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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Scarface_sm_6889.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[-The World is His.-] ]]

->''In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.''
-->-- '''Tony Montana'''

->''In the spring of 1980, the port at Mariel Harbor was opened and thousands set sail for the United States. They came in search of the American Dream. One of them found it on the sun-washed avenues of Miami...wealth, power and passion beyond his wildest dreams. His name was Tony Montana. The world will remember him by another name...SCARFACE.''

->''This is the tale of Tony Montana. Cubano flame with the Miami nuts. Got a basehead wife. Her womb is polluted. This whole town's a pussy just waiting to get fucked''
-->-- '''Music/MichaelBolton''' "Jack Sparrow"

There are two famous films named ''Scarface''. The most well-known is a 1983 film directed by Creator/BrianDePalma, written by Creator/OliverStone and starring the great Creator/AlPacino. It is a loose remake of the 1932 film of the same name directed by HowardHawks and written by Ben Hecht (both of whom the 1983 film is dedicated to). That movie is itself loosely based on the life of [[AlCapone Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone]].

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!!Summary of 1932 film:

''Scarface'' is the tale of Antonio "Tony" Camonte (Paul Muni). Tony kills Big Louis Castillo, the crime boss of Chicago's South Side, and takes his place, also taking control of a thriving bootlegging business. Tony's Mafia boss, Johnny Lovo, tells him not to interfere with the Irish mob on the North Side, but Tony ignores him, and Johnny realizes that Tony is a threat to his position. Tony defeats the Irish mob and takes over the North Side, survives a hit put out by Lovo, and then kills Lovo, thus becoming the boss of all Chicago. Eventually the police close in, and Tony is killed in a hail of bullets.

''Scarface'' ran into a lot of problems with the [[TheHaysCode Hays office]]. Censors tried to force an alternate ending in which Tony voluntarily surrenders and is eventually executed. This led to the addition of two scenes, one where bankers denounce and condemn Tony Camonte for his crimes which includes a token rich Italian-American noting that Camonte is giving Italian Americans a bad name and setting a bad example. The other was the alternate ending used in theatres in the South. Neither of these scenes were shot by director Creator/HowardHawks. However, the film was released during the UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra and as such widespread industry self-censorship was not in full effect so the film did come out more or less as Hawks intended and was regarded as a real shocker and cited for causing MoralPanic. The original film, much like the remake, set up a controversy for depiction of violence and glorifying gangsters since the film tended to make Tony Camonte a ByronicHero and indeed screenwriter Ben Hecht stated he modelled the dynamic between Camonte and his sister Cesca on Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia from Renaissance Italy.

The film was a major box-office hit around the world and became an iconic gangster film and it became the TropeMaker and TropeCodifier for the Depression gangster film. It even had a BigNameFan in Creator/BertoltBrecht whose play ''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'' borrowed from it extensively.However, the film became a victim of its controversy and success. When UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode went into effect, all films released before hhad to be submitted for censorship to continue screenings in repertory cinemas. ''Scarface'' was considered so difficult that it was shelved and banned from American screens until the late 70s!!! To see the film in America you had to go to [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes private collectors]] or in other out of the way places. And it was easier to see in France, in the Cinematheque Francaise of the same period where it was a major favorite. And indeed Creator/HowardHawks considered the film his MagnumOpus. It's rediscovery in America in the 70s made it a cult favorite again and this actually inspired calls for the remake that would overshadow it for the new generation.

This film, along with ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'' and ''Film/LittleCaesar'', popularized the gangster genre in TheThirties. ''Scarface'' has a place on the NationalFilmRegistry.

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!!Summary of 1983 film:

''Scarface'' centers on Antonio "Tony" Montana (Pacino). Tony is a Cuban refugee deported to Miami during the Mariel Boatlift of 1980, during which FidelCastro sent off not only the relatives of Cuban-Americans abroad, but also the dregs of his jails. After arriving in America, Tony gets his green card by killing a former Castro official who tortured several people to death, including the brother of a Miami [[TheCartel drug cartel boss]] named Frank Lopez.

Tony and his buddy Manolo "Manny" Ribera take on a job for Frank's right-hand man Omar Suarez, which involves dealing with Colombian drug dealers. The job goes straight to hell, and in a memorably violent scene, Tony is forced to watch as another friend is killed with a chainsaw. Manny rescues Tony and they kill the dealers, getting away with both the money and the cocaine.

Tony and Manny, having proven themselves in Lopez's eyes, go to work for him. Tony meets Elvira, Frank's mistress, and starts getting eyes for her himself. He starts to develop aspirations for taking over Frank's business, and gets the chance to move up in the ranks when he meets Bolivian drug kingpin Alejandro Sosa, who fills him with dreams of greater things and also has Suarez executed for being a police informant. Tony's new way of handling things causes a falling-out with Frank, who sends a corrupt cop to intimidate him and a couple of hitmen to kill him. Tony kills the hitmen and escapes. Tony and Manny confront Lopez and the corrupt cop in Lopez's conference room and kill them both.

With Lopez gone, Tony wastes no time in skyrocketing right to the top of Miami's drug trade. He's got it all -- money, power, and a beautiful wife in Elvira. But not everything is well and good in Tony's new kingdom. His success has attracted the attention of law enforcement, his family wants nothing to do with him, and he's becoming increasingly addicted to his own product, which feeds an ever-increasing paranoia that alienates everyone around him, which culminates in him gunning down Manny after catching him with Tony's sister Gina, whom Manny had married just prior and who Tony is very protective of. The protectiveness is so extreme it carries [[BrotherSisterIncest incestuous]] overtones -- an element inspired by the earlier movie.

Tony's world comes crashing down when he gets caught in a major sting operation. Forced to assist in a hit orchestrated by Sosa to get his name cleared, Tony has a [[PetTheDog change of heart]] after seeing the target's wife and children get into the car to be destroyed and kills the hitman [[EvenEvilHasStandards rather than kill innocents]].

Sosa responds by sending an army of assassins to take Tony and his operation down. They besiege Tony's opulent mansion and kill everyone in it, including Gina. With no way out, Tony decides to go out with all guns blazing, and in a furious [[TakingYouWithMe final stand]] preceded by the most famous quote of the movie, he blows away a score of Sosa's assassins with an M-16 and an M-203 grenade launcher before they finally take him down for good.

''Scarface'''s graphic violence and language drew controversy and was panned by most critics, but has since developed a cult following and become an influential popular work. It was especially influential on HipHop culture.

In 2006, two spinoff video games were released, based on the premise that Tony managed to kill all of the attackers in the movie-ending shootout and escape with nothing left. The first, ''[[VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours The World Is Yours]]'', allows players to control Tony in sandbox-style gameplay as he seeks to rebuild his reputation and empire. It culminates in a visit to Bolivia where Sosa gets his comeuppance. The second, ''Money. Power. Respect.'', is a TurnBasedStrategy game where players make strategic decisions and command groups of minions. An unconnected comic series, ''Scarred for Life'', follows the premise that Tony survived the supposedly-fatal shots.

Check the [[Characters/{{Scarface}} character sheet]]. And [[Trivia/{{Scarface}} Trivia page]].

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!Say Hello to my list of tropes!

