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Scarface

Scarface (1983)

tomatometer

89

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 55
Fresh: 49 | Rotten: 6

Director Brian De Palma and star Al Pacino take it to the limit in this stylized, ultra-violent and eminently quotable gangster epic that walks a thin white line between moral drama and celebratory excess.

No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 1

Director Brian De Palma and star Al Pacino take it to the limit in this stylized, ultra-violent and eminently quotable gangster epic that walks a thin white line between moral drama and celebratory excess.

audience

93

liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 435,233

My Rating

Movie Info

Al Pacino stars as Tony Montana, an exiled Cuban criminal who goes to work for Miami drug lord Robert Loggia. Montana rises to the top of Florida's crime chain, appropriating Loggia's cokehead mistress (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the process. Howard Hawks' "X Marks the Spot" motif in depicting the story line's many murders is dispensed with in the 1983 Scarface; instead, we are inundated with blood by the bucketful, especially in the now-infamous buzz saw scene. One carry-over from the original

R, 2 hr. 50 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense

Oliver Stone

Sep 30, 2003

$0.7M

Universal Films

Scarface Trailer & Photos

More Trailers and Videos (15)

Cast

Critic Reviews for Scarface

All Critics (56) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (7) | DVD (44)

Viewed today, while Scarface seems less shocking than it did during its initial theatrical run, it's no more substantive or interesting.

April 30, 2009 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comments (29)
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What were Pacino's detractors hoping for? Something internal and realistic? Low key? The Tony Montana character is above all a performance artist, a man who exists in order to gloriously be himself.

January 15, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (2)
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I like it as a kind of B-movie version of The Godfather. There are a lot of classic lines and a handful of memorably horrific scenes ...

September 29, 2003 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comments (2)
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The dominant mood of the film is anything but funny. It is bleak and futile: What goes up must always come down. When it comes down in Scarface, the crash is as terrifying as it is vivid and arresting.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
Vincent Canby
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

...much, much longer than it generally needs to be...

February 15, 2012 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | Comment
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

One of the best gangster dramas ever made, driven by Pacino's haunting performance and De Palma's lightning pace.

January 29, 2012 Full Review Source: IGN DVD | Comment
R. L. Shaffer
IGN DVD

It's a whole new spin on the immigrant story and the American Dream as an underworld nightmare and a fitting bookend to the two Godfather films.

September 15, 2011 Full Review Source: MSN.com | Comment
Sean Axmaker
MSN.com

the very definition of excess, which is perhaps why it has persisted so long as a cultural totem: Its florid pleasures can never be exhausted

September 12, 2011 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

Paciono gives a riveting performance in the lead in De Palma's over-the-top but engaging modern version of the classic gangster

April 24, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comments (3)
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Extremely violent remake. Not for kids!

January 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
David Gurney
Common Sense Media

Pacino's bravura performance dominates, making no concessions to our sensibilities. And the final shootout is a tour de force of editing.

August 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment (1)
Film4 Source: Film4

Still a must-see for Pacino's potent and influential performance.

August 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]

Scarface has become a touchstone of pop culture, one of the half dozen or so most frequently referenced films of our era.

August 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Toby Young
Times [UK]

This almost Jacobean tale of drug gangsters in 1980s Miami is rather too long for the points it makes, but is nevertheless riveting and still, after 26 years, remarkably fresh.

August 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Peter Whittle
Times [UK]

De Palma's film is now back on the big screen and looking better than ever.

August 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | Comment
Philip French
Observer [UK]

Pacino's drug-crazed, bloodshot performance gives this gangster movie a terrifying edge.

August 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Sky Movies | Comment
Rob Daniel
Sky Movies

[Pacino's] grandstanding performance is still hard to resist and symbolises the baroque excess of this shockingly violent gangster classic.

August 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Daily Express | Comment
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

As overrated as it is overlong.

August 21, 2009 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comments (2)
Total Film

To call the whole thing visceral is a palpable understatement.

August 21, 2009 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
Derek Malcolm
This is London
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Scarface

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With P. Diddy praising this movie left and right, I was hesitant to jump into this movie. And man was it intense. A powerful statement to those who strive for power and how without a calibrator to keep us human beings in check, we smash and fail. Al Pacino was not Al Pacino - he was Tony Montana. Unfortunately, almost

November 27, 2011
Albert Kim
Albert Kim

Super Reviewer

It's hard to believe that this tale of Mariel Boatlift refugee, Tony Montana, is nearly 30 years old. Aside from some very aged wardrobe and scenery, this movie is still very hip. Speaking of age, the violence Scarface introduced into the crime drama pushed the envelope 30 years ago, and would still hold it's own in

February 10, 2012
Jason Calvin
Jason Calvin

Super Reviewer

Scarface Quotes

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    1. Tony Montana: Aye fuck you mang.
    – Submitted by Rodrigo G (28 days ago)
    1. Tony Montana: Why don`t you stick your head up your ass, see if it fits.
    – Submitted by Daniel S (45 days ago)
    1. Tony Montana: You fucking with me you fucking with the best!
    – Submitted by Jacob S (54 days ago)
    1. Tony Montana: Me, I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. So say goodnight to the bad guy!
    – Submitted by Skan M (56 days ago)
    1. Mama Montana: You know, all we hear about it in the papers, it's animals like you and the killings. It's Cubans like you who were given a bad name to all our people, people who come here and work hard, and make a good living for themselves. People who send you to school...
    2. Gina: No no Mama, that is all you're saying that's your son.
    3. Mama Montana: SON! I wish I had one. He's a bum.
    4. Gina: No.
    5. Mama Montana: He was a bum then, and he's a bum now! Who do you think you are? Hmm? We haven't heard a word from you in 5 years. (cinco anos) You still gonna show up here and throw some money around and you think you can get my respect? You think you can buy me with jewelry?
    – Submitted by Nick S (3 months ago)

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Latest News for Scarface

November 30, 2011:
The New Scarface Gets a Writer
Universal hires David Ayer ("The Fast and the Furious," "Training Day") to update the timeless tale...

September 23, 2011:
Weekly Ketchup: Scarface Reboot in the Works
This week's Ketchup covers another slow week as many of Hollywood's movers and shakers were either...

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