performance in the film as "arguably cinema's greatest portrayal of the hardening of a heart".^[23] In 1975, he enjoyed further success with the release of Dog Day Afternoon, based on the true story of bank robber John Wojtowicz.^[2] It was directed by Sidney Lumet, who also directed him in Serpico a few years earlier, and Pacino was again nominated for Best Actor.^[24]

In 1977, Pacino starred as a race-car driver in Bobby Deerfield, directed by Sydney Pollack, and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama for his portrayal of the title role, losing out to Richard Burton, who won for Equus. His next film was the courtroom drama ...And Justice for All, which again saw Pacino lauded by critics for his wide range of acting abilities, and nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for a fourth time.^[24] However he lost out that year to Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer — a role that Pacino had declined.^[24]

During the 1970s, Pacino had four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, for his performances in Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and ...And Justice for All.^[2]

1980s[link]

Pacino's career slumped in the early 1980s; his appearances in the controversial Cruising, a film which provoked protests from New York's gay community,^[25] and the comedy-drama Author! Author! were critically panned.^[1] However, 1983's Scarface, directed by Brian De Palma, proved to be a career highlight and a defining role.^[2] Upon its initial release, the film was critically panned,^[26] but did fairly well at the box office, grossing over US$45 million domestically.^[27] Pacino earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Cuban drug lord Tony Montana.^[28]

In 1985, Pacino worked on his personal project, The Local Stigmatic, a 1969 Off Broadway play by the English writer Heathcote Williams. He starred in the play, remounting it with director David Wheeler and the Theater Company of Boston in a 50-minute film version. The film was never released theatrically but was later released as part of the Pacino: An Actor's Vision box set in 2007.^[2]

His 1985 film Revolution about a fur trapper during the American Revolutionary War, was a commercial and critical failure, which Pacino blamed on a rushed production,^[29] resulting in a four-year hiatus from films. During this time Pacino returned to the stage. He mounted workshop productions of Crystal Clear, National Anthems and other plays; he appeared in Julius Caesar in 1988 in producer Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. Pacino remarked on his hiatus from film: "I remember back when everything was happening, '74, '75, doing The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui on stage and reading that the reason I'd gone back to the stage was that my movie career was waning! That's been the kind of ethos, the way in which theater's perceived, unfortunately."^[30] Pacino returned to film in 1989's Sea of Love,^[2] in which he portrayed a detective hunting a serial killer who finds victims through the singles column in a newspaper. The film earned solid reviews.^[31]

1990s[link]

Al Pacino at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

Pacino received an Academy Award nomination for playing Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit Dick Tracy in 1990, in which critic Roger Ebert wrote that Pacino is "the scene-stealer".^[32] Later in the year he followed this up by a return to one of his most famous characters, Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part III (1990).^[2] The film received mixed reviews, and had problems during pre-production due to script rewrites and the withdrawal of actors shortly before production. In 1991, Pacino starred in Frankie and Johnny with Michelle Pfeiffer, who co-starred with Pacino in Scarface. Pacino portrays a recently paroled cook who begins a relationship with a waitress (Pfeiffer) in the diner he works in. It was adapted by Terrence McNally from his own Off-Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (1987), which featured Kenneth Welsh and Kathy Bates. The film received mixed reviews, although Pacino later said he enjoyed playing the part.^[33] Janet Maslin in The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Pacino has not been this uncomplicatedly appealing since his "Dog Day Afternoon" days, and he makes Johnny's endless enterprise in wooing Frankie a delight. His scenes alone with Ms. Pfeiffer have a precision and honesty that keep the film's maudlin aspects at bay."^[34]

In 1992, Pacino won the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the blind U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman.^[2] That year, he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Glengarry Glen Ross, making Pacino the first male actor ever to receive two acting nominations for two different movies in the same year, and to win for the lead role.^[2]

Pacino starred alongside Sean Penn in the crime drama Carlito's Way in 1993, in which he portrayed a gangster who is released from prison with the help of his lawyer (Penn) and vows to go straight. Pacino starred in Michael Mann's Heat (1995), in which he and Robert De Niro appeared on-screen together for the first time (though both Pacino and De Niro starred in The Godfather Part II, they did not share any scenes).^[2]