!! The original 1932 film contains examples of the following tropes:

* AlasPoorVillain: Camonte himself at the end.
* AntiVillain: Tony Camonte.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Tony's protectiveness of Cesca is so redolent of this that other characters even comment on it. While Cesca is irritated with it at first, by the end of the movie she seems to reciprocate.
* DarkerAndEdgier: New audiences who come to this film after seeing the Pacino movie might be surprised by how this film is less sentimental. Camonte is a remorseless killer here without any of the moral compunctions put in place in Tony Montana and his HairTriggerTemper is genuinely frightening. It makes the film's decision to essentially make him a TragicHero that much bolder and make the initial panic against it understandable.
** The main thing is that Camonte is a genuine outlaw who defies the police, the law enforcement [[spoiler:and pulls a BetterToDieThanBeKilled rather than be captured, and this is treated in classic 30s fashion as a DyingMomentOfAwesome for the gangster ByronicHero. Indeed its to avert this very glorification that the fake ending with the execution is created.]] In the remake, Pacino messes with an an even bigger crook because EvenEvilHasStandards rather than defying the police.
* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: {{Deconstructed}}. Also happens to TheEighties remake.
** It is played straight to some extent. What made this film shocking to some is to show gangsters as more or less people who do enjoy and have fun. There's genuine delight when Tony picks up the Tommy Gun and goes MoreDakka on his enemies. Indeed Tony's downfall comes largely because of his tragic obsession with his sister, an aspect that makes him a TragicHero rather than the police building a case.
* DeadpanSnarker: Poppy.
* DefrostingTheIceQueen: Somewhat more successful here, as Tony not only manages to win over Poppy but pretty much stays with her until he's gunned down.
* DespairEventHorizon: Cesca's death for Tony. Prior to that, the fact that Tony can even be scared seems to lead to Cesca's DeathByDespair eventually.
* TheDitz: Angelo, Tony's "seckertary".
* EasilyForgiven: Although she initially plans to kill him, Cesca is rather quick to forgive Tony for killing Guido when it comes down to it.
* ExecutiveMeddling: The studio forced a disclaimer at the start of the film denouncing gang activity, and forced a new ending to be filmed- the original shootout ending was abandoned for one in which Tony is arrested and tried for his crimes. Paul Muni was not present for the filming of this new ending. Fortunately, producer Howard Hughes fought to keep the original ending. The alternate ending was eventually included as an extra feature on the DVD.
** There's also an ultra-{{Anvilicious}} sequence near the midpoint of the film where representatives from different groups are gathered in a room to discuss America's crime problem. Also forced on Hughes and HowardHawks by the censors.
* HeadsOrTails: The TropeCodifier for gangsters who do this. Has been parodied in later movies, too.
* RomanAClef: Similaries to the life of Al Capone include:
** The titular scar, for starters.
** Tony's killing of "Big Louie" Costillo is inspired by Capone's involvement in the murder of "Big Jim" Colosimo.
** O'Hara gets killed in his flower shop just like Capone's rival Dion O'Banion was.
** The caravan of cars that attempts a drive-by assassination of Tony is taken from a failed attempt on the life of Capone.
** The shooting in the garage strongly resembles the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre that was ordered by Capone.
* VillainousIncest: Even more blatant than in the 1983 film, and it doesn't seem to necessarily be one-sided, either.
* VillainProtagonist: Camonte himself.

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!!The 1983 film contains examples of the following tropes:

