Scarface Movie Essay

The importance of movies in society is enormous. They may be intended for entertainment purposes, educational purposes, or even to convey a statement about societal events. The message may have a political bent or seek to expose current issues or rot within the social order. This is also true of Brain De Palma’s 1983 remake of Howard Hawks’ 1932 film Scarface. In a nutshell, the Scarface Movie seeks to expose the organized criminality that exists both above and below the law. In particular, this analysis will examine the film. (1983). It will as well shade some light on why gangster films are quite popular in the United States by providing a brief overview of the Gangster in the 1932 and 1983 movies. Characters in both movies are also presented differently.

Review of Scarface 1983

Scarface 1983 was directed by Brian DePalma and written by Oliver Stone who also happens to have directed a laudatory documentary known as Command-ante in 2003. The Movie to some extent elucidates the character of the director De Palma who is said to have an interest in expensive, styled, passionate, and cheerful excessive like the main character Tony Montana (acted by Al Pacino). In this film, De Palma tells the story of the expulsion prisoners and criminals for from Cuba’s prison by Fidel Castro. Of them ’wash-off’ the shores of Florida in Miami the Fill begins by way of a documentary that shows prisons leaving Cuba and an address by Fidel Castro. Among them is Tony “Scarface” Montana who held strong anti-communism sentiments and political ideologies. However, much of De Palma’s interest in this character is his love for money, sex, and blood. He conducts numerous hit jobs and gains a connection with a local drug lord after which he continuously craves for power and eventually, he rises through his connections in the cocaine business. Tony is quite a dramatic character in the film in that his interactions with the US Immigration Cops were amazing whereby he was able to dispel any questions that would have raised doubt that would link him to involvement in criminal activities. His career in the sunny Miami in the earlier day was intriguing De Palma the way the director narrates how he handled his first drug deal is wonderful. There is also a recognizable facial similarity between Tony’s wife Elvira and his sister Gina. The Montana character exists to glorify and raise himself above everyone else. He wanted it all and will stop at nothing to get it even if it means losing his own life in the process.

The film begins by showing us that Tony is an ex-con who has been expelled from and moved to the US to realize the American dream in his own way. He presents himself as a powerful and resourceful individual by pretending to be very dangerous if messed with. Ebert (2003) observed that Montana happens to one of the most influential characters that have had a significant influence on other people. The 1983 Scarface movie bears some resemblance to the 1932 version in terms of structure. There is packed violence in both movies, and they are based on the rise and fall of criminal entrepreneurs. In Montana’s case, the business in question was cocaine while in the Al Capone case the business was prostitution. As mentioned above, Montana first became a lieutenant of Frank Lopez who was a drug lord in South Florida and slowly rose to power as the lifetime boss of organized crime until his eventful death. Al Pacino’s role in this movie, according to Ebert (2003) was to explore the crime boss who was directly opposite of Corleone in Coppola’s “The Godfather.” Al Pacino also acted as a Puerto Rican criminal who was struggling to get back to living normal a humanly life with hurting other people in Carlito’s Way. Unlike Corleone who is presented as intelligent and strategic, and slick and smooth, Montana is portrayed instinctive, impulsive, and reckless by Be Palma.

As the movie progress, it reveals to the viewers that Tony was the type of man who wanted to own the entire universe. Satirically, in one screenplay, the viewer words ’The World is Yours’ blinking for him from a Goodyear blimp. Admitted, no one can own the whole world, so this was just a show of sarcasm. Montana’s mind was preoccupied with acquiring an incredible woman, and when he saw Michelle Pfeiffer, playing as Elvira, he wanted to have her at all cost though she was Frank’s mistress. When the latter dies, he remains in control of the business must have Elvira but she never enjoys any moment they are together. For him, he wants more of his sister Gina than anyone else which eventually results in him killing Manolo and therefore angering Gina.

Analysis and Criticism

This film has received wide popularity in the US on all platforms that it has been played including the TV version. The performance is full of vivacious from the being and as it heads towards the climax. All aspects such as cinematography are greatly magnified icons in Montana and shrank in tight composition when thing come down crumbling (Tucker, 2008). Though having acquired all that he fought for, he does not seem to have attained his perceived glory. The movie is a tremendous achievement by the director. The main character like Tony is a complete sterner. He is an all-round guy who can play soft, hard, high, big, and even small without tiring.

The director’s focus is on how preoccupation with personal desires and being too over ambitious can cause mayhem and bring about self-destruction. The director narrates the story of a character too consumed with acquiring wealth to a level whereby this ambition demolished the existing social contract, threatened the larger collective well-being and destroyed morality. The movie takes the story of the life as it was in the 1980s and is not mean or try to portray the life as it was in those days. It narrates some of the excesses that had become common in the 1980s where greed was glorified in the American culture. It is an original commentary on the activities that were synonymous with this time. In as much as it is a crime movie, show Montana as a businessman though he trades drugs and makes critical reference to capitalism and communism.

To some extent, capitalism is portrayed as having evolved into greed. Consequently, predatory capitalism makes Montana separate with his family, friends, and culture (Tucker, 2008). The film uses neon production design to illustrate that Tony activities have no limits and he will do anything to get what he wants. Sincerely, there is entirely no limit to Tony’s appetite for power, material gain, and immorality. The more he got, the more he wanted, and in most cases, this is always the case with criminal life. There are no permanent friends in crime. Betray is always the case. A good example of a can be seen in the Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance documentary (Carrasco, 2016). It is claimed that Jimmy Hoffa was killed by the Italia mafia that he had been dealing with and had been helping in laundering their money using the Teamsters accounts and facilities. Carrasco (2016) claims that when Hoffa and the Mafia had a falling out after receiving the Presidential pardon, he attempted to regain his position in Teamsters by threating to expose the involvement the Italian mob in the affairs of the Union. The crowd decided to take him out using Sheeran who happened to have a close personal relationship Hoffa. In a similar situation, Tucker (2008) explains how Tony killed his best friend Gina just because he did not like their affair. Gangster always wanted to have everything done their way.

