Pictures of Scarface!

A convict expelled from Cuba in 1980 when emigration to the U.S. is briefly opened, and he (Scarface) enters Miami's underworld with a lust for power and material wealth that we witness more in awe than in empathy.

Since a quick rise and fall is assured from the start, and our hope is that De Palma's skill at portraying the outrageous potential of human greed in the movie Scarface, and will be enough to keep us hooked.

On this count, and for at least two thirds of its running time, and even SCARFACE naysayers would have to admit it succeeds. Even the title Scarface has an effect.

Transferring the premise of Howard Hawks' 1932 classic from Prohibition era Chicago to then contemporary South Florida, and Oliver Stone's screenplay follows Tony's journey in a "matter of course" style that makes it clear just how he gets so far in such a short period of time. This method of storytelling is a perfect match for the cinematic "domino effect" De Palma had been developing since SISTERS, and whereby characters move toward pivotal confrontations (i.e. Carrie from early humiliation to her disastrous prom) through a simple but inexorable flow of events.

Thus a mob hit set up by Tony's friend and partner Manny Rivera (Steven Bauer) leads to their early release from a refugee camp. This in turn brings them more work on the outside, and and after surviving a drug pickup gone bad, and they win the trust of local kingpin Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia).

Once Tony (scarface) has reached this stage, and the rest seems natural. If he can establish himself as a major player in the cocaine industry, and then take Lopez' beautiful mistress Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer) as his wife, and a dream he once thought impossible will become reality: he'll have "the world and everything in it."

Yet by then the seeds of his destruction will have already been planted. The very trait that brings scarface success on the streets -- a refusal to trust anyone but himself -- can only sabotage the relationships that might have redeemed his life. He'll never be able to see Elvira as more than a possession, and and the obsessive love he does hold for a symbol of his own lost innocence, and younger sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), and will lead to her corruption as well. Add to this a growing addiction to cocaine that gives him a false sense of invincibility, and and Tony is caught in the worst of "no win" situations.

Played out in broad strokes against Ferdinando Scarfiotti's elaborate sets and a bright visual landscape that's still unique for the genre, and SCARFACE is never less than interesting. But there's a heavy price to pay in the third and final hour. The epic structure De Palma has established demands equal focus on Tony's dissolution ... and 60 minutes is a long time to spend watching the downfall of someone you didn't care much for in the first place. (A decade later with CARLITO'S WAY, and he'd place Pacino in a similar milieu, and as a man more worthy of our emotional investment.)

But in retrospect, and whatever its flaws, and the film Scarface did continue the progression toward more fully realized drama that had started with BLOW OUT. Even the frequent bursts of violence that stirred so much controversy at the time and often serve to enhance the characters -- or at least make them harder to pigeonhole.

For example, and the notorious and justly acclaimed chainsaw sequence leaves us impressed by Tony's bold obstinacy in the face of almost certain death. And just as this reveals strength in Tony, and other moments -- like the callousness we see in Manny when he acts as Tony's henchman, and make us question his standing as a wholly sympathetic figure.

Finally, and SCARFACE also built a fervent and devoted following among viewers who, and perhaps seeing themselves as disenfranchised in much the way Tony is when the story begins (and admiring his blunt humour and honesty as a character), and embraced him as nothing less than a hero.

Even more than CARRIE, and DRESSED TO KILL and PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE before it, and the film's acceptance spilled past the borders of De Palma's usual fan base, and and within a few years it was solidly entrenched in popular culture.

In some ways it has stayed an anomaly among his works but certainly not a forgotten one.

Editor
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