I am a lover of classic cinema and so Howard Hawks' 1932 film Scarface was a must see and is loosely based on the 1929 novel by Armitage Trail.
This film is a crime thriller that tells the tragic story of Tony Camonte, an unscrupulous Italian criminal who does not know what loyalty is, the story takes place in a Chicago dominated by Prohibition. This gangster becomes known and respected within the Mafia and is labeled as one of the most dangerous criminals in America. He eliminates all his rivals and thus becomes the master of the city. We can even see the San Valentine's Day massacre.
Scarface is a modernized reboot of the brilliant film directed by Howard Hawks in 1932; Brian De Palma adapts to the tumultuous 80's an emblematic film and a character that is part of the imaginary of the average American citizen, to brutally alter it: Tony Camonte is no longer the fictional representation of the Italian-American Al Capone, the man who built an empire in the city of Chicago, under the shadow of Prohibition, but is now Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who arrives in Miami and, taking advantage of a corrupt system, climbs the social ladder to become the drug kingpin in the United States.
This film does not literally copy the original, but manages to transmit the essence of the original work. Both films are very good, and portray a specific moment of society in those years in which they were filmed. Perhaps I like a little more the frenetic vision of De Palma and of course the screenwriter of the film, none other than Oliver Stone, as it touches more political issues such as immigration and corruption with a touch of Film Noir.
Bloody, excessive, atrocious and very well finished is Brian De Palma's film with a huge histrionic contribution from Al Pacino. I consider that this film helped to consolidate Al Pacino as a star in Hollywood.
Pacino presents a vigorous performance, full of vitality required to present a violent, ambitious character, with a thirst for power that will be marked by a tragic outcome but with moralizing intentions. Tony Montana is cruel and ruthless, calculating, displacing inept mobsters, surrounding himself with luxury and money, acquiring influence and political connections.
The film is visually stylized with a setting where dense environments predominate, there is a somber lighting with an inclination to chiaroscuro, to recreate the places that gangsters like Montana usually visit, the dramatic atmosphere guarantees us as viewers that we will see very fatalistic moments according to the argument exposed in the plot.
This Cuban exile is willing to be the master of the world and takes over the drug business in all of Miami and also steals the wife of his first boss Frank Lopez (played by Robert Loggia).
Within the prevailing violence in the film, Tony Montana shows some humanism and ethics by refusing to murder children and women, when he was about to participate in the murder of a journalist who was going to give a speech at the UN to expose a Bolivian drug trafficker named Alejandro Sosa. In the vehicle the journalist was driving were his wife and children. Montana sabotages the assassination attempt and kills the would-be perpetrator.
We see a fatal woman, very typical of film noir represented in the character of Elvira, played by actress Michel Pfeiffer. She is the fatal blonde who effusively shouts at Tony that they were losers, not winners, as his megalomania mistakenly does not let him see.
Steven Bauer, plays Many Ribera, Tony Montana's best friend, who becomes romantically involved with Gina, the sister of his friend and boss. Gina, (an electrifying and beautiful Maria Elisabeth Mastrantonio) is a victim of her brother who opposes her relationship with Many. Tony in a moment of drugs, rage and excessive jealousy kills Many.
The ending is tremendous, and if in the original 1932 film it was the police who killed Scarface in the 1983 film, it is the same one who self-destructs due to his addictions, violent actions and of course his bad companies seeking revenge.
I would not change anything about this film that tells us in a violent way the story of the immigrant who arrives in the United States empty-handed and manages to fulfill the American dream. This film is iconic and a classic that completely revolutionized criminal cinema.
Both the original version, starring Paul Muni, and the reboot starring Al Pacino, the Scarface character was based on the gangster Al Capone, the most famous gangster of all time.
This is my entry in the CineTV Special Contest #47- Favorite Movie Reboot, Link Aqui.
Thank you very much for reading my post, happy start of the week to all of you and good luck to the other participants.
The collage was made by me, its sources being: Source, Source