DVD Review HTF Review: Scarface: Anniversary Edition (1 Viewer)

[Doug Fisher]

Hmm that is not how mine is. You are saying the keepcase is totally english and the reverse is french? Mine is english/french and on the reverse french/english.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Flick kinda goes overboard here and there...but only in the most entertaining ways.

True, but as De Palma and Pacino both point out in the documentary, that's entirely by design. Pacino repeatedly uses the word "operatic", which is how I've always thought of the film.

Great documentary, BTW, and it's obviously been in preparation for a long time. The interviews with the late John Alonzo had to have been done almost three years ago (he died on March 13, 2001).

M.

 

[Ron Reda]

BTW, I see the EE/halos using a 51" display, so perhaps that has something to do with my impressions.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

it's obviously been in preparation for a long time. The interviews with the late John Alonzo had to have been done almost three years ago (he died on March 13, 2001).

The John Alonzo interviews appeared on the 1996 LD box set and on the original DVD. That is where the docs on the new set were derived from.

Neil

 

[Michael Reuben]

The John Alonzo interviews appeared on the 1996 LD box set and on the original DVD.

None of the material is new? It's been a long time since I viewed the 1996 LD, but some of the material seemed new to me.

M.

 

[ScottR]

On my box, some of the paint is missing on some of the letters...could this be from the way the boxes were printed on the faux leather? I guess it's nothing to worry about, but just wondered what everyone else's looked like.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I had no idea this was the case, but some parts of the soundtrack for Scarface was used for Grand Theft Auto III. I didn't make that connection until last night.

For the longest time, I thought "She's On Fire" and "Push It To The Limit" were made up songs on GTAIII. How appropriate.

 

[RyanPC]

I had no idea this was the case, but some parts of the soundtrack for Scarface was used for Grand Theft Auto III. I didn't make that connection until last night.

For the longest time, I thought "She's On Fire" and "Push It To The Limit" were made up songs on GTAIII. How appropriate.

I had no idea either, until I watched the movie. My friend and I play that game all the time and always make fun of "She's on Fire" and "I'm Hot Tonight" because they are so funny... great stuff!

 

[Felix Martinez]

BTW, I see the EE/halos using a 51" display, so perhaps that has something to do with my impressions.

I did see a bit of EE here and there, but not to a distracting degree (92 inch screen, Panny RP-91, Sanyo PLV-60 projector).

Other quick obs...

The soundtrack has no low end and is a pretty faithful representation of how the film has always sounded (crappy). I'm surprised Universal went to the trouble of re-purposing what appears to be the original 2.0 Dolby Surround track into 5.1 (and DTS at that) without re-EQing the track. I mean: there is *no* low end!

It's a terrible sounding soundtrack IMHO - looped audio is terrible, and you can actually hear the room tone of the dubbing stage during many of the looped sequences. Where'd they loop the film, in someone's bedroom?

Picture quality is substantially improved over the previous DVD (and LD), but still is rather murky during many of the darker interior scenes.

The rap "documentary" is a joke. Can't believe it's listed first as one of the special features on the back cover. Waste of time IMHO. Would have been better in a small dose as part of an overall docu on the legacy of the film. Did Def Jam finance part of this release? Certainly looks like it...

As a child of Cuban-American parents living in Miami during the Scarface production controversy, IMHO there could have been a bit more in the docu from the POV of the exiles. For instance, in contrast to what Bregman and co. state on the "Creating Scarface" docu, the big issue that bothered the exiles regarding the production was that there was a dramatic increase in racist remarks leveled at Cuban-Americans in South Florida after the 1980 Mariel fiasco. Personally, this was the only time in my life I heard "spic" leveled at me, my family and friends in public. By 1982, this had leveled off - and then here comes Scarface: The Production fueling the situation again. By late '83 when the film was released, enough time had passed that the racism had died down and the Cuban-American community LOVED the film! I remember seeing it with friends and family in a sold-out theater and the audience ROARED with laughter at the humor and was completely riveted and terrified by the violence. What an experience!

What you essentially get from the docu is that the Cuban-American community thought the film was financed by Castro (??!!), ran the production out of town, and hated the film. I'm sure the film has its detractors, but there was so much more behind this story.

But the bottom line is that there is finally an acceptable version of Scarface on DVD - if you can find it. Seems everywhere I go, stores are sold out of both the box set and the disc!

Cheers,

 

[Dome Vongvises]

What did people not like about the rap documentary? I liked it enough.

I'm guessing the mentality and pretentiousness of the rappers? I don't know, I kind of liked the insights the rappers had.

 

[Randy A Salas]

I'm guessing the mentality and pretentiousness of the rappers? I don't know, I kind of liked the insights the rappers had.

What insight? To a one, they all praise the film because it's extremely violent, has a lot of memorable one-liners and has a lot of uses of the F-word, and they admire Tony Montana as the first "ghetto superhero." That's it. Those themes are repeated again and again. Not a lot of insight there.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

What insight? To a one, they all praise the film because it's extremely violent, has a lot of memorable one-liners and has a lot of uses of the F-word, and they admire Tony Montana as the first "ghetto superhero." That's it. Those themes are repeated again and again. Not a lot of insight there.

I figured somebody would say that and understandbly so.

