Scarface is a 1983 American epic crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma from a screenplay by Oliver Stone. It is loosely based on the 1930 novel by Armitage Trail and a remake of the 1932 film of the same name directed by Howard Hawks. The film stars an ensemble cast led by Al Pacino, who stars as Cuban refugee Tony Montana. In the film, Montana arrives in Miami during the Mariel boatlift and becomes a powerful drug lord.
Pacino worked with producer Martin Bregman to develop the project. Bregman and Sidney Lumet both conceived the idea of setting the story during the boatlift. Lumet was initially hired to direct the film but left, feeling that it was too violent and wanted it to be more of a political film. De Palma replaced Lumet as director and Bregman hired Stone to write the script. Stone, who had been struggling with his own cocaine addiction at the time, wrote the script in Paris. Several actresses were considered for playing Elvira Hancock before Michelle Pfeiffer — then almost Glenn Close — was chosen for the role; Pacino and De Palma had argued against her casting, but Bregman fought for her inclusion. The film was initially going to be entirely shot in Miami, but the Cuban community denied requests to film there, feeling that the script portrayed them in a bad light. Filming took place from November 1982 to May 1983 in Los Angeles and two weeks in Miami. The film's soundtrack and score was composed by Giorgio Moroder.
Scarface premiered in New York City on December 1, 1983, and was released on December 9 by Universal Pictures. The film was a commercial success, grossing $66 million. Initial critical response was negative due to its extreme violence and depiction of stereotypes. However, in the years that followed, some critics have reappraised it, and it is now considered one of the best gangster films. Screenwriters and directors such as Martin Scorsese have praised the film, and it has been referenced extensively in pop culture, especially in hip-hop culture, as well as comic books, television programs and video games. The film is regarded as a cult classic.
Plot
In 1980, ex-convict Cuban refugee Tony Montana arrives in Miami as part of the Mariel boatlift with his friend Manny Ribera and their companions, Angel and Chi-Chi. Miami drug lord Frank Lopez arranges green cards for them in exchange for murdering a former henchman of Fidel Castro. Dissatisfied with their jobs as restaurant dishwashers, Tony and Manny meet with Frank's right-hand man, Omar Suarez, who sends the four to purchase cocaine from Colombian dealers. Tony and Angel are taken at gunpoint; Tony is forced to watch as Angel is slaughtered with a chainsaw, before Manny and Chi-Chi rescue him. They kill the dealers and insist to Omar that they deliver the drugs and money to Frank in person, suspecting Omar set them up.
Tony and Manny begin working for Frank while Tony is attracted to Frank's trophy wife, Elvira Hancock. Tony visits his mother, and sister Gina. Tony gives his mother $1,000, claiming he earns money as a political organizer. Tony's mother is angered by his lie, berates Tony for his criminal lifestyle, and kicks him out. Gina runs outside to reassure Tony, and he lets Gina keep the money and walk back inside. Manny expresses attraction towards Gina, but Tony sternly warns Manny to stay away from her. Frank sends Tony and Omar to Bolivia to meet cocaine kingpin Alejandro Sosa. Omar is angered when Tony seeks to negotiate a large deal without Frank's approval. Sosa sends Omar off but keeps Tony behind to watch his men hang Omar from a helicopter, and tells Tony that Omar is a police informant and that Frank has poor judgment for trusting him. Tony says he never trusted Omar. Sosa takes a liking to Tony for his integrity and agrees to the deal, but not before delivering Tony a stern warning to never double-cross him.
Back in Miami, Frank is furious at Tony for his unauthorized deal with Sosa and Omar's demise. Severing business ties with Frank, Tony sets up his own cocaine operation and continues flirting with Elvira, further infuriating Frank. Mel Bernstein, a corrupt detective on Frank's payroll, attempts to extort Tony for police protection. Tony confronts Gina upon finding her making out with a man in a club bathroom. At the club, hitmen seek to assassinate Tony, who escapes with minor wounds. He later confronts Frank and Bernstein about the attack, forcing Frank to confess. Tony has Manny kill Frank before killing Bernstein. Tony then takes complete control of Frank's drug operation and assets, making everything his own. He marries Elvira and becomes the distributor of Sosa's cocaine. This makes Tony one of the most powerful drug lords in Miami, overseeing his rapidly growing drug empire from a large, heavily guarded estate.
In 1983, a sting operation by federal agents sees Tony charged with tax evasion and facing prison time. Sosa offers to keep Tony out of prison via his government connections if Tony kills a journalist about to expose Sosa. During a restaurant dinner a drunken Tony blames Manny for unwittingly introducing him to the undercover agents and calls Elvira an infertile junkie, prompting Elvira to call out his criminality to the other patrons and leave him. Sosa's henchman, Alberto, puts a radio-controlled bomb under the journalist's car, but Tony tries to cancel the hit upon seeing the journalist is accompanied by his wife and children. Alberto refuses and Tony kills him before he can detonate the bomb. A furious Sosa vows revenge for Tony allowing the journalist to deliver the exposé.