Kirby (2008) makes a comparison between the character of Tony in the 1983 movie and Al Capone in the 1932 film. The latter is dehumanized a presented as a savage monster who does not have remorse. It tells the story of a character that spends much time trying to rise to power. The evil nature is scary. He kills everyone without remorse and even after killing his best friend for marrying his sister, he still engages the police in a shootout. In the 1983 version, there is a human side of Tony that is revealed. Ina bombing mission, he rescues a child who maybe reminds him of having failed to have a child with Elvira. Furthermore, In this version, Tony was keen not to engage the police, but he had a bunch of enemies who wanted his head, and he was, therefore, killing by mobsters from a different cartel.

According to Robert (2006), the director provides a lot of information that to illustrate the main character greedy nature. Tuckers (2008) found out that he too was very much pre-occupied with the idea of power and wealth more than he even cared about Elvira. He also killed his boss Frank just because he wanted to control the drug business and have Elvira who was Frank’s mistress. But even after taking over the business, he still wants more control over other cartels, and as a result, he creates more enemies than the friend who eventually leads to his death. Their film is filled with the theme of betrayal which is one of the main punching points that Stone and De Palma wanted to portray in their plot.

In comparison to other criminal justice movies and documentaries, Ebert (2003) claims the crime experts like Jay Robert Nash believes that American gangsters learned how to study such early Hollywood films. Furthermore, Ebert also believes that the 1983 Scarface also shaped the personal style of gangsters. The movies are said to have influence hip-hop performance. Practically speaking, a lot has been browed for the movie such that its value cannot be underestimated. As observed above, there is more realism regarding this film as compared to 1932 version. Although the Tony is said to be impulsive and instinctive in his action, he is keen enough to evade confrontation with the police. This move can also be compared the Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance documentary. The Hoffa documentary teaches the hardship that the criminal justice system faces when trying to get justice for the victims of crime. On the other hand, Scarface enlightens the system of the many crimes that are committed and never identified. For instance, the law enforcement agencies in Florida were unable to determine the entire person behind the hit jobs that were done by Tony (Robert 2006; Tucker, 2008). Accordingly, Carrasco (2016) also explained that the police were unable to identify the person who killed Jimmy Hoffa or even locate his body. The blood that was found by the Police in the house where it was alleged that Hoffa was killed. Therefore no obvious conclusion could be made as to how Hoffa died. “The Godfather” is also a very intriguing criminal justice movie that requires close attention and consideration. The action of the main character, Corleone, is excellent. Unlike Tony, there is a display of a lot of intelligence, slick and smoothness, and strategy. This move reveals that not all criminals use the same approach in executing their missions. Some will choose less radical approaches while another could obviously go the traditional way regardless of the consequences.

According to Pereira and Guerra (2012), the Scarface movie can be used to teach, interpret, and understand themes like horrific consequences of criminality, immorality, and excess desire for material wealth. It is obvious that the ultimate result of criminal life is death if at all a person will not reform and live to the expected moral standard. In the Movie, we see Ton being killed by fellow mobsters for having crossed their paths. Even though he possesses a lot of wealth, that wealth does not protect him from the rather of other criminals that he had wrong. Tony was too over ambitious such that he forgot that there had to be limited to everything. His recklessness and impulsive actions lead him into killing his best friend. He has no regrets what so ever as long as to him these actions geared towards the alleged protection of his sisters (Kirby, 2008).

Conclusion

A lot can be learned from the movie, now that it is primarily based on what transpires in society while still exposing how the system fails to address such issues. Numerous reasons lead me into recommending this movie for use in criminal justice classes. Most, the film will help students in other classes understand some of the challenges that face the criminal justice department and also teach the moral lessons with regards to the effects of engaging in criminal activity. For its onset, the movie is filled with violence. It helps to bring reflecting on the horrific nature and reality that comes with criminal life. Pereira and Guerra (2012) believed that the movie has assisted in condemning and dehumanizing gang-related activities and rule in the United States and also to bring out the governs laxity in addressing crime. I therefore strongly recommend this movie for other classes.

References

Carrasco, A. (2016). Crime Documentary-pbs/history detectives hdsi-Who Killed Jimmy Hoffa. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfbTmK1fVVk

Ebert, R. (2003). Great Movies: Scarface 1983. Retrieved from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-scarface-1983

Kirby, N. (2008). Humanizing the Gangster: An Examination into the Character from Hawks’ to DePalma’s Scarface (Doctoral dissertation).

Pereira, R.S., & Guerra, P. (2012). Section Two: Movie Reviews from CLS 419 Latina/osand U.S Entertainment Concientización: A Journal of Chican& Latin Experience and ThoughtVol. 7 Issue No.1 & 2 Winter 2011/Spring 2012

Roberts, M. (2006).“ Scarface,”“ The Great Gatsby,” and the American Dream. Literature/Film Quarterly, 34(1), 71-78.

Tucker, K. (2008). Scarface nation: The ultimate gangster movie and how it changed America. Macmillan.