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"I'll kill a Communist for fun. But for a green card, I'ma carve him up real nice."

-- Tony Montana (Al Pacino)

There's a reason why Scarface has become so popular within today's society since it first appeared in cinemas way back in 1983. What, with the countless images of "Pop Art" on sale in stores, the consistently bad imitations within Hip-Hop music skits, and the foul-mouthed action figures as "a want" on a majority of young children's Christmas lists, one must surely give credit to Al Pacino for his tearing performance as one of the most notorious cinema gangsters of all time for the success of this movie.

He stars as Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who arrives in the United States in 1980 on one of the boatloads sent by Fidel Castro. He is faced with two choices: To work hard, honestly, for peanuts, or indulge in the Miami drug wave of organised crime and rise to the top of the Capitalist chain as one of the richest and most feared gangsters -- an option that will get him fast cars, big guns and beautiful women. For Montana, the decision is an easy one to make.

Surely with this country's current economic downfall, Scarface is just about as intolerably tolerable as it ever was. Pacino does not create a sympathetic character, but a horrifyingly realistic one that the audience can identify with. There is an understandable admiration for Montana's desire to gain recognition and power and be the best as he strives for the top, even if he goes about this by repressing the lives of others around him. The character is willing to sell his soul; his choice dealing drugs may not be every "normal" person's ideal ambition (that's for sure), but the rewards of having a mansion for a home, with the entire world anticipating his next move, is a definite temptation. We're made to feel pathetic for watching on in fascination as the character rises from the ghetto slums to his highest ranks within the city as a ruthless gangster, with greed and egotism being his most notable attributes.

It is because of these underlying connections with reality that Scarface sees the need to be deliberately over the top, also. Why simply portray reality when you can glamorize it and make it more memorable? The famous chainsaw scene and elaborate gangster dress sense are particularly responsible for this, resulting in the film being a laughably campy and violently grotesque affair, overall.

Scarface is undeniably effective and very memorable, even if it is a little overlong. It may not be the greatest movie ever made, either, despite how insanely popular it has become, but it is still a fascinating portrait of the criminal personality that you really shouldn't avoid.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.