Why so much love for this pile of crap?

The Oliver Stone script matters, and is good. (It is a warm up for Stone's take on capitalism and greed, "Wall Street" of 1987.)

I think the long scene where Tony deals successively with Frank Lopez, the crooked cop Bernstein and the henchman Ernie is an exercise in character and dark humor.

Hidden within Pacino's bravado performance as Scarface is a portrait of a leader and a brave man. That's why gangstas love him.

Look at how he holds up during the chainsaw scene. He's scared, but he won't give up the information on the money and he spits in his torturer's eyes.

Look at how he outmaneuvers Omar and makes pals with Sosa...but does NOT sell out his boss(Frank Lopez) in dealing with Sosa ("Frank's a smart man...this is a crazy business, anybody could have hired the wrong guy.") He also tells Sosa he has only two things in this life -- "my word and my balls" -- and he will break neither. A gangster's code.

Look at how he tries to bring his "boss" Frank in on "expanding" (he's really telling Frank HE's the boss now) -- but then goads the weak Frank into trying to assassinate him, thus allowing for the payback execution of Frank and taking of Frank's girl, Elvira.

Crucially and his big downfall -- he won't kill the woman and two children. That separates him from all the other savages in Scarface, and allows him to be a hero to generations of gangsters.

---

That said, Tony's courage and leadership capabilities have no ability to overcome his human downside -- his incestuous love for his sister, his inability to truly love Elvira, his absolutely crazy sudden decision to kill his best friend. Cautionary: its the drugs in his system that bring on his ultimate downfall -- he kills Manny and doesn't see the hit team swarming his property until it is too late.

Garish, violent, slightly campy movie -- but very solid in the scripting and themes.

PS. I think its that horrible fake disco score -- "Flashdance"/"Fame" style -- that makes Scarface seem cheesy today, but it is a perfect capture of American music culture circa 1983.

Gotta agree with TheCommenteer.
It was well done in every aspect of moviemaking...but the characters were horrible and painfully stupid.
Big difference.

It's funny because I was about that age when I first saw it, it became an instant favourite of mine to say the least. Being in my early 20s now, I wonder if my thoughts on it would change if I were to give it a rewatch. All I'll say is I personally love it despite it's datedness, it's definitely not a film for everyone though.

"He was essentially a hotheaded, undisciplined jackass".

But he wasn't undisciplined during the first half of the film. He certainly had the street smarts and impressed the big kingpin Sosa with his no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point approach to business which was instrumental in paving the way to being a major local distributor in Miami (it's not like he was some great transcontinental mastermind though - now 'that' would have been unrealistic). In fact, the only unwise thing he did during the rise segment of the film, was openly hitting on Frank Lopez's woman, which almost cost him his life.



"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan