The Buzz Board
Picks from the Inner Circle
Gerald Posner
Info
RSS
Gerald Posner is The Daily Beast's Chief Investigative Reporter. He's the award-winning author of 10 investigative nonfiction bestsellers, ranging from political assassinations, to Nazi war criminals, to 9/11, to terrorism. His latest book, Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth and Power—A Dispatch from the Beach, was published in October. He lives in Miami Beach with his wife, the author Trisha Posner. Chief investigative reporter at The Daily Beast and author of Miami Babylon |
|
 
Rent Scarface this weekend—no one has seen it in 20 years. Where else can you find the combustible mixture of Oliver Stone's hallucinatory and violent screenplay, molded by Brian De Palma at the peak of his directing career, all fueled by the spot-on Al Pacino and then-ingenue Michelle Pfeiffer. When I originally saw it, I thought it was a cartoonish and over-the-top film. Only since moving to Miami six years ago did I learn that it was a cinematic documentary. There were many Tony Montanas. Some survived their days as drug kingpins and today are prominent Miamians, having turned from cocaine dons into civic leaders. Now, when you watch Scarface, think of it not only as a seminal film about Miami as ground zero during the heyday of the cocaine cowboys, but also see it as the fulfillment of the American Dream for an immigrant. |
Partner Sites: Expedia| Hotels| Hotwire| Urbanspoon| Vimeo
No one has seen it in 20 years?? Ridiculous. It has permeated the culture - both positively and negatively, despite the critical drubbing it originally received. It is quoted all the time, the visuals have been copped by tv and film, and Pacino's performance has, in time, become iconic.
I would advice you the rent the original Scarface from 1932. Far superior movie from Howard Hughes and Howard Hawks with Paul Muni in the lead role.
Yeah, that "no one has seen it in 20 years," is a bit of a boo-boo. With the exception of Shawshank Redemption, I don't think any movie is played more frequently on cable.
It's a cult classic, and most can recite the entire movie, since they've seen it at least twenty times!!!
Well I've not seen it for about 20 years and I thought it was a fictional gangsta fantasy flick. I never thought about it from the perspective of a 'Miamian' and that it could be historically and culturally accurate. Interesting!- I'll watch it again in a different light.
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.
Please log in to leave comments.