* AdaptationExpansion: The '83 movie takes some basic plot elements and characters from the original and expands on them greatly.
* AddictionPowered: Tony's cocaine allowed him to take a ''lot'' of punishment before going down.
* AffablyEvil: Frank Lopez. He's a friendly, gregarious philanthropist who sponsors a little league baseball team. He's also a murderous drug kingpin.
* AmericanDream: A Cuban refugee/criminal gains his previously denied green card by renting his sociopathic nature to a contract-killing, the implication being the (naturalization) system is easily corrupted. After a brief stint as a dishwasher he just embarks on a BetterLivingThroughEvil quest. His downfall ensues not from law enforcement but from a rival kingpin.
* ArcWords: "The world is yours". Tony sees it on a Goodyear blimp and he adopts it as his own motto.
* AssholeVictim: Just too many of them, but the most prominent ones were Omar, Frank and Mel. It's very hard to feel any sympathy for any of them as they meet their respective fates.
* AxCrazy: Tony is the embodiment of this trope in the second half of the movie.
** Hector the Toad as well.
* {{Badass}}: Tony. Hands down.
* BadassBoast: Arguably the most famous line from the movie.
--->'''Tony:''' You wanna fuck with me? Okay. You wanna play rough? SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!
* BerserkButton: Tony does not like it when guys put the moves on his little sister. [[spoiler: Played in a tragic way after he finds out Manny with Gina.]]
** He also reacts violently when he learns that Sosa expects him to kill women and children.
* BeingEvilSucks: This trope is definitely made all the more obvious in this version than the original. If you think that being a drug dealer like Tony is a cool thing, then you're out of your mind.
* {{BFG}}: Tony's "little friend", an M-16 assault rifle with an M-203 grenade launcher.
* BigFancyHouse
* BottomlessMagazines: Uzi submachine guns are shot as though they had a several-feet-long belt in their magazines. Heavy machine gun barrels would go red hot after so many bullets in one go [[note]]Al Pacino actually burned his hand pretty badly on the M-16, you can see it in the film when he grabs the barrel after a burst of fire and then quickly lets go.[[/note]]; the Uzis don't. Toni's own M-16 assault rifle seems to have the equivalents of Phalanx CIWS ammunition domes for magazines, too.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePoRxQJPPzM The TV version]], to ''wonderful'' extents.
** ''How'd you get that scar, Tony? Eating Pineapple?''
** ''This town's like a great big chicken just waiting to get plucked.''
** ''Why don't you... stick your head in the toilet.''
** On some channels, the chainsaw scene was cut completely, skipping to him running outside.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Tony's violent protectiveness toward Gina has serious elements of this.
* ButNotTooForeign: Tony says that his father was American.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Although the film is set in Miami, the majority of it is shot in California.
* TheCartel
* ChainsawGood: Tony's friend Angel is killed with a chainsaw during his first drug deal in the states.
* ChekhovsGunman: Sosa's sunglasses wearing enforcer.
* ChekhovsHobby: Tony's history as a soldier is mentioned twice at the beginning of the movie and becomes relevant at the end when Tony is able to kill nearly twenty of Sosa's men at the end.
* ClusterFBomb: This [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KANukZsWD9Q video]] sums it all nicely.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Elvira when she complains about Tony's swearing.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: "Hector the Toad", as well as Thug army < Tony [[spoiler: < Sosa's assassin]]
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Tony falling into the swimming pool, next to a statue carrying a globe with his "The World Is Yours" motto.]]
* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:Arguably Tony in the end. He probably knows that the film's climax will be his last stand. The biggest hint is that, just before grabbing the M16, he tells the body of his recently-dead sister "I'll see you soon, okay?"]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: Tony tries and fails to do this with Elvira.
* DespairEventHorizon: When Tony [[spoiler:sees Manny and Gina together, he kills Manny in a fit of anger.]] The reason why it technically fits here instead of MoralEventHorizon is because during his VillainousBreakdown, he subliminally regrets acting on impulse like that. He truly cements it when [[spoiler:one of Sosa's men kills Gina, culminating in an UnstoppableRage.]]
* DirtyCop: Mel Bernstein, narcotics cop who's in league with Lopez.
* DoomedMoralVictor: Averted, Tony [[spoiler:does not kill the Bolivian anti-drug activist.]] Later played straight however, [[spoiler: with the circumstances leading to Tony's death.]]
* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: [[http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=32333 One modern-day reviewer]] feels that this was the film's chief flaw -- the film tries to tell people that Tony's lifestyle only destroys him, but its glitzy, glamorous 1980s style is responsible for the massive MisaimedFandom surrounding it.
* [[spoiler: DownerEnding]]
* TheDragon:
** The Skull, for Sosa.
** Manny Ribera becomes Tony's right hand man in his emerging drug empire. He's relatively tame for a villain.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:A coked-up Tony, armed with an M-16 assault rifle with grenade launcher, singlehandedly battles a small army of hitmen while shouting obscenities before a shotgun blast to the back kills him. It's easily the most iconic scene in the movie.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Tony tries to take care of those he loves even as he becomes an increasingly bigger criminal and general jerk. His affection for Gina in particular is very strong, although laced with [[BrotherSisterIncest incestuous implications]]. [[spoiler:Subverted later in the film, as he eventually becomes a malignant presence in their lives when he drives Elvira away, kills Manny because he proposed to Gina, and locks Gina up in his own mansion out of an obsession with "protecting" her.]]
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Tony tries to provide for his mother, but the relationship is strained due to her being aware of Tony's criminal activities. She refuses any money and demands him to leave.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Tony does not kill women or kids, which gets him in serious trouble with Sosa. Carries over to ''The World Is Yours''. Men too, so long as they're "not stupid enough to fuck with [Tony]."
* EvilVersusEvil: Tony is no saint, but Sosa and the other gangsters are worse.
--> '''Tony Montana''': What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be. You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through! Better get outta his way!
* FanDisservice - As a large group of heavily armed men sent by Sosa slowly surround Tony's villa, Gina shows up in front of Tony, nearly naked wearing only panties and a bathrobe, and confronts Tony with extreme hate, no longer willing to live and wanting him dead, too.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Sosa.
* FoodSlap: Elvira throws a glass of water in Tony's face during their argument in the resteraunt.
* ForeignRemake: [[{{Bollywood}} Bollywood's]] [[{{Film/Agneepath}} Agneepath 1990]], albeit somewhat loosely.
* GoldDigger: Elvira only seems to be interested in men who are filthy rich. Starting out as Lopez's mistress, then later becoming Tony's wife.
* GoodScarsEvilScars
* GoodTimesMontage: ''Push it to the limit! Limiiiiit!''
* GoryDiscretionShot: The chainsaw scene is a shining example; it's easy to forget that we don't actually see what the chainsaw does to Angel.
* GrenadeLauncher: Tony's M203 in the final battle.
-->'''Tony Montana''': Say 'ello to my little friend!
* {{Handguns}}: The hero or villain gun-type thing is subverted with Tony's M-16 and Sosa's pistol.
* HookersAndBlow
* HopeSpot: End of the film
* IHaveNoSon:
-->'''Tony's Mother:''' "Son? I wish I had one! He's a bum! He was a bum then and he's a bum now!"
* IceQueen: Elvira.
* ImplacableMan: Tony in the end, from the huge amounts of cocaine he took.
* InfantImmortality
* InstantDeathBullet: Averted by Tony until the very end.
* {{Jerkass}}es: Everyone in this movie, especially Tony and Elvira. Made particularly obvious because they all [[ClusterFBomb frequently swear]]. However, Sosa is a big one.
* KarmaHoudini: Sosa... until the games and ''Scarred For Life.''. However, it can be inferred that Sosa would have been arrested since he failed to assassinate that journalist who would have implicated him.
* KickTheDog: Sosa and the wife and children that would have been in the exploding car.
* KillEmAll: The film's ending.
* LargeHam - Tony.
* TheLastDance: Tony's last stand.
* LonelyAtTheTop: In spades. Even Tony lampshades this when he's sitting miserably in a restaurant with his wife and best friend who can barely stand him at this point.
* MadeOfIron: Tony at the end, due to being seriously coked-up.
* MoralMyopia: Tony dislikes the fact that he had to kill a journalist, along with his family in the car, yet he is a drug dealer himself.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Tony murders his best friend Manny, believing that he slept with his sister, Gina, for whom he harbors secret desires himself. However, she reveals that she and Manny are married.]]
* MySisterIsOffLimits: Gina, according to Tony.
* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Tony follows this rule.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Ironically, despite all the vile things he does over the course of the film, Tony's ONE act of decency is what ultimately leads to his downfall.
* NobleDemon: Tony. If you take away the drugs, the killing, his violent tendencies, his massive ego and his penchant for profanity, Tony really isn't that bad a guy.
* NumberTwo: Manny to Tony.
* ParentalAbandonment: Tony's father has left the family.
* PreMortemOneLiner: The famous quote under ''Memetic Mutation''.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: According to Tony, he does not like working with Colombians. In everyday life, he is a foulmouthed prick and a wife beater.
* PutOnABus: Elvira does not appear in the 2006 video game due to the fact that Michelle Pfeiffer would not give the game's developers permission to use her likeness.
* PsychoSerum: The partial-Implacability through cocaine.
* PsychoStrings: The creepy tune that picks up every time Tony notices a guy hanging around Gina a ''little'' too closely.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: After Tony proves he's not so bad after all, [[spoiler: he gets attacked and killed by Sosa's men.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: When Sosa's army is storming his mansion, Tony is too coked up and too depressed from how badly his life has gone to do anything to stop them...until [[spoiler: one of the hitmen shoots his little sister Gina]].
* SameLanguageDub: The two immigration officers that interview Tony at the start of the film were dubbed by someone else. They were dubbed by Charles Durning and Dennis Franz.
* SanitySlippage: Tony gets more crazy and insane every passing week or month due to his coke addiction.
** Gina loses it after [[spoiler: her brother killed Manny, her newlywed husband.]]
* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Tony's mother when he briefly reunites with her and offers her and his sister some money he had gotten... from less than honest ways.
* SevenDeadlySins: Tony is ravaged by ''all of them'', save maybe Sloth. Among these, his most fatal flaws are {{Wrath}} and {{Pride}}.
* TheSiege: The final siege of the mansion at the end of the movie.
* SmiteMeOMightySmiter: Invoked by Tony himself, where his restriction of jobs to kitchen duty leads him to continue down the path to a life of crime.
** And again during the finale [[spoiler: when he yells at his attackers as he gets shot many times in the mansion, just before The Skull kills him.]]
* SpiritualSuccessor: More than an {{Homage}}, ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' is basically a straight videogame reenactment of the story (mixed with ''Miami Vice'' and ''Carlito's Way'') to the point it sparked a renewed interest in ''Scarface'' for a new generation.
** Its predecessor, ''Grand Theft Auto III'', had a radio station that consisted of songs from the ''Scarface'' soundtrack.
* TheStoolPigeon: Sosa believed Omar to have been this and dealt with him thusly.
* SuddenPrincipledStand: Throughout the film Tony has been a drug lord, a murderer, generally getting worse and worse. But seeing [[spoiler: Sosa's hitman about to kill the target while the man's wife and kid are in the same car]] makes him draw the line.
* SunglassesAtNight: The Skull [[spoiler: the assassin who kills Tony.]]
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Omar and Tony hate each others guts pretty much from the moment they meet. But they work together to get the deal with Sosa on the table (despite bickering amongst themselves a lot more than actually negotiating with Sosa). [[spoiler:Of course, Sosa kills Omar, thinking him an informer, and to send a message to Tony not to screw with him. Tony really couldn't care less that Omar is gone.]]
* TookALevelInJerkass: Tony starts out the film as a crook, but it's not until he gains power that he allows himself to become a cocaine-addicted wreck. He constantly curses and acts like a cantankerous prick towards even his friends, and gets called out on it by almost everyone close to him.
* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: If Tony had thought out his actions he could have avoided the situation without antagonizing the only person who could have fixed the mess he was in.
* TragicMistake: Tony [[spoiler:killing Sosa's hitman]] resulted in antagonizing the one person who could have helped him out of his mess. Granted, [[spoiler:the hitman deserved it]], but that one act triggered Tony's downfall.
* TwoActStructure: The movie is split into two distinct acts. The first act is about Tony rising to the top of the Miami underworld. The second act is how everything goes to hell for Tony and everyone around him.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Between the clothing, cars, and synthesizer heavy music, this 80s-era movie does a pretty nice job of capturing the 80s in general.
* UnstoppableRage: Played straight then subverted at the mansion siege.
* VillainousBreakdown: In the last several minutes of the movie. [[spoiler: Tony is alone in his office, coked out of his mind, being hit with the HeelRealization of killing his best friend (''"What did I do? Oh Manny, what the fuck did I do?"''). He sees Sosa's men on the security monitors and tries to recover. ''"We gotta get organized,"'' he mumbles, trying to gather his thoughts, but there's no one to listen. He picks up a phone, but drops it without dialing; there's nobody to call. He needs someone he can trust to help him, but he's driven away or killed everyone that fits that profile. He's all alone and about to die and only has himself to blame.]]
* VillainousFriendship: Tony and his eventual Dragon Manny Riberia start out the film as friends, which doesn't change as they start a criminal empire in Miami. Manny eventually gets fed up with Tony's more malicious behavior, like beating up his sister's touchy boyfriend. [[spoiler:When Manny secretly elopes with Tony's sister his friend goes nuts and kills Manny in a jealous rage.]]
* VillainousIncest: Tony can't have his sister and consequently doesn't want anyone else to have her. This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by her [[spoiler:right before she's gunned down.]]
* VillainousValour: There's a variation of this trope for Tony Montana. In by far the most famous scene in the movie, he gets high on cocaine, grabs a [[MoreDakka M16 assault rifle]], and takes on a veritable army of goons alone. Even when badly injured by gunfire, he stands and taunts his assailants. [[spoiler:It takes a shotgun shell to the back at point blank range to finally put him down for good.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Let's not sugarcoat it. Tony himself isn't exactly one of the movies' saintly protagonists. He is a criminal who sells drugs, kills other drug dealers like him to get to the top, being a misogynist who came off as rather too controlling towards his own sister, not a nice mafia boss to work for, as Manny finds out, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and not to mention]], being a dickhead who [[ClusterFBomb frequently curses]].
* WhiteShirtOfDeath: Played straight when Tony stabs Rebenga and when [[spoiler:Manny was shot by Tony]]. Inverted at the ending, [[spoiler:Tony wears a black suit over his white shirt at the ending's shootout]].
* WouldNotShootACivilian: Tony Montana refuses to carry out a hit that would also kill the target's wife and kids. Tony's moral code allows him to kill only in defense or retaliation (in his words "I ain't never fucked nobody that didn't try to fuck me first"). His willingness to take part in that hit in the first place (the target being an activist who'd done nothing to him) showed that his principles were on the decline. His fellow mobsters don't share the same moral views [[spoiler: which results in his downfall.]]
* WouldntHurtAChild: How Tony proves he's not so bad.
** It's an interesting example, because [[spoiler: protecting children by killing Sosa's assassin leads directly to Tony's death. On the other hand, he's only in that situation because he ''agreed'' to help kill an innocent man who'd done nothing to him. The moral of that particular story is left ambiguous.]]
* YouBastard: The movie itself spend the first half of its duration challenging our sympathies for the protagonist, then it hits the audience in the face that they need people like him to point out about who's the "bad guy".

