100 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.

Which visiting director filmed a single shot of the climactic gunfight in the 1983 Scarface?

Steven Spielberg directed just one camera shot while visiting the set. The shoot he dropped in on ran 24 weeks, double the 12 that had been planned.

Which dictator named a money-laundering company Montana Management after Tony Montana's operation in Scarface?

Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, borrowed the name from the front Tony uses to wash his drug profits.

The screenwriter of Scarface named Tony Montana after his favorite player in which sport?

Football supplied the name: the writer's favorite player was NFL quarterback Joe Montana. The Tonys of the novel and the 1932 film were Italian immigrants named Guarino and Camonte.

Which injury to Al Pacino shut down filming of the 1983 Scarface for more than a week?

A burned hand halted the shoot after Pacino tripped during a fight scene and touched the hot muzzle of a weapon that had just been fired.

Which 2002 open-world video game drew on Scarface and includes a recreation of Tony Montana's mansion?

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is set in a stand-in for 1980s Miami, and its makers drew on Scarface and the TV series Miami Vice more than on anything else of the era.

Which 1990s WWF wrestling persona did Scott Hall model on Tony Montana and Manny from Scarface?

Razor Ramon, a stylish Cuban American bully from Miami, debuted in the WWF in 1992. Hall later said he had pitched a Scarface-style character as a joke.

Which new wave star co-wrote and sang Rush Rush for the soundtrack of the 1983 Scarface?

Debbie Harry, the former frontwoman of Blondie, co-wrote Rush Rush, a song that refers to cocaine use.

In the 1983 Scarface, Tony Montana first sees the slogan he later adopts scrolling across what?

A blimp drifts past with the message just after Tony seizes Frank Lopez's business. The end credits thank Goodyear and the crew of its airship Enterprise.

Which rapper opened the 2023 track Daylight with a sampled Al Pacino monologue from Scarface?

Drake put the sample on his album For All the Dogs, where a Washington Post critic judged it the record's most embarrassing moment.

Which song plays over the montage of Tony Montana's rise to wealth and power in the 1983 Scarface?

Push It to the Limit, sung by Paul Engemann, covers the stretch in which Tony takes over the trade and marries Elvira. South Park later parodied the sequence.

Which Atlanta rapper's debut single, released in 2011, is titled Tony Montana after the Scarface lead?

Future compares himself to the character on the track, which became the lead single from his first studio album, Pluto.

Which real gangland killing is restaged in the 1932 Scarface, with gunmen dressed as officers?

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929 is mirrored when seven men are shot in a garage. The rival boss narrowly escapes, just as Bugs Moran did.

Which newly arrived weapon thrills Tony Camonte so much in the 1932 Scarface that he arms his gang with it?

The Tommy gun first appears when rivals try to kill Tony with it, and he is so excited that he quickly equips his own men.

Besides Al Pacino, which actor did a 1981 trade report say was being considered to play Tony Montana?

Robert De Niro was named alongside Pacino in a Hollywood Reporter item in April 1981, more than a year before cameras rolled in November 1982.

Why is Tony Montana played by another performer in the 2006 Scarface video game that uses Al Pacino's likeness?

His voice had changed too much since 1983, Pacino and the producers agreed, so he personally chose comedian André Sogliuzzo to play Tony instead.

What do immigration officers spot on Tony Montana that marks him as a prison assassin in Scarface?

A tattoo shaped like a trident is the giveaway, and it sinks his request for a green card on the spot.

What gave Al Pacino the idea for the 1983 Scarface while he was in Los Angeles?

A screening of the 1932 film at the Tiffany Theater sent Pacino to the phone to tell his manager that a remake had potential.

Which studio bought the rights to the 1932 Scarface in 1979 and released the remake four years later?

Universal Pictures got the film in a package of eight from the company running the late tycoon's estate, and that purchase sparked the remake.

Which awards body nominated the 1983 Scarface three times, including for Al Pacino's lead performance?

The Golden Globes also nominated the actor who played Manny, for his supporting role, and the film's original score.

What job does Tony Montana claim to hold when he gives his mother $1,000 in Scarface?

