Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1095 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-29
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Formats: PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 164 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Brian De Palma's update of the classic 1932 crime drama by Howard Hawks, Scarface is a sprawling epic of bloodshed and excess that sparked controversy over its outrageous violence when released in 1983. It's a wretched, fascinating car wreck of a movie, starring Al Pacino as a Cuban refugee who rises to the top of Miami's cocaine-driven underworld, only to fall hard into his own deadly trap of addiction and inevitable assassination. Scripted by Oliver Stone and running nearly three hours, it's the kind of film that can simultaneously disgust and amaze you (critic Pauline Kael wrote "this may be the only action picture that turns into an allegory of impotence"), with vivid supporting roles for Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Robert Loggia. --Jeff Shannon

Special Features

• Deleted scenes
  
• The Rebirth Of Scarface featurette
  
• Acting Scarface featurette
  
• Creating Scarface featurette
  
• Scarface: The TV Version featurette
  
• Def Jams Presents: Origins of a hip hop classic
  
• Theatrical trailer
  
• Teaser trailer
  
• Interactive menu
  
• Scene access

DVD Technical Information:

• Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic
  
• Soundtrack: English - Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired
  
• Running Time: 2 hours and 42 minutes (approx)

Synopsis
Brian De Palma's blood-and-sun-drenched saga of a Cuban deportee's rise to the top of Miami's cocaine business has become something of a popular classic since its release; it's been referenced in rap songs and subsequent gangster movies and quoted the world over. Despite this lovefest with the dialogue, the film's brutal violence and lack of positive characters still make it controversial and disliked by certain critics. Al Pacino stars as Tony Montana, whose intelligence, guts, and ambition help him skyrocket from dishwasher to the top of a criminal empire but whose eventual paranoia and incestuous desire for his kid sister (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) prove his undoing. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Tony's neglected coke-addicted trophy wife, and Steven Bauer is his concerned friend. F. Murray Abraham, Robert Loggia, and Paul Shenar are some of Tony's sleazy business partners and potential killers. Oliver Stone wrote the expletive-packed screenplay, based on Howard Hawks's 1932 version--which was ostensibly about Al Capone and starred Paul Muni and George Raft. The synth-heavy Giorgio Moroder score expertly evokes the drug-fuelled decadence of 1980s Miami, and De Palma provides several of his elaborate set pieces, including a horrific showstopper in a motel room with a chain saw.

Customer Reviews

meet tony montana,the ultimate cool villain
Scarface is a 23 year old masterpiece directed by brian de palma and is so influential that it defined a decade in some ways,in terms of the fashion that main character tony montana(al pacino) wore and the music and the era of the drug industry that also defined the 80s.
The story revolves around the actual event of cuba throwing its prisoners onto boats headed for america and the film picks up on thgis idea and invents the character of montana who along with friend manny enter america as illegal immigrants and through a chain of events rise up to head an organisation that smuggles drugs.But just as life seems cosy for montana a war erupts among a rival drug lord and the violence really kicks in and if you ever wondered what a death by chainsaw looks like,it is here in all its glory.This is a film that certainly glorifies violence and creates a cool guy who is also a real nasty piece of work,the film is iconic with great quotable lines and a new generation has embraced this fully,so its legacy is safe and in terms of being a masterpiece,yes this is clearly one of the great movies of all time.

Classic hard-hitting epic!
If you think that the summary above is overstated then you'd be wrong. It is impossible to capture the true brilliance of Brian De Palma's creation.

When it was originally released in 1983 it was received in similar fashion to that of "The Exorcist", utter disgust and fascination. Al Pacino plays a cuban refugee who, to get a start in the USA, does a 'job' for the local mafia. This assignment is his stepping stone up the 'gangster' ladder, and features the famous 'chainsaw' scene!

Al Pacino plays one of the craziest, hardest and to begin with, focused characters you could wish to see. Nothing, it seems, can stop him rolling over everybody and everything in sight.

Throughout the three hour rollercoaster you may think it is cliched in parts. However, this is only testimony in itself to the film. Remember every film of this genre has immitated Scarface since its release in some way or another.

Scarface is a brilliant story of greed and self-destruction that has turned into a cult classic. It set the standard for the rest to follow, and is a must for every video collection.

Anatomy of an American Nightmare
Having seen the previous Scarface (starring Paul Muni) many years ago, I was curious to see what director Brian De Palma would do with what I incorrectly assumed to be essentially similar material. In fact, De Palma co-authored a script (with Oliver Stone) and created a film which shares almost nothing in common with its predecessor. Al Pacino is brilliant as Tony Montana, a vicious and impoverished Cuban immigrant who eventually becomes a wealthy drug lord in Miami. Along the way, he eliminates or alienates family members and friends as well as his underworld enemies. Montana's destiny is perhaps summarized by the ancient aphorism "live by the sword....die by the sword." For me, the most memorable scene involves a power saw in the bathroom of an apartment in which a drug deal fails. Others include Tony's sudden acts of violence in response to real or imagined threats to his supremacy ("manhood") and the final sequence when his heavily-guarded mansion is invaded by assassins as he snorts his way through a mound of cocaine on his desk. Steven Bauer is especially effective as Montana's best friend Manny. Other strong performances are provided by Michelle Pfeiffer (Elvira), Robert Loggia (Frank Lopez), and F. Murray Abraham (Omar). This is among the nastiest and bloodiest of gangster films. There is a rationale for most of the violence in the Godfather films whereas in this Scarface, Montana's behavior seems instinctive and is therefore more upsetting. (The same is true of the characters played by Joe Pesci in Goodfellas and Casino.) In 1932, director Howard Hawks wanted to portray a fictional character (Tony Clamonte) based on Al Capone without in any sense romanticizing the criminality which the real "Scarface" personified. Decades later, De Palma examines with surgical skill how the American Dream for so many immigrants becomes an American Nightmare for Montana and for almost everyone with whom he is associated.