Poor?

I hope you mean bad ass in a literal sense, because you must of felt real bad wasting you money on such a piece of garbage. And if that movie made you feel like a bad ass, then it sure doesn't take much to impress you. Which one is it, the literal meaning or the slang meaning? Think hard before answering.

Now I do not know where you saw the movie, maybe where you live people were impressed. Perhaps you snuck into the movie and you were a youngster but Pacino's over acting was enough to have people laughing add on the bad accent and the Miami Vice meets the Frito Bandito on coke type plot. And what do you have, A awful movie that is so bad that it is entertaining, in a unintentional way. You cannot possibly tell me you took the movie seriously. And we are not going to get into the high insensitivity about Latino's aspect of the movie.

It is a pity you have limited yourself. One who does that also has a limited view of most things. So it does not surprise me that you would think the remake was a good movie. And why else would you say something so misled about the production values in the 30's are a joke. How you came to a conclusion like that about something you admit limiting yourself to is just as preposterous as Al Pacino's accent. Oh well, what else can I say other then if Say hello to My Little Friend your idea of good writing. I say Say hello to a good movie, the original Scarface,

I was in the Audiance when Scarface with Pacino came out. I remember walking out of that film saying it was bad ass. I don't recall any howling during the picture.<<<<<<<


Whether people were actually howling or not, Scarface 1983 was initially a box office disappointment. It previewed during the Christmas holiday and on the opening weekend had only cleared just over four million in box office receipts. This despite production cost of over 25 million which was no low budget by 1983 standards. Granted, that by the time it went into video it had double its money in US distribution. Yet, it wasn't thought to become the classic gangster film of the late 20th century. The 1983 Scarface was one of the early films which gained lofty status through video.

Technically, Pacino was over-the-top in his performance. However, it broke him out of a mold which placed the viewing audience on notice that he was an actor who could define roles from the method acting approach. Think about his previous films. Here was a guy of small stature who although initially appeared meek and mild could step up and give strong performances. But in Scarface he figuratively threw away the script and took a chance in this part. At the time of its release Pacino fans and myself included were saying "Al what are you doing". It was felt that this crazy accent and over acting would lead to his undoing. Yet, upon close observation of Tony Montana, Pacino gained spontaneity through an understanding of the character's objectives and this enabled him to portray emotional investment in the scenes that allowed the viewer to react to the character. Thus creating a "willing suspension of disbelief". You could actually believe that he snorted dozens of grams of cocaine and fire a grenade launcher in a closed room at a door from less than 15 feet, demolishing the door and then swagger out. Afterwards being shot 30-40 times and still standing. Despite the impossibility of the aforementioned scenario, Pacino sold it to the world. Theoretically it should have been easier to sell sand in the Sahara.

Scarface at the outset appeared to be a bad movie. But because Pacino performance it translated into a masterpiece. He demonstrated to all that his approach to method acting rivalled Dean, Brando and Newman.