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to:

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Scarface_sm_6889.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[-The World is His.-] ]]

->''In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.''
-->-- '''Tony Montana'''

->''In the spring of 1980, the port at Mariel Harbor was opened and thousands set sail for the United States. They came in search of the American Dream. One of them found it on the sun-washed avenues of Miami...wealth, power and passion beyond his wildest dreams. His name was Tony Montana. The world will remember him by another name...SCARFACE.''

->''This is the tale of Tony Montana. Cubano flame with the Miami nuts. Got a basehead wife. Her womb is polluted. This whole town's a pussy just waiting to get fucked''
-->-- '''Music/MichaelBolton''' "Jack Sparrow"

There are two famous films named ''Scarface''. The most well-known is a 1983 film directed by Creator/BrianDePalma, written by Creator/OliverStone and starring the great Creator/AlPacino. It is a loose remake of the 1932 film of the same name directed by HowardHawks and written by Ben Hecht (both of whom the 1983 film is dedicated to). That movie is itself loosely based on the life of [[AlCapone Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone]].

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!!Summary of 1932 film:

''Scarface'' is the tale of Antonio "Tony" Camonte (Paul Muni). Tony kills Big Louis Castillo, the crime boss of Chicago's South Side, and takes his place, also taking control of a thriving bootlegging business. Tony's Mafia boss, Johnny Lovo, tells him not to interfere with the Irish mob on the North Side, but Tony ignores him, and Johnny realizes that Tony is a threat to his position. Tony defeats the Irish mob and takes over the North Side, survives a hit put out by Lovo, and then kills Lovo, thus becoming the boss of all Chicago. Eventually the police close in, and Tony is killed in a hail of bullets.

''Scarface'' ran into a lot of problems with the [[TheHaysCode Hays office]]. Censors tried to force an alternate ending in which Tony voluntarily surrenders and is eventually executed. This led to the addition of two scenes, one where bankers denounce and condemn Tony Camonte for his crimes which includes a token rich Italian-American noting that Camonte is giving Italian Americans a bad name and setting a bad example. The other was the alternate ending used in theatres in the South. Neither of these scenes were shot by director Creator/HowardHawks. However, the film was released during the UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra and as such widespread industry self-censorship was not in full effect so the film did come out more or less as Hawks intended and was regarded as a real shocker and cited for causing MoralPanic. The original film, much like the remake, set up a controversy for depiction of violence and glorifying gangsters since the film tended to make Tony Camonte a ByronicHero and indeed screenwriter Ben Hecht stated he modelled the dynamic between Camonte and his sister Cesca on Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia from Renaissance Italy.

The film was a major box-office hit around the world and became an iconic gangster film and it became the TropeMaker and TropeCodifier for the Depression gangster film. It even had a BigNameFan in Creator/BertoltBrecht whose play ''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'' borrowed from it extensively.However, the film became a victim of its controversy and success. When UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode went into effect, all films released before hhad to be submitted for censorship to continue screenings in repertory cinemas. ''Scarface'' was considered so difficult that it was shelved and banned from American screens until the late 70s!!! To see the film in America you had to go to [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes private collectors]] or in other out of the way places. And it was easier to see in France, in the Cinematheque Francaise of the same period where it was a major favorite. And indeed Creator/HowardHawks considered the film his MagnumOpus. It's rediscovery in America in the 70s made it a cult favorite again and this actually inspired calls for the remake that would overshadow it for the new generation.

This film, along with ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'' and ''Film/LittleCaesar'', popularized the gangster genre in TheThirties. ''Scarface'' has a place on the NationalFilmRegistry.

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!!Summary of 1983 film:

''Scarface'' centers on Antonio "Tony" Montana (Pacino). Tony is a Cuban refugee deported to Miami during the Mariel Boatlift of 1980, during which FidelCastro sent off not only the relatives of Cuban-Americans abroad, but also the dregs of his jails. After arriving in America, Tony gets his green card by killing a former Castro official who tortured several people to death, including the brother of a Miami [[TheCartel drug cartel boss]] named Frank Lopez.

Tony and his buddy Manolo "Manny" Ribera take on a job for Frank's right-hand man Omar Suarez, which involves dealing with Colombian drug dealers. The job goes straight to hell, and in a memorably violent scene, Tony is forced to watch as another friend is killed with a chainsaw. Manny rescues Tony and they kill the dealers, getting away with both the money and the cocaine.

Tony and Manny, having proven themselves in Lopez's eyes, go to work for him. Tony meets Elvira, Frank's mistress, and starts getting eyes for her himself. He starts to develop aspirations for taking over Frank's business, and gets the chance to move up in the ranks when he meets Bolivian drug kingpin Alejandro Sosa, who fills him with dreams of greater things and also has Suarez executed for being a police informant. Tony's new way of handling things causes a falling-out with Frank, who sends a corrupt cop to intimidate him and a couple of hitmen to kill him. Tony kills the hitmen and escapes. Tony and Manny confront Lopez and the corrupt cop in Lopez's conference room and kill them both.

With Lopez gone, Tony wastes no time in skyrocketing right to the top of Miami's drug trade. He's got it all -- money, power, and a beautiful wife in Elvira. But not everything is well and good in Tony's new kingdom. His success has attracted the attention of law enforcement, his family wants nothing to do with him, and he's becoming increasingly addicted to his own product, which feeds an ever-increasing paranoia that alienates everyone around him, which culminates in him gunning down Manny after catching him with Tony's sister Gina, whom Manny had married just prior and who Tony is very protective of. The protectiveness is so extreme it carries [[BrotherSisterIncest incestuous]] overtones -- an element inspired by the earlier movie.

Tony's world comes crashing down when he gets caught in a major sting operation. Forced to assist in a hit orchestrated by Sosa to get his name cleared, Tony has a [[PetTheDog change of heart]] after seeing the target's wife and children get into the car to be destroyed and kills the hitman [[EvenEvilHasStandards rather than kill innocents]].

