50 Fun Facts About Scarface

Who directed the 1983 Scarface?

Brian De Palma got involved after pursuing Al Pacino for the lead in Blow Out; Pacino pitched him a remake instead and sent over a videotape of the 1932 original.

Who wrote the screenplay for the 1983 Scarface?

Oliver Stone researched the script in South Florida with access to prosecutors' and organized-crime files; the Broward County bureau that helped him is thanked in the end credits.

Why did the screenwriter of the 1983 Scarface move to Paris to write the script?

To break his cocaine addiction: he believed he could not quit while in the United States, and has said he wrote the script completely clean because the drug is 'very destructive to the brain cells'.

Which veteran director was attached to the 1983 Scarface for a time before leaving the project?

Sidney Lumet left over creative differences, but by the screenwriter's account his was the idea that reshaped the remake: make the Prohibition gangster a Cuban refugee in the cocaine trade.

Scarface producer Martin Bregman, who was also Al Pacino's manager, had earlier produced which Pacino film?

Serpico came first: Bregman had spotted Pacino in a stage play and become his manager, and Scarface began when the actor phoned him after watching the 1932 original.

In Scarface, which weapon does Tony Montana introduce as 'my little friend'?

A grenade launcher, fixed to his rifle, is what he fires at the gunmen storming his mansion moments before he dies; the line ranks 61st on the American Film Institute's list of movie quotes.

Al Pacino's Tony Montana arrives in Miami as part of which real 1980 event?

The Mariel boatlift began when Fidel Castro opened the port of Mariel in 1980; about 125,000 Cubans reached Florida, and the film's opening text claims he packed the boats with 'the dregs of his jails'.

Who plays Manny Ribera, Tony Montana's best friend, in Scarface?

Steven Bauer, born in Havana, was the only Cuban among the leads and helped Al Pacino with his Cuban Spanish; the role brought him a Golden Globe nomination.

Which actress plays Elvira Hancock in Scarface?

Michelle Pfeiffer was little known beyond Grease 2, and the director at first refused even to audition her; the producer insisted, and the part made her a star.

How do Sosa's men kill Omar Suarez in Scarface?

Hanging him from a helicopter while Tony watches from the ground: Sosa has learned that Omar is a police informant, and uses the moment to warn Tony never to cross him.

At which Miami nightclub do gunmen try to kill Tony Montana in Scarface?

The Babylon is where two gunmen open fire on Tony's table in the middle of the floor show; he gets away with a shoulder wound, works out who sent them and takes over the whole operation that night.

Who plays Tony Montana's sister Gina in Scarface?

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio came to Gina from the Broadway stage, and the part proved her breakout: three years later she was Oscar-nominated for The Color of Money.

Which actor plays Miami drug lord Frank Lopez in Scarface?

Robert Loggia plays Frank as a dealer gone soft: caught ordering a hit on his protégé, he grovels and offers money and his girlfriend for his life, and Tony has him shot anyway.

Which future Amadeus star plays Omar Suarez in Scarface?

F. Murray Abraham plays Omar, the Lopez lieutenant who gives Tony his first drug job and is later branded an informant by Sosa; the next year he appeared as Salieri in Amadeus, the role that won his Oscar.

What is Mel Bernstein's day job in Scarface?

Police detective Mel Bernstein is on Frank Lopez's payroll and tries to sell Tony protection as well; Tony shoots him minutes after dealing with Frank.

How do Tony and Manny earn their green cards in Scarface?

By killing a former Castro official: a Miami dealer wants the man dead, and Tony stabs him during a riot in the Freedom Town refugee camp, joking that he kills Communists for fun.

In Scarface, which weapon do Colombian dealers use to kill Angel while Tony is forced to watch?

A chainsaw, in a beachside motel shower, with Tony held at gunpoint until his friends burst in; the sequence was one of the few filmed in Florida, on Miami Beach's Ocean Drive.

After a sting operation, which charge leaves Tony Montana facing prison in Scarface?

Tax evasion is the one count his lawyer can't beat after Tony is caught laundering cash with undercover agents; Sosa offers to make it disappear in return for help with a killing.

In Scarface, Tony's first cocaine deal is with Colombians, but which country does he visit to meet the kingpin Sosa?

Bolivia is Sosa's base; Tony, sent there only as Frank's messenger, negotiates a huge deal of his own, and Frank's fury at it starts the feud that kills him.

Why does Tony Montana shoot his best friend Manny near the end of Scarface?

He finds him with Gina, his sister, and fires before learning that the two had just married and were planning to surprise him with the news.

Which of Frank Lopez's lessons does Tony Montana ignore in Scarface?

Don't get high on your own supply is Frank's second lesson, after never underestimating the other guy's greed; by the end Tony is slumped behind a mound of cocaine as the killers close in.

Why does Tony Montana call off the bombing Sosa has ordered in Scarface?

A family is with the target: the journalist has his wife and family in the car, so Tony shoots Sosa's bomber before he can set off the charge, and a furious Sosa turns on him.

In Scarface, Tony Montana's body falls into a fountain beneath a sign bearing which motto?

The World Is Yours is lifted from the 1932 original, where the slogan flashes on a travel company's billboard outside the gangster's window and is still blazing when he lies dead in the street.

Who fires the shot that kills Tony Montana in Scarface?

A hitman behind him fires as Tony, on his balcony, rages at the attackers below; the raid is Sosa's revenge for a killing Tony refused to carry out.

Which subtitle did censors make the 1932 Scarface carry before they would pass it?

The Shame of the Nation was the tag the Hays Office demanded, along with a preachy foreword and a new ending in which Tony is tried and hanged; some states saw that version and others the original shootout.

