Very nice article. I saw "Scarface" a few months ago and had the same reactions. Depite all its faults, the film works. I just can't point to something in the film and give it to someone as a reason to see it.

I think Pacino's the key. If he didn't play Tony the way he did, the movie would have been a disaster. I would like to think he read the script and said to himself "f*ck it, let's have some fun." Either way, that's one role that suits his Shakespearean scene-chewing tendencies.

They're all cocoroches.

I went to see it in the theater when it first came out. I was on a first date. She chose the movie.

I almost retched at the scene in the shower where they chainsaw the poor SOB. I looked at my date and she seemed to be disturbingly interested.

I said "I'm outta here", walked out, and never saw her again.

No, it wasn't Sarah Palin.

was drivel then, and it's drivel now. Pacino can be brilliant or dreadful - and this was one of his out-of-control dreadful ones.

The only thing worse than Scarface would be a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie. Both are schlock meant to especially appeal to simplistic gender stereotypes: uber-macho, nonthinking, horny-puppy-humping-the-leg Al Pacino versus some weepy hormonal woman whining. If I am bad, hell surely holds such movies for me.

The best thing about Scarface is when he gets killed in the end. When he shows his friend that tongue flicking thing, I want to kick him in the groin. Al Pacino proves that the line is cocaine-dust thin between an actor who can deliver a genius level performance in one movie and be overzealous and hammy in the next.

Did I mention that Al Pacino is still hot?

Ok. Just checking.

In recycling old tunes, I listened to some of the Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, aka defining music of summer 1996.

What struck me again now - as it did back then - was that this was a quintessential rock 'n' roll Double Album: bloated, overwrought, sprawling, uber-ambitious, egomaniacal, alternately epic and awful...in other words, fuckin' glorious!

As worthy an addition to the Double Album hall of infamy as Physical Graffiti and the 'Use Your Illusion' twins.

To highlight the flaws mentioned above would be to miss the point entirely; a lean, tight, focused collection of songs doth not a double album make.

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In that same vein, the joy of Scarface - for me, and no doubt many other fans - lies precisely in Pacino's rendition of the thuggish Latino uber-alpha punk ass.

Look, if you want tasteful, Strasbourg-ian quality Method acting in your arch villian, there are plenty of characters / movies out there to fit the bill. I myself enjoy quite a few of them.

But if you are capable of enjoying a movie which revels in excess all the way up to its deliciously hammy main character, then Scarface is an unadulterated joy whose flaws simply add to its appeal!

all i have is my balls and my word.

Like when the New York Times writes about something that had a place it culture, well, you know that its time has officially died after that NYT recognition. Once movies like this and their cultural relevance are discussed by more intellectual others, the relevance is gone. Scarface has become so ubiquitous that its time has come and gone. This piece signals the end and like Love Story it will become strictly a period piece only watched by a few.

By the way, is Cribs still on? I feel like I am back in 2003 or 2004 reading this article.

You could get trichinosis even looking at that much ham.

But then that doesn't surprise me. Almost no one else around here does, including Stephanie Zacharek.

Scarface was a truly great film. The entire sub-plot apparently escaped you. And it was this: Tony Montana wanted to fuck his sister. It's the central tragedy of the movie, and you missed it because you were so caught up in the violence. I saw it when it first came out, as a senior in high school, and I wasn't so tripped up as you were. Nor were Siskel and Ebert, both of whom, at the time, recognized that as the central plot point. But you didn't get that, 25 years later. Pathetic.

The fact is that Scarface was prescient in more ways than one. Oliver Stone obviously saw what was coming in the Age of Reagan, or why else would he have written "..look at Miami, it's like a giant pussy waiting to be fucked" in one film and "..Greed is good" in another film only two years later? No, I think you are the one who didn't and isn't getting it, sir. Not at all.

"Scarface" is the type of movie that's so wild and alive that, for some people, it probably offends their sense of middle-class good taste. Yeah, it may not be subtle...but is that really such a virtue? (I can't think of any truly great American movie that I would describe as "subtle".)

When it comes to movies, I'll take passionate excess over polite subtlety any day.

How the heck do you do an entire article on the influence of "Scarface" without even mentioning "Grand Theft Auto" video game series bases on the movie?

The Godfather series is great art-two of them anyway. But Tony speaks in a way the Godfather and those others do not. The Godfather assimilated- or at least could have. Tony is for everyone who knows they will never be assimilated but have the hustle, brains, and balls to reach for the American dream-at any and all costs. Scarface is unmatched in it's power. It is raw, brutal, brilliant and tragic. Scarface lived the dream, lost everything and went out in a blaze of glory. The thing is, he lived the dream-even if but for a moment. For all those who can not imagine ever having it all-the thought of having it all if but for a moment is intoxicating. That's the power of Scarface.