Written by James M. Tate / 3/04/2016 / No comments / al pacino , christian slater , eighties , nineties , oliver stone , quentin tarantino , tony scott , val kilmer
UNPOPULAR TAKES ON BELOVED 'SCARFACE' & 'TRUE ROMANCE'
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Firing away at a so-called Masterpiece Year: 1983 |
And now can be viewed in all its glory, and flaws… As for the latter, and with the legacy of what’s considered a “timeless classic” supposedly on par with the THE GODFATHER, who knew there were so many downsides? During one important scene, bordering the first and second act, when Al Pacino’s Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who climbs from poverty and starts making loads of cash in the cocaine business, visits his mother, he offers money to her and Tony’s little sister. Mama refuses, saying the cash is dirty. At this point, not only does the dough seem clean as a whistle, and a damn nice gift, but we hardly experience Tony’s initial climb from the slums to a car dealership where a forty thousand dollar Porsche is an easy purchase…
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Pacino Blasting |
In one scene with Tony and his best friend Manny, played by super-stud Steven Bauer, resembling a guy who would make the cut in a SEXY GANGSTER CALENDAR, there's a terrific "hit" within the makeshift Cuban immigrant camp beneath a freeway.
Brian De Palma’s long-shot direction is suspenseful and follows his established haunting style, and is, for Tony, really the last dirty deed unless you don’t count a number of meetings with Robert Loggia’s Frank Lopez, an over-friendly fella who, like what occurs in anything Noir-related, is way too trusting with his trophy wife; and then he puts the Cuban scoundrel quickly into the biz with too much power up front: like he's begging to be replaced, in every category.
An important scene has Tony meeting in a lush nightclub office with the real head honcho in South America… Herein, an important heavy, Sosa, takes an instant liking to Montana’s street savvy knowhow, having found his man, and vice versa. And the soon to be Oscar winning F. Murray Abraham, as Omar (the Johnny Ola of the film), becomes a middleman that’s no longer needed. In fact, Montana connected so well with Sosa, even Loggia's Frank's days of reign are (predictably) numbered back home while his relationship with Michelle Pfeiffer’s pouting princess Elvira is also doomed.
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SCARFACE poster |
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Al Pacino |
Pfieffer’s sullen bitch aside, the real ingénue is Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Tony’s vulnerable little sister, who literally goes from girl-next-door to coke-snorting whore within two scenes with very little in-between, and her budding relationship with Tony’s best pal Manny, who's been at his side throughout, results in a tragic, and unnecessary death...
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Had Potential |
If the movie provided enough slowburn, suspenseful action… like when Tony refuses to pull off a car-explosion hit to protect two children… SCARFACE would fit into the top shelf gangster canon. But from the bottom to the top of the world being Tony Manero’s, it all felt too easy, somehow. So the problem isn’t what’s there, but what’s left out.
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True Romance cool poster |
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The Kids Aren't Alright |
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Read This Book for TR |
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Dennis Hopper |
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Gary in TREK |
MOVIE RATINGS:
SCARFACE: *1/2
TRUE ROMANCE: **
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