Scarface (1983)

Director: Brian De Palma

Starring: Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, Miriam Colon, F. Murray Abraham

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The world is yours...

Plot: When Castro opened the port at Mariel Harbor, thousands of Cubans fled to the United States. One is a young tough named Antonio (Tony) Montana, who, with his friend Manny Ray, starts in with Miami's cocaine trade. He survives attack by chainsaw after a deal goes bad, and several other attempts by other dealers to eliminate him. Eventually the grandiose Montana becomes head of a cocaine cartel. But his enemies start coming after him, and his paranoia threatens to drive Montana's empire into the ground...

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Surprisingly, probably not.

Last night was my third and probably final viewing of this picture. I've always wanted to like it, and I thought that maybe I would have grown into it since I last saw it probably twenty years ago, but there's something about it that doesn't work for me. Maybe it's Pacino skirting that line of great acting and playing it over the top (his first scene in the interrogation room is fantastic). Maybe it's because there aren't enough exploitation bits and the picture wants to have it both ways. It seems to me that there's something missing that really makes this epic. It might have something to do with recently re-watching the first two GODFATHER flicks and that SCARFACE is trying to be a meaner telling of the rise and fall of the modern crime lord. Whatever it is, it doesn't click and for a near-3 hour movie, something had better damn well gel in order to hold my attention for that long. Say goodbye to my little friend.