Scarface (1983)
- To accurately portray their role in Scarface, Al Pacino spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director Brian De Palma.
- Scarface utilized mostly practical sets and locations to ground the story, a specific choice insisted upon by Brian De Palma.
Scarface is a 1983 American crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma and written by Oliver Stone, a loose remake of the 1932 Howard Hawks film. Al Pacino stars as Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who arrives in Miami during the 1980 Mariel boatlift and builds a vast cocaine empire through ruthless ambition, extreme violence, and an insatiable hunger for power and wealth. As Tony rises from dishwasher to drug lord, his paranoia, cocaine addiction, and megalomania destroy every relationship in his life โ his friendship with Manny, his marriage to Elvira played by Michelle Pfeiffer, and ultimately his bond with his sister Gina โ leading to a spectacular, self-destructive downfall.
Scarface was initially savaged by critics, who found its excessive violence, profanity, and operatic tone off-putting, and it received an X rating from the MPAA that required significant cuts to achieve an R. Over the decades, however, the film underwent a dramatic cultural reappraisal, becoming one of the most referenced and quoted films in popular culture โ particularly in hip-hop, where Tony Montana's rags-to-riches narrative and unapologetic pursuit of wealth resonated deeply. Al Pacino's volcanic performance created one of cinema's most indelible characters, and lines like "Say hello to my little friend" entered the permanent pop culture lexicon.
The film earned $66 million against a $25 million budget, a modest theatrical return that gave no indication of its future cultural dominance. Oliver Stone drew on his own drug experiences and research into the Miami cocaine trade for the screenplay, giving the film an authenticity beneath its Grand Guignol surface.
