SCARFACE
EAU de PRESSURE
POTTY MOUTH
ART IMITATES
IRAQ, MONTANA
BANG BANG
THAT'S HOLLYWOOD
THE WORLD IS YOURS
WHOOPS
GETO BOYS
SCARFACE
Al Pacino is Scarface in the 1983 remake of the 1932 classic gangster film. Pacino is Cuban "migr", Tony Montana who along with his close friend Manny Ray, builds a criminal empire in 1980's Miami. Like the original before it, the film expressed a time and place that will captivate audiences for decades to come.
EAU de PRESSURE
As Tony Montana's empire grew so did the pressures that come with the job. His ego swells and his paranoia explodes while the film takes us deeper and deeper into the brutal drug underworld. If you want to see a film where Al Pacino can charm you and scare the hell out of you, then this is it. He loved the American Dream, with a vengeance.
POTTY MOUTH
The film uses the F-word 208 times, which was a record at the time and films today rarely come close to that number. Just watch the scene with Pacino in the phone booth and you'll see what I mean.
ART IMITATES
The original 1932 film was loosely based on Al Capone's life. It was said he liked it so much that he personally had a his own copy of the film. The new version was originally intended to be a remake set in Chicago like the original, but budget constraints held it from being a period piece and the film was reset in modern day Miami. Fittingly so, while Oliver Stone was writing the new version he was simultaneously battling a cocaine addiction.
IRAQ, MONTANA
How does Saddam Hussein have any connection to Scarface? Saddam Hussein's international corporation erected to launder money from his various enterprises was called, Montana Management.
BANG BANG
With an eye for detail, Brian DePalma and his prop master, John Zemansky had the prop firearms rigged with electronic synchronizing equipment so the guns would only fire when the camera shutter was open. The results were more dramatic as the guns' muzzle flashes were much more visible and consistent than in most other films.
THAT'S HOLLYWOOD
Miriam Colon, who plays Tony's mother is only four years older than Al Pacino. A common trend in filmmaking. Sean Connery who plays Harrison Ford's dad in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" is only 12 years older. Even better, in Oliver Stone's new film, Alexander, Angelina Jolie portrays Colin Farrell's mother even though she is only a year older than him.
THE WORLD IS YOURS
At the end of the film when Tony Montana is killed (come on, you knew he was going to die, he's a bad guy), he falls into a fountain that has a globe that says "The World is Yours". This was directly inspired from a true mafioso named Sam Giancana, who was the most powerful mobster of the '50s and '60s. After he was killed, a small globe was found in his home which read, "Poor Sam, the world is yours".
WHOOPS
Even though the film is set in 1980, the movie includes a billboard for the 1984 Corvette and a newsstand for the USA Today, which was started in 1982. Now you can get Scarface at www.t-shirtking.com and we've been selling the world's best t-shirts since 1998.
GETO BOYS
The film had a great influence on hip hop of the time, inspiring a Houston based group named the Geto Boys to sample various lines from the movie into their rap songs. One rapper, named Brad Jordan was so influenced that he took the name Scarface as his stage name. In 2003 when the film was re-released in theatres, studio execs wanted the soundtrack to be changed to represent the hip hop music it influenced, but director Brian DePalma declined the offer.