Sosa responds by sending an army of assassins to take Tony and his operation down. They besiege Tony's opulent mansion and kill everyone in it, including Gina. With no way out, Tony decides to go out with all guns blazing, and in a furious [[TakingYouWithMe final stand]] preceded by the most famous quote of the movie, he blows away a score of Sosa's assassins with an M-16 and an M-203 grenade launcher before they finally take him down for good.

''Scarface'''s graphic violence and language drew controversy and was panned by most critics, but has since developed a cult following and become an influential popular work. It was especially influential on HipHop culture.

In 2006, two spinoff video games were released, based on the premise that Tony managed to kill all of the attackers in the movie-ending shootout and escape with nothing left. The first, ''[[VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours The World Is Yours]]'', allows players to control Tony in sandbox-style gameplay as he seeks to rebuild his reputation and empire. It culminates in a visit to Bolivia where Sosa gets his comeuppance. The second, ''Money. Power. Respect.'', is a TurnBasedStrategy game where players make strategic decisions and command groups of minions. An unconnected comic series, ''Scarred for Life'', follows the premise that Tony survived the supposedly-fatal shots.

Check the [[Characters/{{Scarface}} character sheet]]. And [[Trivia/{{Scarface}} Trivia page]].

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!Say Hello to my list of tropes!

!! The original 1932 film contains examples of the following tropes:

* AlasPoorVillain: Camonte himself at the end.
* AntiVillain: Tony Camonte.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Tony's protectiveness of Cesca is so redolent of this that other characters even comment on it. While Cesca is irritated with it at first, by the end of the movie she seems to reciprocate.
* DarkerAndEdgier: New audiences who come to this film after seeing the Pacino movie might be surprised by how this film is less sentimental. Camonte is a remorseless killer here without any of the moral compunctions put in place in Tony Montana and his HairTriggerTemper is genuinely frightening. It makes the film's decision to essentially make him a TragicHero that much bolder and make the initial panic against it understandable.
** The main thing is that Camonte is a genuine outlaw who defies the police, the law enforcement [[spoiler:and pulls a BetterToDieThanBeKilled rather than be captured, and this is treated in classic 30s fashion as a DyingMomentOfAwesome for the gangster ByronicHero. Indeed its to avert this very glorification that the fake ending with the execution is created.]] In the remake, Pacino messes with an an even bigger crook because EvenEvilHasStandards rather than defying the police.
* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: {{Deconstructed}}. Also happens to TheEighties remake.
** It is played straight to some extent. What made this film shocking to some is to show gangsters as more or less people who do enjoy and have fun. There's genuine delight when Tony picks up the Tommy Gun and goes MoreDakka on his enemies. Indeed Tony's downfall comes largely because of his tragic obsession with his sister, an aspect that makes him a TragicHero rather than the police building a case.
* DeadpanSnarker: Poppy.
* DefrostingTheIceQueen: Somewhat more successful here, as Tony not only manages to win over Poppy but pretty much stays with her until he's gunned down.
* DespairEventHorizon: Cesca's death for Tony. Prior to that, the fact that Tony can even be scared seems to lead to Cesca's DeathByDespair eventually.
* TheDitz: Angelo, Tony's "seckertary".
* EasilyForgiven: Although she initially plans to kill him, Cesca is rather quick to forgive Tony for killing Guido when it comes down to it.
* ExecutiveMeddling: The studio forced a disclaimer at the start of the film denouncing gang activity, and forced a new ending to be filmed- the original shootout ending was abandoned for one in which Tony is arrested and tried for his crimes. Paul Muni was not present for the filming of this new ending. Fortunately, producer Howard Hughes fought to keep the original ending. The alternate ending was eventually included as an extra feature on the DVD.
** There's also an ultra-{{Anvilicious}} sequence near the midpoint of the film where representatives from different groups are gathered in a room to discuss America's crime problem. Also forced on Hughes and HowardHawks by the censors.
* HeadsOrTails: The TropeCodifier for gangsters who do this. Has been parodied in later movies, too.
* RomanAClef: Similaries to the life of Al Capone include:
** The titular scar, for starters.
** Tony's killing of "Big Louie" Costillo is inspired by Capone's involvement in the murder of "Big Jim" Colosimo.
** O'Hara gets killed in his flower shop just like Capone's rival Dion O'Banion was.
** The caravan of cars that attempts a drive-by assassination of Tony is taken from a failed attempt on the life of Capone.
** The shooting in the garage strongly resembles the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre that was ordered by Capone.
* VillainousIncest: Even more blatant than in the 1983 film, and it doesn't seem to necessarily be one-sided, either.
* VillainProtagonist: Camonte himself.

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!!The 1983 film contains examples of the following tropes:

