Scarface (1983) Special Edition DVD – Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2004) under review ...

Scarface (1983) Special Edition DVD – Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2004)

Special Features

• ·         The Rebirth Of Scarface development featurette
• ·         Acting Scarface featurette
• ·         Creating Scarface 'making of' documentary
• ·         Scarface: The TV Version comparison featurette
• ·         Deleted scenes (22 mins)
• ·         Origins Of A Hip-Hop Classic documentary
• ·         Theatrical and teaser trailers

If ever there was a film that had the kind of cult following that consisted of ever youthful admirers who always wanted to know more about its inception and legacy, and its cast and its creators then Scarface surely is that film.  Brian De Palma’s classic film, a successfully remake of an old-time gangster classic, splurges a big fat ink stain in all the suitable boxes and portrays the scurrilous pursuit of the American dream with such a gritty bludgeon like no other film ever has, before or since.  Cart-wheeling through hoop after hoop to impress the male psyche we are treated to a melange of guns, breasts and violence, drugs, chainsaws and tigers.

Tony Montana arrives in Miami, Florida, USA from Cuba pronouncing himself as “a political refugee”.  He climbs through the cocaine fuelled gangster underworld claiming he wants everything that he’s got coming to him; “the world chico, and everything in it”.  It’s a masterfully theatrical performance from Al Pacino who asserts his credence and trustworthiness succinctly, becoming the envy of alpha male and living out a few man’s dreams when he says “I’ve only got two things in this world: my word and my balls, and I don’t break ‘em for nobody” in the face of a South American drug baron.  It’s definitely Oliver Stone’s script and Pacino’s portrayal of Montana, both with deftly touched with a subtle hint of humour that endears us to the lead character and the expected demise of Montana leads us to the unexpected sombre ending of his bloodied carcass lying face down in his overblown entrance hall fountain.  Were we expected to be sad at the death of our new favourite caricature?

The sets are lavish and the colours are unflinchingly coarse (I’m sure this movie has inspired more than a few ghastly makeovers in those with the taste and mindsets of Delboy Trotter).  Producer Martin Bregman had clearly spent greatly to realise the dreams of the Cuban gangster as he reaches the top of the cocaine pyramid; that is symbolised quite literally by a mound of cocaine in one of the closing scenes looks like a snow capped mountain top before Montana throws his face into it.

The soundtrack is a mix of electro 80s chart fodder and Giorgio Moroder’s synth noodlings that run the risk of being overbearing at certain intervals.  This can be enjoyed; or not, in Dolby 5.1 surround on the Special Edition DVD.  Which brings us nicely the double disc sets special features.

An excellent extra is a short piece on how Universal managed to edit the original film to be suitable for network TV in America.  Just how they managed to cope with all the nudity and violence is one thing, but the 160 f-words and the other language is another.  There’s also a short from pioneering black record label Def Jam Recordings chronicling the link to rap/hip-hop culture and the 80s movie.  There’s the revelation that P Diddy has seen the film 63 times, and it’s probably more since the recording of the interview.  We receive a real insight into the funding, production of the film and the method acting style of Al Pacino.

Plus, there’s the usual DVD fodder such as trailers and deleted scenes (that you can’t help but always think “they must have been deleted for a reason, so why show them now?”).  But, what is a real treat is the set of shorts that document the making of the film – The Rebirth of Scarface, Acting Scarface and Creating Scrface.

But what this film is really crying out for is a commentary from one or more, or all of the main players.  They’re all here on the DVD; sit them in a room together for a few hours and maybe even record their conversation as the film plays.  I don’t know?!  Even if it takes a few bags of white powder I think it should be done and I’m sure it’s what every die-hard fan would love to hear accompanying their favourite film.  No doubt the imminent release of the Blu-Ray edition of the film will be gobbled up with the usual whether this is featured or not.  Whatever the case may be, this is a highly entertaining film, and the DVD set includes some highly entertaining extra material.

The Social Network review

In 1987 Oliver Stone produced a film that encapsulated a whole era and captured the Zeitgeist perfectly, the character of Gordon Gekko crystallising the most prevalent of the seven deadly sins of the time.  In 2010 Stone is set on repeating this trick by attempting to pull off one of the hardest tasks in the film industry; the sequel that matches up to its predecessor.  The timing seems perfect, with the current financial crisis reflecting the true bust of the late eighties boom and the impending release of the original film’s central character in real time.  However, his film has been eclipsed by The Social Network.  As the seventies had All The President’s Men, the eighties had Stone’s aforementioned Wall Street, the nineties had The Insider and now, after a decade without a major time capsule of a film, the new millennium has The Social Network.

With The Social Network slamming Wall Street 2 at the box office it seems that while Stone has been missing the mark with presidential bio-pics and fumbling around South America stroking the egos of Bolivarian political leaders his position, that he earned cutting his teeth (or should that be grinding his teeth) working on Scarface, as the major socio-political-commentator-director has been usurped by a younger model in the form of David Fincher.  Presenting the skills he has crafted and honed since his 1995 breakthrough picture Se7en, Fincher is backed by a killer script from The West Wing’s Aaron Sorkin.  It is testament to Sorkin’s ability that he managed to pull it off.  The facebook story is RAM full of absolutely un-writable characters.  After all, if you were to conjure a pair of opponents for Zuckerberg upon the battlefield of intellectual property, would you have chosen identical twin Olympic rowers christened with the inimitable moniker of Winklevoss?  I wouldn’t imagine so.  But, it is in characters such as these that some of the wittiest of dialogue comes; as one of the twins negates the need to hire someone for the job of intimidating facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg: “I’m 6’4, weigh 220 pounds and there’s two of me.”

Fincher has also assembled a great cast.  A handful of the best young actors in America appear in this movie.  Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of the character is so deft and on point that we are treated to a mesmerising display that excels past even the usual high standard of performance Fincher manages to extract from his casts.  He is ever unlikable, ever untrustworthy and ever petty, but does manage a small amount of sympathy in being that guy (we all know one), that brilliant, borderline genius without a clue. If Zuckerberg is truly anything like Eisenberg’s version, then an argument for Asperger syndrome stands on firm footing.  Andrew Garfield continues to impress, slightly twisting and improving his character and performance adeptly from the film Lions For Lambs earlier in the decade playing original facebook CFO Eduardo Saverin, I doubt, however, that the script, or demand on his acting ability, will match up to this role in the upcoming Spiderman movies.  Despite these two lead characters portrayed so excellently, it is Justin Timberlake who shines as Napster founder Sean Parker.  In a pivotal scene Parker sums up the ideology of today’s intelligent and irreverent youth echoing Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko giving the “greed is good” speech in 1987 verbally wrapping up the 80s yuppie mentality.  I can smell the outside bet for Best Supporting Actor at next year’s Oscars now.  And I’m sure this will pick up a whole load of nominations elsewhere, and maybe some statuettes.  Lord knows it deserves every accolade it receives.  *****

The Social Network review ... by Matt Henshaw
MattHenshaw.com