X?

In 1983, this movie was a whole other beast. All the swearing, drugs, violence & nudity added up

You have to remember the social climate of the time this was made in 1983.

- The cocaine wars were in full swing in Miami 1983.
- People really were being cut up with chainsaws in hotel rooms
- people would buy Porsche or Ferrari's with cash
- Car bombings, disco shoot outs, blatant cocaine use was no secret and it embarrassed law enforcement to the point the had to build a special task force reminiscent of the untouchables to curb the violence in the streets.

This kinda stuff offended people back in the early 80's and the fact that Hollywood tried to make some kind of "anti hero" out of Tony, the censors did everything they could to limit the audience. Remember, an X rating meant no theatre distribution. No theatre distribution means a complete failure on making any money because most people didn't have a home video library.

I'm surprised you would even need to ask; have you SEEN this? When I watched the dvd I wondered why it only has an 'R' rating now; it deserves an 'NC-17' today. The violence, as well as the message in this film are both completely nuts! "Scarface" is a masterpiece, but it is one of the few movies where I feel like I need to have a shower after watching it.

Fabio Testi is GOD

What happened was the movie got slapped with an X three times and the director refused to cut it any further so he had to appeal for an R and he did get, he then asked the studio if he could release the first cut of the film and they said no, but Brian De Palma took the R and put it onto the first uncut version and released it to theaters behind the studio's backs