* AdaptationExpansion: The '83 movie takes some basic plot elements and characters from the original and expands on them greatly.
* AddictionPowered: Tony's cocaine allowed him to take a ''lot'' of punishment before going down.
* AffablyEvil: Frank Lopez. He's a friendly, gregarious philanthropist who sponsors a little league baseball team. He's also a murderous drug kingpin.
* AmericanDream: A Cuban refugee/criminal gains his previously denied green card by renting his sociopathic nature to a contract-killing, the implication being the (naturalization) system is easily corrupted. After a brief stint as a dishwasher he just embarks on a BetterLivingThroughEvil quest. His downfall ensues not from law enforcement but from a rival kingpin.
* ArcWords: "The world is yours". Tony sees it on a Goodyear blimp and he adopts it as his own motto.
* AssholeVictim: Just too many of them, but the most prominent ones were Omar, Frank and Mel. It's very hard to feel any sympathy for any of them as they meet their respective fates.
* AxCrazy: Tony is the embodiment of this trope in the second half of the movie.
** Hector the Toad as well.
* {{Badass}}: Tony. Hands down.
* BadassBoast: Arguably the most famous line from the movie.
--->'''Tony:''' You wanna fuck with me? Okay. You wanna play rough? SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!
* BerserkButton: Tony does not like it when guys put the moves on his little sister. [[spoiler: Played in a tragic way after he finds out Manny with Gina.]]
** He also reacts violently when he learns that Sosa expects him to kill women and children.
* BeingEvilSucks: This trope is definitely made all the more obvious in this version than the original. If you think that being a drug dealer like Tony is a cool thing, then you're out of your mind.
* {{BFG}}: Tony's "little friend", an M-16 assault rifle with an M-203 grenade launcher.
* BigFancyHouse
* BottomlessMagazines: Uzi submachine guns are shot as though they had a several-feet-long belt in their magazines. Heavy machine gun barrels would go red hot after so many bullets in one go [[note]]Al Pacino actually burned his hand pretty badly on the M-16, you can see it in the film when he grabs the barrel after a burst of fire and then quickly lets go.[[/note]]; the Uzis don't. Toni's own M-16 assault rifle seems to have the equivalents of Phalanx CIWS ammunition domes for magazines, too.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePoRxQJPPzM The TV version]], to ''wonderful'' extents.
** ''How'd you get that scar, Tony? Eating Pineapple?''
** ''This town's like a great big chicken just waiting to get plucked.''
** ''Why don't you... stick your head in the toilet.''
** On some channels, the chainsaw scene was cut completely, skipping to him running outside.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Tony's violent protectiveness toward Gina has serious elements of this.
* ButNotTooForeign: Tony says that his father was American.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Although the film is set in Miami, the majority of it is shot in California.
* TheCartel
* ChainsawGood: Tony's friend Angel is killed with a chainsaw during his first drug deal in the states.
* ChekhovsGunman: Sosa's sunglasses wearing enforcer.
* ChekhovsHobby: Tony's history as a soldier is mentioned twice at the beginning of the movie and becomes relevant at the end when Tony is able to kill nearly twenty of Sosa's men at the end.
* ClusterFBomb: This [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KANukZsWD9Q video]] sums it all nicely.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Elvira when she complains about Tony's swearing.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: "Hector the Toad", as well as Thug army < Tony [[spoiler: < Sosa's assassin]]
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Tony falling into the swimming pool, next to a statue carrying a globe with his "The World Is Yours" motto.]]
* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:Arguably Tony in the end. He probably knows that the film's climax will be his last stand. The biggest hint is that, just before grabbing the M16, he tells the body of his recently-dead sister "I'll see you soon, okay?"]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: Tony tries and fails to do this with Elvira.
* DespairEventHorizon: When Tony [[spoiler:sees Manny and Gina together, he kills Manny in a fit of anger.]] The reason why it technically fits here instead of MoralEventHorizon is because during his VillainousBreakdown, he subliminally regrets acting on impulse like that. He truly cements it when [[spoiler:one of Sosa's men kills Gina, culminating in an UnstoppableRage.]]
* DirtyCop: Mel Bernstein, narcotics cop who's in league with Lopez.
* DoomedMoralVictor: Averted, Tony [[spoiler:does not kill the Bolivian anti-drug activist.]] Later played straight however, [[spoiler: with the circumstances leading to Tony's death.]]
* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: [[http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=32333 One modern-day reviewer]] feels that this was the film's chief flaw -- the film tries to tell people that Tony's lifestyle only destroys him, but its glitzy, glamorous 1980s style is responsible for the massive MisaimedFandom surrounding it.
* [[spoiler: DownerEnding]]
* TheDragon:
** The Skull, for Sosa.
** Manny Ribera becomes Tony's right hand man in his emerging drug empire. He's relatively tame for a villain.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:A coked-up Tony, armed with an M-16 assault rifle with grenade launcher, singlehandedly battles a small army of hitmen while shouting obscenities before a shotgun blast to the back kills him. It's easily the most iconic scene in the movie.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Tony tries to take care of those he loves even as he becomes an increasingly bigger criminal and general jerk. His affection for Gina in particular is very strong, although laced with [[BrotherSisterIncest incestuous implications]]. [[spoiler:Subverted later in the film, as he eventually becomes a malignant presence in their lives when he drives Elvira away, kills Manny because he proposed to Gina, and locks Gina up in his own mansion out of an obsession with "protecting" her.]]
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Tony tries to provide for his mother, but the relationship is strained due to her being aware of Tony's criminal activities. She refuses any money and demands him to leave.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Tony does not kill women or kids, which gets him in serious trouble with Sosa. Carries over to ''The World Is Yours''. Men too, so long as they're "not stupid enough to fuck with [Tony]."
* EvilVersusEvil: Tony is no saint, but Sosa and the other gangsters are worse.
--> '''Tony Montana''': What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be. You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through! Better get outta his way!
* FanDisservice - As a large group of heavily armed men sent by Sosa slowly surround Tony's villa, Gina shows up in front of Tony, nearly naked wearing only panties and a bathrobe, and confronts Tony with extreme hate, no longer willing to live and wanting him dead, too.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Sosa.
* FoodSlap: Elvira throws a glass of water in Tony's face during their argument in the resteraunt.
* ForeignRemake: [[{{Bollywood}} Bollywood's]] [[{{Film/Agneepath}} Agneepath 1990]], albeit somewhat loosely.
* GoldDigger: Elvira only seems to be interested in men who are filthy rich. Starting out as Lopez's mistress, then later becoming Tony's wife.
* GoodScarsEvilScars
* GoodTimesMontage: ''Push it to the limit! Limiiiiit!''
* GoryDiscretionShot: The chainsaw scene is a shining example; it's easy to forget that we don't actually see what the chainsaw does to Angel.
* GrenadeLauncher: Tony's M203 in the final battle.
-->'''Tony Montana''': Say 'ello to my little friend!
* {{Handguns}}: The hero or villain gun-type thing is subverted with Tony's M-16 and Sosa's pistol.
* HookersAndBlow
* HopeSpot: End of the film
* IHaveNoSon:
-->'''Tony's Mother:''' "Son? I wish I had one! He's a bum! He was a bum then and he's a bum now!"
* IceQueen: Elvira.
* ImplacableMan: Tony in the end, from the huge amounts of cocaine he took.
* InfantImmortality
* InstantDeathBullet: Averted by Tony until the very end.
* {{Jerkass}}es: Everyone in this movie, especially Tony and Elvira. Made particularly obvious because they all [[ClusterFBomb frequently swear]]. However, Sosa is a big one.
* KarmaHoudini: Sosa... until the games and ''Scarred For Life.''. However, it can be inferred that Sosa would have been arrested since he failed to assassinate that journalist who would have implicated him.
* KickTheDog: Sosa and the wife and children that would have been in the exploding car.
* KillEmAll: The film's ending.
* LargeHam - Tony.
* TheLastDance: Tony's last stand.
* LonelyAtTheTop: In spades. Even Tony lampshades this when he's sitting miserably in a restaurant with his wife and best friend who can barely stand him at this point.
* MadeOfIron: Tony at the end, due to being seriously coked-up.
* MoralMyopia: Tony dislikes the fact that he had to kill a journalist, along with his family in the car, yet he is a drug dealer himself.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Tony murders his best friend Manny, believing that he slept with his sister, Gina, for whom he harbors secret desires himself. However, she reveals that she and Manny are married.]]
* MySisterIsOffLimits: Gina, according to Tony.
* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Tony follows this rule.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Ironically, despite all the vile things he does over the course of the film, Tony's ONE act of decency is what ultimately leads to his downfall.
* NobleDemon: Tony. If you take away the drugs, the killing, his violent tendencies, his massive ego and his penchant for profanity, Tony really isn't that bad a guy.
* NumberTwo: Manny to Tony.
* ParentalAbandonment: Tony's father has left the family.
* PreMortemOneLiner: The famous quote under ''Memetic Mutation''.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: According to Tony, he does not like working with Colombians. In everyday life, he is a foulmouthed prick and a wife beater.
* PutOnABus: Elvira does not appear in the 2006 video game due to the fact that Michelle Pfeiffer would not give the game's developers permission to use her likeness.
* PsychoSerum: The partial-Implacability through cocaine.
* PsychoStrings: The creepy tune that picks up every time Tony notices a guy hanging around Gina a ''little'' too closely.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: After Tony proves he's not so bad after all, [[spoiler: he gets attacked and killed by Sosa's men.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: When Sosa's army is storming his mansion, Tony is too coked up and too depressed from how badly his life has gone to do anything to stop them...until [[spoiler: one of the hitmen shoots his little sister Gina]].
* SameLanguageDub: The two immigration officers that interview Tony at the start of the film were dubbed by someone else. They were dubbed by Charles Durning and Dennis Franz.
* SanitySlippage: Tony gets more crazy and insane every passing week or month due to his coke addiction.
** Gina loses it after [[spoiler: her brother killed Manny, her newlywed husband.]]
* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Tony's mother when he briefly reunites with her and offers her and his sister some money he had gotten... from less than honest ways.
* SevenDeadlySins: Tony is ravaged by ''all of them'', save maybe Sloth. Among these, his most fatal flaws are {{Wrath}} and {{Pride}}.
* TheSiege: The final siege of the mansion at the end of the movie.
* SmiteMeOMightySmiter: Invoked by Tony himself, where his restriction of jobs to kitchen duty leads him to continue down the path to a life of crime.
** And again during the finale [[spoiler: when he yells at his attackers as he gets shot many times in the mansion, just before The Skull kills him.]]
* SpiritualSuccessor: More than an {{Homage}}, ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' is basically a straight videogame reenactment of the story (mixed with ''Miami Vice'' and ''Carlito's Way'') to the point it sparked a renewed interest in ''Scarface'' for a new generation.
** Its predecessor, ''Grand Theft Auto III'', had a radio station that consisted of songs from the ''Scarface'' soundtrack.
* TheStoolPigeon: Sosa believed Omar to have been this and dealt with him thusly.
* SuddenPrincipledStand: Throughout the film Tony has been a drug lord, a murderer, generally getting worse and worse. But seeing [[spoiler: Sosa's hitman about to kill the target while the man's wife and kid are in the same car]] makes him draw the line.
* SunglassesAtNight: The Skull [[spoiler: the assassin who kills Tony.]]
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Omar and Tony hate each others guts pretty much from the moment they meet. But they work together to get the deal with Sosa on the table (despite bickering amongst themselves a lot more than actually negotiating with Sosa). [[spoiler:Of course, Sosa kills Omar, thinking him an informer, and to send a message to Tony not to screw with him. Tony really couldn't care less that Omar is gone.]]
* TookALevelInJerkass: Tony starts out the film as a crook, but it's not until he gains power that he allows himself to become a cocaine-addicted wreck. He constantly curses and acts like a cantankerous prick towards even his friends, and gets called out on it by almost everyone close to him.
* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: If Tony had thought out his actions he could have avoided the situation without antagonizing the only person who could have fixed the mess he was in.
* TragicMistake: Tony [[spoiler:killing Sosa's hitman]] resulted in antagonizing the one person who could have helped him out of his mess. Granted, [[spoiler:the hitman deserved it]], but that one act triggered Tony's downfall.
* TwoActStructure: The movie is split into two distinct acts. The first act is about Tony rising to the top of the Miami underworld. The second act is how everything goes to hell for Tony and everyone around him.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Between the clothing, cars, and synthesizer heavy music, this 80s-era movie does a pretty nice job of capturing the 80s in general.
* UnstoppableRage: Played straight then subverted at the mansion siege.
* VillainousBreakdown: In the last several minutes of the movie. [[spoiler: Tony is alone in his office, coked out of his mind, being hit with the HeelRealization of killing his best friend (''"What did I do? Oh Manny, what the fuck did I do?"''). He sees Sosa's men on the security monitors and tries to recover. ''"We gotta get organized,"'' he mumbles, trying to gather his thoughts, but there's no one to listen. He picks up a phone, but drops it without dialing; there's nobody to call. He needs someone he can trust to help him, but he's driven away or killed everyone that fits that profile. He's all alone and about to die and only has himself to blame.]]
* VillainousFriendship: Tony and his eventual Dragon Manny Riberia start out the film as friends, which doesn't change as they start a criminal empire in Miami. Manny eventually gets fed up with Tony's more malicious behavior, like beating up his sister's touchy boyfriend. [[spoiler:When Manny secretly elopes with Tony's sister his friend goes nuts and kills Manny in a jealous rage.]]
* VillainousIncest: Tony can't have his sister and consequently doesn't want anyone else to have her. This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by her [[spoiler:right before she's gunned down.]]
* VillainousValour: There's a variation of this trope for Tony Montana. In by far the most famous scene in the movie, he gets high on cocaine, grabs a [[MoreDakka M16 assault rifle]], and takes on a veritable army of goons alone. Even when badly injured by gunfire, he stands and taunts his assailants. [[spoiler:It takes a shotgun shell to the back at point blank range to finally put him down for good.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Let's not sugarcoat it. Tony himself isn't exactly one of the movies' saintly protagonists. He is a criminal who sells drugs, kills other drug dealers like him to get to the top, being a misogynist who came off as rather too controlling towards his own sister, not a nice mafia boss to work for, as Manny finds out, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and not to mention]], being a dickhead who [[ClusterFBomb frequently curses]].
* WhiteShirtOfDeath: Played straight when Tony stabs Rebenga and when [[spoiler:Manny was shot by Tony]]. Inverted at the ending, [[spoiler:Tony wears a black suit over his white shirt at the ending's shootout]].
* WouldNotShootACivilian: Tony Montana refuses to carry out a hit that would also kill the target's wife and kids. Tony's moral code allows him to kill only in defense or retaliation (in his words "I ain't never fucked nobody that didn't try to fuck me first"). His willingness to take part in that hit in the first place (the target being an activist who'd done nothing to him) showed that his principles were on the decline. His fellow mobsters don't share the same moral views [[spoiler: which results in his downfall.]]
* WouldntHurtAChild: How Tony proves he's not so bad.
** It's an interesting example, because [[spoiler: protecting children by killing Sosa's assassin leads directly to Tony's death. On the other hand, he's only in that situation because he ''agreed'' to help kill an innocent man who'd done nothing to him. The moral of that particular story is left ambiguous.]]
* YouBastard: The movie itself spend the first half of its duration challenging our sympathies for the protagonist, then it hits the audience in the face that they need people like him to point out about who's the "bad guy".