In 1996, Pacino starred in his theatrical docudrama Looking for Richard, which is both a performance of selected scenes of William Shakespeare's Richard III and a broader examination of Shakespeare's continuing role and relevance in popular culture. The cast brought together for the performance included Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and Winona Ryder. Pacino played Satan in the supernatural thriller The Devil's Advocate (1997) which co-starred Keanu Reaves. The film was a success at the box office, taking US$150 million worldwide.^[35] Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, ‘The satanic character is played by Pacino with relish bordering on glee.’^[36] In Donnie Brasco Pacino played mafia gangster "Lefty", in the true story of undercover FBI agent Donnie Brasco (Johnny Depp) and his work in bringing down the mafia from the inside. Pacino also starred as real life 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman in the multi-Oscar nominated The Insider opposite Russell Crowe, before starring in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday in 1999.

2000s[link]

Al Pacino at the Rome Film Festival in 2008.

Pacino has not received another nomination from the Academy since Scent of a Woman, but won two Golden Globes since the year 2000, the first being the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2001 for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.^[37]

In 2000, Pacino released a low budget film adaptation of Ira Lewis' play Chinese Coffee to film festivals.^[38] Shot almost exclusively as a one-on-one conversation between the two main characters, the project took almost three years to complete and it was funded entirely by Pacino.^[38] Chinese Coffee was included along with Pacino's two other rare films he has been involved in producing, The Local Stigmatic and Looking for Richard, on a special DVD boxset titled Pacino: An Actor's Vision which was released in 2007. Pacino produced prologues and epilogues for the discs containing the films.^[39]

Pacino turned down an offer to reprise his role as Michael Corleone in the computer game version of The Godfather. As a result, Electronic Arts was not permitted to use Pacino's likeness or voice in the game, although his character does appear in it. He did allow his likeness to appear in the video game adaptation of the remake of 1983's Scarface, titled Scarface: The World is Yours.^[40]

Director Christopher Nolan worked with Pacino for Insomnia, a remake of the Norwegian film of the same name, co-starring Robin Williams. Newsweek stated that "he [Pacino] can play small as rivetingly as he can play big, that he can implode as well as explode".^[41] The film and Pacino's performance were well-received, gaining a favorable rating of 92 percent on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.^[42] The film did moderately well at the box office, taking in $113 million dollars worldwide.^[43] His next film, S1m0ne, was one that Pacino liked, but which did not gain much critical praise or box office success.^[44]

He played the part of a publicist in People I Know, a small film that received little attention despite Pacino's well-received performance.^[45] Rarely taking a supporting role since his commercial breakthrough, he accepted a small part in the box office flop Gigli in 2003 as a favor to director Martin Brest.^[45] The Recruit, released in 2003, featured Pacino as a CIA recruiter and co-stars Colin Farrell. The film received mostly negative reviews,^[46] and was described by Pacino as something he "personally couldn't follow".^[45] Pacino next starred as lawyer Roy Cohn in the 2003 HBO miniseries Angels in America, an adaptation of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name.^[2] For this performance, Pacino won his third Golden Globe, for Best Performance by an Actor, in 2004.^[47]

Pacino starred as Shylock in Michael Radford's 2004 film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, choosing to bring compassion and depth to a character traditionally played as a villainous caricature.^[48] In Two for the Money, Pacino portrays a sports gambling agent and mentor for Matthew McConaughey, alongside Rene Russo. The film was released on October 8, 2005 and received mixed reviews.^[49] Desson Thomson wrote in The Washington Post, "Al Pacino has played the mentor so many times, he ought to get a kingmaker's award (...) the fight between good and evil feels fixed in favor of Hollywood redemption."^[50]

On October 20, 2006, the American Film Institute named Pacino the recipient of the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award.^[51] On November 22, 2006, the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin awarded Pacino the Honorary Patronage of the Society.^[52]

Pacino starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Thirteen alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould and Andy García as the villain Willy Bank, a casino tycoon targeted by Danny Ocean and his crew. The film received generally favorable reviews.^[53]