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Scarface (1983) : classic or cheesy movie?

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JoduanER2

Member
NoctisVsStar said:
It was the early 80's in Miami I don't find it cheesy at all.


Heh no one remembers the shooter aka terminator blasting tony. I gotta say when he killed Manny he knew he fucked up bad, my alternate ending would've been him and manny fucking everyone up and movie ends with tony and manny declaring war on Sosa.
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Well then check out the game, it starts with tony declaring war on sosa
 
D

dan2026

Member
I always took the movie as a cautionary tale of 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'.

Montana became the very thing he despised.

I have never heard of people idolising the character. Hell the movie is all about what you should NOT do.

It is a great goddamn movie though.
 
B

Boney

Banned
Rembrandt said:
Your point being? I'm not arguing his moral worth, but I see people complain about the subculture revolving around this movie like it's hard to understand that people like entertaining bad guys and that's what he was. He was a drug addicted murderer that was in love with his sister but he was charismatic as hell and people love rags to riches stories.
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The problem is that it's a rags to riches story that ends up with him losing everything because of his insatiable ambition. People idolize him as an example of the thug life being a way out of their misery but don't realize how it's a story about how power corrupts.

And the ps2 game that had an alternate ending and him surviving? Barf
 
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Death Metalist

Member
Boney said:
The problem is that it's a rags to riches story that ends up with him losing everything because of his insatiable ambition. People idolize him as an example of the thug life being a way out of their misery but don't realize how it's a story about how power corrupts.

And the ps2 game that had an alternate ending and him surviving? Barf
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Yup, the game starts where the movie ended, you go and fuck up that terminator wannabe. The game also had a swear button lol, from what I remember it was a good game nothing great but good with a soundtrack reminiscent of GTA: Vice City but nothing as good as VC of course.

EDIT: Check it out.
 
IISANDERII

IISANDERII

Member
Al Pacino is fucking brilliant, I don't think he gets enough credit, we sort of take him for granted because he's been in so many films, literally across generations of audiences.

Endlessly entertaining, never phones it in no matter the film.
 
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jett

D-Member
IISANDERII said:
Al Pacino is fucking brilliant, I don't think he gets enough credit, we sort of take him for granted because he's been in so many films, literally across generations of audiences.

Endlessly entertaining, never phones it in no matter the film.
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Some people don't like his accent but I fucking love it. I'm not Cuban, but I am Latin American and I think it was great LOL. I love Pacino's unbridled, insane performance in this movie. Pacino at his most crazy.
 
K

kyser73

Member
Sectorseven said:
A complete turnaround may have been a stretch for this guy, but there were certainly opportunities to explore redemption. He achieves all of his goals maybe a little after the half way point of the film and he's still an unhappy person. Maybe use the remaining screen time for some introspection, question if it's all worth it and put him in a predicament where he has to decide what's most important in life.
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That sounds awful.

His character is supposed to be 1 dimensional.

Frank: What do you think of him?

Omar: I think he's a fucking peasant.
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His own creed about money, power & women is his whole outlook on life. There is no redemption possible because its not something that has ever occurred, or would ever, occur to him to ask for it.

He's violent, narcissistic and intellectually limited. The kind of character arc you're talking about is so completely alien to his character it would result in an actual cheese-fest if he had to 'decide what's most important in life.'

Cheesy classic.
 
Vigilant Walrus

Vigilant Walrus

Member
Is that how you saw it? I didn't feel like this at all.


I didn't get the sense that he was naturally evil, but in the beginning of the film during the establishment of his world it is shown to him that there is nothing but crime. He is flipping burgers working for this racist asshole, and just goes fuck it.

I always got the sense that shit was bad in cuba in the 80s, and he had come from some sort of violent background in their army. I saw him as a person who just said fuck it - lets do crime then, there is no land of opportunity here.

When people are detained in camps for years without getting citizen rights.. its fucking horrible. It wears people down, some get PTSD, its not that different from prison. You're not allowed to do anything, you can't do anything productive and sometimes you have to wait for years.


Obviously I am not saying Tony Montana's actions are excused because of the way he was treated, but the film does a good job of making you think - I can see why he would take a life of crime over flipping burgers with that fat white racist.
 
S

SoundLad

Member
Very fun, violent film. Feels epic due to its length. A classic in my book but I totally understand why it doesn't appeal to everyone.
 
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Dyno

Member
What hasn't been said is how influencial this movie was.

Not only is it a perfect capture of the 80's, it captured the part of the 80's that is still alive today. Tony Montana is a blueprint for hip hop culture, a spiritual icon to decades of urban music. It's hyper violence is something that all crime movies emulated in the years to come. The wealth on display, the spoils of gangster life, was laid out in a way that was hugely influencial to movies and music after that.

Yonger people call it cheesy because they compare the movie with newer films that stand squarely on the shoulders of Scarface. What Alien did for sci-fi Scarface did for crime and gangster movies. It can never be dismissed because it's become a significant portion genre's fabric.
 
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DoktorEvil

Banned
Dyno said:
What hasn't been said is how influencial this movie was.

Not only is it a perfect capture of the 80's, it captured the part of the 80's that is still alive today. Tony Montana is a blueprint for hip hop culture, a spiritual icon to decades of urban music. It's hyper violence is something that all crime movies emulated in the years to come. The wealth on display, the spoils of gangster life, was laid out in a way that was hugely influencial to movies and music after that.

Yonger people call it cheesy because they compare the movie with newer films that stand squarely on the shoulders of Scarface. What Alien did for sci-fi Scarface did for crime and gangster movies. It can never be dismissed because it's become a significant portion genre's fabric.
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Erm what?
 
B

Bleepey

Member
TheJollyCorner said:
Not DePalma's best, but it's still a solid, entertaining flick. Pacino steals the show & Loggia chews the scenery (which is highly enjoyable IMO).
Unfortunately, like Mann's Manhunter, I think the soundtrack ages it tremendously.

What baffles me is that late 90s/early 2000s movement of young people that somehow completely missed the point of the film & ended up using it as some kind of motivational film. :/
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I am confused as to how it went over the head of a lot of rappers. Every time I see rappers idolising that movie on Cribs I wanna tell at them, you do know he died at the end with everyone hating his guts.
 
OfWhiteSkinOnRedLeather

OfWhiteSkinOnRedLeather

Member
Dyno said:
Tony Montana is a blueprint for hip hop culture, a spiritual icon to decades of urban music.
Click to expand...

Scarface may be a blueprint for certain elements within hip hop, but it is not a blueprint for the culture as a whole. Especially since hip hop existed before Scarface came out. Hip hop is more than drugs, money, and violence.
 
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Booshka

Member
Classic with the right amounts of Cheese.

The, "I don't like this thing, because of some of the fans that like this thing," mindset is terrible. It's more douchey than the idiot fans that idolize Tony Montana as some kind of a role model.

Lighten up.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Scarface is overblown, excessive and operatic, but it isn't "cheesy".

Yes, its very much a film of its time, but that's not a bad thing. You might snigger at the music and fashions, but its representative of the actual period.

Most importantly though, DePalma's direction, Stone's script, and the performances of the cast pretty much top-to-bottom are all pulling in the same direction, one that fits perfectly with the story and characters.

Scarface is a stone-cold classic.
 
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