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[[redirect:{{Scarface}}]]
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Crosswicking.

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* WouldNotShootACivilian: Tony Montana refuses to carry out a hit that would also kill the target's wife and kids. Tony's moral code allows him to kill only in defense or retaliation (in his words "I ain't never fucked nobody that didn't try to fuck me first"). His willingness to take part in that hit in the first place (the target being an activist who'd done nothing to him) showed that his principles were on the decline. His fellow mobsters don't share the same moral views [[spoiler: which results in his downfall.]]

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* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Tony follows this rule.

to:

* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Tony follows this rule.rule.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Ironically, despite all the vile things he does over the course of the film, Tony's ONE act of decency is what ultimately leads to his downfall.

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->''This is the tale of Tony Montana. Cubano flame with the Miami nuts. Got a basehead wife. Her womb is polluted. This whole town's a pussy just waiting to get fucked"
--> MichaelBolton "Jack Sparrow"

to:

->''This is the tale of Tony Montana. Cubano flame with the Miami nuts. Got a basehead wife. Her womb is polluted. This whole town's a pussy just waiting to get fucked"
--> MichaelBolton
fucked''
-->-- '''Music/MichaelBolton'''
"Jack Sparrow"



* TragicMistake: Tony [[spoiler:killing Sosa's hitman]] resulted in antagonizing the one person who could have helped him out of his mess. Granted, [[spoiler:the hitman deserved it]], but that one act triggered Tony's downfall.'

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* TragicMistake: Tony [[spoiler:killing Sosa's hitman]] resulted in antagonizing the one person who could have helped him out of his mess. Granted, [[spoiler:the hitman deserved it]], but that one act triggered Tony's downfall.'downfall.
* TwoActStructure: The movie is split into two distinct acts. The first act is about Tony rising to the top of the Miami underworld. The second act is how everything goes to hell for Tony and everyone around him.

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* FauxAffablyEvil: Sosa.

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* FauxAffablyEvil: Sosa. Sosa.
* FoodSlap: Elvira throws a glass of water in Tony's face during their argument in the resteraunt.


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* SunglassesAtNight: The Skull [[spoiler: the assassin who kills Tony.]]
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** The main thing is that Camonte is a genuine outlaw who defies the police, the law enforcement [[spoiler:and pulls a BetterToDieThanBeKilled rather than be captured, and this is treated in classic 30s fashion as a DyingMomentOfAwesome for the gangster ByronicHero. Indeed its to avert this very glorification that the fake ending with the execution is created.]] In the remake, Pacino messes with an an even bigger crook because EvenEvilHasStandards rather than defying the police.


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** It is played straight to some extent. What made this film shocking to some is to show gangsters as more or less people who do enjoy and have fun. There's genuine delight when Tony picks up the Tommy Gun and goes MoreDakka on his enemies. Indeed Tony's downfall comes largely because of his tragic obsession with his sister, an aspect that makes him a TragicHero rather than the police building a case.

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Putting more info and fixing facts about the 1932 movie. Hawks did NOT direct that alternate ending.


''Scarface'' ran into a lot of problems with the [[TheHaysCode Hays office]]. Censors tried to force an alternate ending in which Tony voluntarily surrenders and is eventually executed. Hawks actually shot this ending, but after it still couldn't pass the censors, producer Howard Hughes went ahead and released the original version. This film, along with ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'' and ''Film/LittleCaesar'', popularized the gangster genre in TheThirties. ''Scarface'' has a place on the NationalFilmRegistry.

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''Scarface'' ran into a lot of problems with the [[TheHaysCode Hays office]]. Censors tried to force an alternate ending in which Tony voluntarily surrenders and is eventually executed. This led to the addition of two scenes, one where bankers denounce and condemn Tony Camonte for his crimes which includes a token rich Italian-American noting that Camonte is giving Italian Americans a bad name and setting a bad example. The other was the alternate ending used in theatres in the South. Neither of these scenes were shot by director Creator/HowardHawks. However, the film was released during the UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra and as such widespread industry self-censorship was not in full effect so the film did come out more or less as Hawks intended and was regarded as a real shocker and cited for causing MoralPanic. The original film, much like the remake, set up a controversy for depiction of violence and glorifying gangsters since the film tended to make Tony Camonte a ByronicHero and indeed screenwriter Ben Hecht stated he modelled the dynamic between Camonte and his sister Cesca on Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia from Renaissance Italy.