At his mother's behest, Tony, high on cocaine, tracks down Gina and finds her with Manny. Tony shoots Manny dead before learning Gina has just married him. Tony takes Gina to his estate and begins a cocaine binge in his office. Gina accuses him of wanting her for himself. She shoots and wounds him, and is killed by one of Sosa's men whom Tony kills in return. Sosa's men invade the grounds and kill Tony's guards, including Chi-Chi, as Tony takes a rifle with a grenade launcher to the invaders, killing many, but suffering gunshot wounds. He taunts his attackers until an assassin shoots him in the back with a shotgun. Tony's body falls from the balcony into the pool, near the base of a globe with the motto "The World Is Yours".
Cast
Other cast members include Richard Belzer as the Babylon Club M.C., Albert Carrier as Pedro Quinn, a sugar mogul working with Sosa; Victor Millan as Ariel Blayer, a Bolivian politician working with Sosa; Roberto Contreras as Emilio Rebenga, a Cuban emigre Montana assassinates; and Gregg Henry as Charles Goodson, an American associate of Sosa's.
De Palma regulars Charles Durning and Dennis Franz provided uncredited voiceover dubbing of the Immigration and Naturalization Service officers who interrogate Montana in the opening scene, played on-screen by Garnett Smith, Tony Perez and John Brandon. Lana Clarkson, Angela Aames, Ava Lazar, Margaret Michaels and Katt Shea appear as patrons at the Babylon Club. Teen model Tammy Lynn Leppert appears as the young woman distracting the lookout car during the chainsaw scene. News reporter Mario Machado appears as himself.
Production Development
Scarface began development after Al Pacino saw the 1932 film at the Tiffany Theater while in Los Angeles. He later called his manager, producer Martin Bregman, and informed him of his belief in the potential for a remake of that film. Pacino originally wanted to retain the period piece aspect, but realized that because of its melodramatic nature, it would be difficult to accomplish. Sidney Lumet became attached as the director, developing the idea for Tony Montana to be a Cuban arriving in the United States during the Mariel boatlift.
Bregman and Lumet's creative differences resulted in Lumet dropping out of the project. Lumet had wanted to make a more political story that focused on blaming the current presidential administration for the influx of cocaine into the United States, but Bregman disagreed. Bregman replaced him with Brian De Palma, and hired writer Oliver Stone; Stone had seen the original 1932 Scarface and had not enjoyed it, so he initially rejected the offer.
After he talked with Lumet, however, he was convinced to accept the offer because they agreed to transform the film from a period piece to a contemporary film. "Sidney had a great idea to take the 1930s American prohibition gangster movie and make it into a modern immigrant gangster movie dealing with the same problems that we had then, that we're prohibiting drugs instead of alcohol. There's a prohibition against drugs that's created the same criminal class as (prohibition of alcohol) created the Mafia". In the book The Oliver Stone Experience, Stone writes: "I didn't want to do an Italian Mafia movie ... We'd had dozens of these things. But then Bregman came to me and said, Sidney has a great idea — he wants to do it as a Marielito picture in Miami. I said, That's interesting! Sidney's idea was a good one."
Stone researched the script while battling his own cocaine addiction. He and Bregman performed their own research, traveling to Miami, Florida, where they were given access to records from the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Organized Crime Bureau. Stone moved to Paris to write the script, believing that he could not break his addiction while in the United States, stating in a 2003 interview that he was completely off drugs at the time, "because I don't think cocaine helps writing. It's very destructive to the brain cells."
Among other changes to the original story was the addition of the character Alejandro Sosa. Stone patterned the character after Roberto Suárez Gómez, a Bolivian drug lord nicknamed the "King of Cocaine".
Casting
Pacino worked with experts in knife combat, trainers and boxer Roberto Durán to attain the body type that he wanted for the role. Durán also helped inspire the character, who had "a certain lion in him", according to Pacino. Sophie Zawistoska, Meryl Streep's immigrant character in Sophie's Choice (1982) also influenced Pacino's portrayal of Tony Montana. Steven Bauer and a dialect coach helped him learn aspects of the Cuban Spanish language and pronunciation.
Michelle Pfeiffer was an unknown actress at the time, known primarily for her role in Grease 2; both Pacino and De Palma had argued against her casting, but Bregman fought for her inclusion. Glenn Close was the original choice for the role, while others were also considered, including Nancy Allen, Geena Davis, Carrie Fisher, Kelly McGillis, Rosanna Arquette, Melanie Griffith, Kim Basinger, Brooke Shields, Sharon Stone and Sigourney Weaver.
Bauer got his role without auditioning. During the audition process, casting director Alixe Gordin saw Bauer and instantly noted that he was right for the role of Manolo "Manny" Ribera, a judgment with which both De Palma and Bregman agreed. He was the only actual Cuban in the principal cast. John Travolta was considered for the role.
Filming The picture was shot over 24 weeks from November 22, 1982, to May 6, 1983.Daily Variety Magazine; November 26, 1982; Page 8Daily Variety Magazine; May 12, 1983; Page 10 Although the film is set in Miami, the Miami Tourist Board declined requests to film there, fearing that the film's themes of drugs and gangsters would deter tourism. Instead, much of the film was shot in Los Angeles. In April 1983, however, one scene was shot at Miami's Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The chainsaw scene was filmed on Miami Beach's Ocean Drive. A second unit team headed by David Hans Dreyfuss shot for one day at Coronado Beach in San Diego, California.(1983-12-01). Spotlight on filming in SD County. Daily Times-Advocate, 52, 56-57. Tony's opulent mansion was El Fureidis, a Roman-styled mansion near Santa Barbara, California.