But I think you're oversimplifying what you're seeing and hearing in the documentary. I'm not asking anybody to put themselves into their shoes, but at least to understand where they're coming from. I don't have the greatest powers of empathy in the world, but I'd at least try and make an effort.

I think we can all agree to some extent that Scarface is a parable for a person's pursuit of the American Dream. Everybody has a different idea of what the American Dream is, but evidently this version of the American Dream clicks with a lot of rappers.

You're absolutley right, Randy, when it comes to some of the things on the documentary. They continually praise the film for its violence, excessivley quote its memorable one-liners, and extol Tony Montana as a "ghetto superhero". And those themes are repeated again and again.

But I'm confused by why you are ignoring (or refuse to accept) the overwhelming positives in the documentary. As Scarface chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of a figure, this closely mirrors a lot of rapper's lives. At least the rising part of it. They find themes in Scarface they can identify with and delineate lessons to learn from. Let's hope that we never have to go throught that or live that lifestyle.

And these are not just simple, relatively general themes these rappers are identifying with either. These are things that rappers can specifically identify with, such things as the gangster code, the hustling to stay alive, and the element of trust amongst criminals. These are things I'll never get to experience first-hand, but I can understand what they're saying, and I think the documentary does the good job of translating this to the audience.

And this is where their insight comes from. They're willing to take these themes in Scarface they see and hopefully learn and apply the lessons they learned from them. They go step-by-step with all the admirable qualities about being gangster (trusting your main "brother", supporting family, etc.) while tempering this with the negatives of what can come from being a gangster (breaking your own rules, becoming greedy, etc.). I find this much more admirable than a film with vague philosophical ideas where you can't even begin to answer the question, "What's the point?".

You can even tell how giddy the rappers get when they start beaming about all the cool things Tony Montana did. But you can also detect a hint of sadness, restraint, and thoughtfulness when they start talking about why Tony Montana "falls", and you can see that fear always hangs over them. I think we can at least identify with the part about losing success (whatever people define success to be).

Anybody is more than willing to debate me on this. I find myself forgetting to say things all the time, and I always have logic holes in my statements (probably holes in my brain ). But I'm not going to doubt what I feel though.

I think a lot of what turns people off to this documentary are the mannerisms and behaviors we associate with rappers. I personally don't find it irritating. You can debate on this as well.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Well said, Dome.

I went into that featurette with much skepticism but found it quite fascinating.

I could certainly see how the attitudes of some of the hip-hop folks could be a little off-putting but I also felt they offered some compelling insights.

Call it an attempt to deliver a Special Feature that brings in the cross-culture bucks, but I think the featurette is a fine inclusion on the DVD.

 

[Michael Reuben]

There's an interesting documentary to be made about the differing (and sometimes remarkably similar) reactions to Scarface from different types of people. It isn't just rappers who have made Tony Montana into a cult figure. He's a recurrent folk hero in parts of the financial industry, a phenomenon caricatured in Boiler Room (but the caricature has a factual basis).

M.

 

[Ray_Gootz]

Growing up in New York City I have to say Scarface is probably the most influential movie of the last 20 years. Everyone and I mean everyone from Itlians, Hispanics, Blacks...EVERYONE loves this movie. Not just likes it. But loves it. They talk about Tony like he was a real guy. They have pictures of him in their house. I finally saw the movie today and while I thought it was okay, it wasn't the blow-away experince for me like it is for everyone else in my town. But even though I am not the film's biggest fan I will not deny that this movie is the most influential movie of the last 20 maybe even 30 years. For those of you that don't live in the inner-city you don't know how this movie has not only influenced and changed lives but an entire culture of people.

If I were DePalma, Pacino and Stone I'd feel proud because no matter how many awards other films recieve, no matter how much money they gross, No matter how many sequels and toys they make nothing will ever touch Scarface. What that film has done is nothing short of amazing. Don't just tip your hat, friggin' BOW to these men.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Ok, not that i have anything against the giftset, because its wonderful and i have it in my collection. But i cant understand why people are so ignorant, on e bay right now the giftset is going for as high as 81.00 ! Im pretty sure stores will restock to the max on this title,do people really think it went out of print in 2 days ?

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Wow ! The giftset is now at number 1 selling dvd item at amazon.com. Not only that , but its sold out as well, because it says ships in 9 to 13 days. I honestly cant remember the last time they were sold out on any dvd.Makes me glad i reserved my copy and have it.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Little is said about direction, editing, cinematography, the script - topics that might normally dominate a discussion about a film classic. To the hip-hop community, "Scarface" transcends all that. It's about what the film represents, not so much what it is.

"We're just happy to see another cat who had nothing make it," Combs says, "no matter how he was getting it."

Yes, there are positives in the documentary. I went out of my way to point one out, but I certainly wouldn't call them overwhelming. Combs comments aren't typical of the majority of comments from others.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Yes, there are positives in the documentary. I went out of my way to point one out, but I certainly wouldn't call them overwhelming. Combs comments aren't typical of the majority of comments from others.

boldface emphasis mine

We're just going to have disagree on that one.

 

[JonZ]

I kind of happy this disc has been selling so well. Its a film Ive always loved.

Now if Universal would just give us a anamorphic version of The Thing