The film was a major box-office hit around the world and became an iconic gangster film and it became the TropeMaker and TropeCodifier for the Depression gangster film. It even had a BigNameFan in Creator/BertoltBrecht whose play ''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'' borrowed from it extensively.However, the film became a victim of its controversy and success. When UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode went into effect, all films released before hhad to be submitted for censorship to continue screenings in repertory cinemas. ''Scarface'' was considered so difficult that it was shelved and banned from American screens until the late 70s!!! To see the film in America you had to go to [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes private collectors]] or in other out of the way places. And it was easier to see in France, in the Cinematheque Francaise of the same period where it was a major favorite. And indeed Creator/HowardHawks considered the film his MagnumOpus. It's rediscovery in America in the 70s made it a cult favorite again and this
actually shot this ending, but after it still couldn't pass inspired calls for the censors, producer Howard Hughes went ahead and released remake that would overshadow it for the original version. new generation.

This film, along with ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'' and ''Film/LittleCaesar'', popularized the gangster genre in TheThirties. ''Scarface'' has a place on the NationalFilmRegistry.
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There are two famous films named ''Scarface''. The most well-known is a 1983 film directed by Creator/BrianDePalma, written by Creator/OliverStone and starring the great Creator/AlPacino. It is a loose remake of the 1932 film of the same name directed by HowardHawks and written by Ben Hecht (both of whom the film is dedicated to). That movie is itself loosely based on the life of [[AlCapone Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone]].

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There are two famous films named ''Scarface''. The most well-known is a 1983 film directed by Creator/BrianDePalma, written by Creator/OliverStone and starring the great Creator/AlPacino. It is a loose remake of the 1932 film of the same name directed by HowardHawks and written by Ben Hecht (both of whom the 1983 film is dedicated to). That movie is itself loosely based on the life of [[AlCapone Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone]].

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''Scarface'' is a 1983 film directed by Creator/BrianDePalma, written by Creator/OliverStone and starring the great Creator/AlPacino. It is a loose remake of the 1932 film of the same name directed by HowardHawks and written by Ben Hecht (both of whom the film is dedicated to). That movie is itself loosely based on the life of [[AlCapone Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone]].

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''Scarface'' There are two famous films named ''Scarface''. The most well-known is a 1983 film directed by Creator/BrianDePalma, written by Creator/OliverStone and starring the great Creator/AlPacino. It is a loose remake of the 1932 film of the same name directed by HowardHawks and written by Ben Hecht (both of whom the film is dedicated to). That movie is itself loosely based on the life of [[AlCapone Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone]].
Capone]].

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!!Summary of 1932 film:

''Scarface'' is the tale of Antonio "Tony" Camonte (Paul Muni). Tony kills Big Louis Castillo, the crime boss of Chicago's South Side, and takes his place, also taking control of a thriving bootlegging business. Tony's Mafia boss, Johnny Lovo, tells him not to interfere with the Irish mob on the North Side, but Tony ignores him, and Johnny realizes that Tony is a threat to his position. Tony defeats the Irish mob and takes over the North Side, survives a hit put out by Lovo, and then kills Lovo, thus becoming the boss of all Chicago. Eventually the police close in, and Tony is killed in a hail of bullets.

''Scarface'' ran into a lot of problems with the [[TheHaysCode Hays office]]. Censors tried to force an alternate ending in which Tony voluntarily surrenders and is eventually executed. Hawks actually shot this ending, but after it still couldn't pass the censors, producer Howard Hughes went ahead and released the original version. This film, along with ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'' and ''Film/LittleCaesar'', popularized the gangster genre in TheThirties. ''Scarface'' has a place on the NationalFilmRegistry.

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!!Summary of 1983 film:



* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Camonte himself at the end.]]

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* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Camonte Camonte himself at the end.]]



* DefrostingTheIceQueen: Somewhat more successful here, as Tony not only manages to win over Poppy but pretty much stays with her [[spoiler: until he's gunned down.]]
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Cesca's death]] for Tony. Prior to that, the fact that Tony can even be scared seems to [[spoiler:lead to Cesca's DeathByDespair eventually]].

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* DefrostingTheIceQueen: Somewhat more successful here, as Tony not only manages to win over Poppy but pretty much stays with her [[spoiler: until he's gunned down.]]
down.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Cesca's death]] Cesca's death for Tony. Prior to that, the fact that Tony can even be scared seems to [[spoiler:lead lead to Cesca's DeathByDespair eventually]].eventually.



* EasilyForgiven: Although she initially plans to kill him, Cesca is rather quick to forgive Tony for [[spoiler:killing Guido when it comes down to it.]]
* ExecutiveMeddling: The studio forced a disclaimer at the start of the film denouncing gang activity, and forced a new ending to be filmed- [[spoiler: the original shootout ending was abandoned for one in which Tony is arrested and tried for his crimes. Paul Muni was not present for the filming of this new ending.]] Fortunately, producer Howard Hughes fought to keep the original ending. The alternate ending was eventually included as an extra feature on the DVD.

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* EasilyForgiven: Although she initially plans to kill him, Cesca is rather quick to forgive Tony for [[spoiler:killing killing Guido when it comes down to it.]]
it.
* ExecutiveMeddling: The studio forced a disclaimer at the start of the film denouncing gang activity, and forced a new ending to be filmed- [[spoiler: the original shootout ending was abandoned for one in which Tony is arrested and tried for his crimes. Paul Muni was not present for the filming of this new ending.]] Fortunately, producer Howard Hughes fought to keep the original ending. The alternate ending was eventually included as an extra feature on the DVD.


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* RomanAClef: Similaries to the life of Al Capone include:
** The titular scar, for starters.
** Tony's killing of "Big Louie" Costillo is inspired by Capone's involvement in the murder of "Big Jim" Colosimo.
** O'Hara gets killed in his flower shop just like Capone's rival Dion O'Banion was.
** The caravan of cars that attempts a drive-by assassination of Tony is taken from a failed attempt on the life of Capone.
** The shooting in the garage strongly resembles the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre that was ordered by Capone.
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Fixing typos


* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Tony tries to take care of those he loves even as he becomes an increasingly bigger criminal and general jerk. His affection for Gina in particular is very strong, although laced with [[BrotherSisterIncest incestuous implications]]. [[spoiler:Subverted later in the film, as he eventually becomes a malignent presence in their lifes when he drives Elvira away, kills Manny because he proposed to Gina, and locks Gina up in his own mansion out of an obsession with "protecting" her.]]

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* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Tony tries to take care of those he loves even as he becomes an increasingly bigger criminal and general jerk. His affection for Gina in particular is very strong, although laced with [[BrotherSisterIncest incestuous implications]]. [[spoiler:Subverted later in the film, as he eventually becomes a malignent malignant presence in their lifes lives when he drives Elvira away, kills Manny because he proposed to Gina, and locks Gina up in his own mansion out of an obsession with "protecting" her.]]



* SanitySlippage: Tony gets more crazier and insanier every passing week or month due to his coke addiction.

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* SanitySlippage: Tony gets more crazier crazy and insanier insane every passing week or month due to his coke addiction.



* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Omar and Tony hate each others guts pretty much from the moment they meet. But they work together to get the deal with Sosa on the table (despite bickering amongst themselves a lot more than actually negotiating with Sosa). [[spoiler:Of course, Sosa kills Omar, thinking him an informer, and to send a message to Tony not to screw with him. Tony really could care less that Omar is gone.]]

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* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Omar and Tony hate each others guts pretty much from the moment they meet. But they work together to get the deal with Sosa on the table (despite bickering amongst themselves a lot more than actually negotiating with Sosa). [[spoiler:Of course, Sosa kills Omar, thinking him an informer, and to send a message to Tony not to screw with him. Tony really could couldn't care less that Omar is gone.]]

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