Which Clint Eastwood film beat Scarface at the box office when both opened on the same weekend in 1983?

Sudden Impact took $9.7 million that weekend to Scarface's $4.6 million, so the future cult favorite opened in second place; it went on to earn about $45 million in North America.

Which rating did the MPAA first give Scarface before an appeal?

X, for excessive and cumulative violence and for language; its makers appealed, and a board of theater owners, studio executives and distributors voted 17 to 3 for an R.

Which tycoon produced the 1932 Scarface and battled censors for months to release it?

Howard Hughes bankrolled it, fought the censors for months rather than accept every cut, then withdrew it from circulation; it was rarely seen again until his estate sold the rights in 1979.

The 1983 Scarface packs in more than 200 of which thing, more than one a minute?

Uses of the F-word: tallies run from 207 to 226 in 170 minutes, and the ratings board cited the film's language alongside its violence in its first ruling.

Why was most of Scarface shot in Los Angeles instead of Miami?

Cuban-American groups protested that the script painted refugees as criminals, and a Miami commissioner moved to deny city permits; the tourist board is also said to have turned the crew away.

Who composed the synth-driven score for the 1983 Scarface?

Giorgio Moroder, an Italian disco producer, built the score from synthesizers and also wrote the film's songs, among them 'Push It to the Limit'; the work earned a Golden Globe nomination.

What are Tony and Manny doing for a living when Omar first offers them drug work in Scarface?

Washing dishes at a food stand is as far as their green cards get them at first; Tony treats an offer of $500 to unload marijuana as an insult and holds out for a cocaine pickup instead.

Al Pacino has said which boxer helped inspire his portrayal of Tony Montana in Scarface?

Roberto Duran was 'one inspiration', Pacino said decades later: 'I liked his heart'; he built Tony from pieces of many people, some he knew and some he didn't.

Tony Montana's Miami mansion in Scarface was really El Fureidis, an estate near which California city?

Santa Barbara's neighbor Montecito is home to El Fureidis; with most of the shoot based in California, the estate's exteriors stood in for a Florida drug lord's palace.

The 1983 Scarface closes with a dedication to the original film's director and to which screenwriter?

Ben Hecht wrote the 1932 screenplay in eleven days, drawing on his years as a Chicago newspaperman; half a century later the remake's closing credits salute him by name.

Which critic gave Scarface four stars out of four in 1983?

Roger Ebert gave it four stars and, during the ratings fight, wrote a letter of support that was read out at the film's appeal hearing; he later added it to his Great Movies list.

In which city does Tony Montana abort the car bombing ordered by Sosa in Scarface?

New York is where Tony joins Sosa's bomber to kill a journalist about to expose the cartel; the trip is the price of Sosa's promise to keep him out of prison.

How does the 2006 Scarface video game change the film's ending for Tony Montana?

He survives the mansion shootout and sets about rebuilding his Miami empire and taking revenge; the game used Al Pacino's likeness, though another actor supplied the voice.

In a drunken restaurant rant in Scarface, Tony Montana tells the diners to 'say good night to' whom?

The bad guy: just abandoned by Elvira, Tony tells the well-heeled diners they need men like him so they can point a finger, call him that and feel good about themselves.

Which film tops the AFI's list of the ten greatest gangster films, where the 1983 Scarface ranks tenth?

The Godfather leads the 2008 list, on which Scarface appears twice, the 1932 original at number six and the remake at ten; many critics had savaged the remake on release.

Who directed the original 1932 Scarface?

Howard Hawks finished it in 1931, then fought the censors for months; he refused to shoot the moralizing scenes and new ending they demanded, so another director did, and the 1983 remake is dedicated to him.

Who played gangster Tony Camonte in the 1932 Scarface?

Paul Muni had gone back to Broadway by the time censors demanded a new ending with Tony hanged, so a double, filmed in shadow and long shot, stood in for him.

The 1932 Scarface was based on a novel inspired by which real gangster?

Al Capone took a personal interest: the film's director met him while preparing it, and its writer claimed two of Capone's men turned up to ask whether the script was about their boss.

Which visual motif did the 1932 Scarface use to foreshadow deaths?

An X, like the scar on Tony's cheek, turns up in shadows, ceiling beams, a door number and a strike on a bowling scoresheet when a killing is near; it first appears behind the opening credits.

Which actor's habit of flipping a coin in the 1932 Scarface became a gangster-movie trademark?

George Raft's coin toss became his signature, and he sent it up himself in Some Like It Hot, asking a coin-flipping hood where he picked up that cheap trick.

In 1994 the 1932 Scarface was selected for which honor roll of American movies?

The National Film Registry took it in 1994 as 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant', a long way from 1932, when censors in several states banned it outright.

Which horror icon appears in the 1932 Scarface as gangster Tom Gaffney?

Boris Karloff is the rival gang boss shot down in a bowling alley; the camera stays on his ball and on the last pin as it wobbles and falls.

Which Chicago rapper goes by 'Sosa', the name of Scarface's cocaine kingpin?

Chief Keef made the alias famous with his hit 'Love Sosa'; the film has fed hip-hop for decades, lending rappers stage names, samples and whole song titles.

Which hip-hop label released the 2003 compilation Music Inspired by Scarface?

Def Jam released it in September 2003, the same month the film returned to theaters for its 20th anniversary; the album gathers rap tracks that draw on the film, not music from it.

The real trafficker who inspired Scarface's Alejandro Sosa, Roberto Suárez Gómez, was known by which nickname?

King of Cocaine was what Suárez Gómez was called; Sosa has no counterpart in the 1932 film, and the screenwriter added the character to the story with him in mind.