Political organizer is his cover story, but his mother sees through the lie, berates him for his crimes and throws him out.

Where do Tony and Manny corner Frank Lopez after the failed attempt on Tony's life in Scarface?

His car dealership is where Frank admits ordering the hit and grovels for his life. Manny shoots him on Tony's order.

Elvira Hancock, the woman Tony Montana pursues and marries in Scarface, comes from which American city?

Baltimore is almost the only thing Scarface reveals about her past. The part proved the breakthrough role for the actress who played her.

Where are Tony Montana and Manny held for a month after arriving in Florida in Scarface?

A camp under a highway, known as Freedom Town, holds the refugees who arrive without papers. A riot erupts there before Tony leaves.

What does Tony Montana tell immigration officers gives him the right to a green card in Scarface?

An American father is his claim, but the officers have already decided he has a criminal past and keep him in detention.

Which $500 job do Tony and Manny turn down before Omar offers them cocaine work in Scarface?

Unloading marijuana from a boat arriving from Mexico strikes Tony as an insult, and his demand for more money leads Omar to offer the bigger job.

Which of the friends who arrived with Tony Montana is killed defending his mansion at the end of Scarface?

Chi-Chi falls with the rest of Tony's guards when Sosa's men overrun the grounds. Angel, the fourth of the group, died in their first drug deal.

Which legitimate business does Tony Montana set up as a front for his sister Gina to manage in Scarface?

A hair salon suits Gina, who was doing hair part-time at a beauty parlor when Tony came back into her life.

Which Meryl Streep film, with its immigrant heroine, influenced Al Pacino's portrayal of Tony Montana?

Sophie's Choice, released a year earlier, gave Pacino Streep's immigrant Sophie to study. He also trained with experts in knife combat.

What did the director of the 1983 Scarface quietly do after trimming the film to satisfy the ratings board?

Released the uncut version: he judged the trims too small to notice, and admitted the switch only months after the film came out.

Which American novelist, like John Irving, said he walked out of the 1983 Scarface after an early gory scene?

Kurt Vonnegut left at the same point as Irving, during the bloody collapse of Tony's first drug deal.

Which director reportedly warned a Scarface cast member halfway through the film that Hollywood would hate it?

Martin Scorsese reportedly told the actor playing Manny that the industry would hate the film because it was really about them.

A 2011 Scarface Blu-ray gift set, limited to 1,000 copies and priced at $999.99, came housed in what?

A cigar humidor designed by craftsman Daniel Marshall held the two-disc set, which also packed in a DVD of the 1932 film.

Which video game added Tony Montana as a playable character through a Scarface pack in 2016?

Payday 2 also sold a separate pack with a heist set at Tony's mansion. The character pack was withdrawn from sale in October 2020.

Which rapper's 1996 video with Snoop Dogg, for 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted, opens by restaging a Scarface scene?

2Pac was one of many: the film's release coincided with the rise of hip-hop, and it has had a lasting influence on the genre's artists.

Which Mötley Crüe song about a drug dealer's rise and fall has a video echoing the end of Scarface?

Dr. Feelgood closes its video with a bloodless restaging of the final firefight in which Tony dies.

Which ballad singer belts out a chorus about Scarface on The Lonely Island's comedy track Jack Sparrow?

Michael Bolton hijacks the trio's club song to sing about films he loves, ending with Scarface. He was uneasy about joining in because of the coarse language.

Which sibling filmmakers wrote the script for a Scarface remake once scheduled to open in August 2018?

The Coen brothers' script outlasted several directors, among them Antoine Fuqua and Luca Guadagnino, who both left the project.

In the 1932 Scarface, the billboard slogan that inspires Tony Camonte is an advertisement for what?

A travel agency, Cook's Tours, is advertised on the electric billboard, which Tony proudly points out from the window of his gaudy apartment.

How does Tony Camonte die in the alternate ending that censors demanded for the 1932 Scarface?

On the gallows, after a judge sentences him: censors wanted Tony punished by the law. The lead was busy on Broadway, so a body double was filmed in shadow.

The writers of the 1932 Scarface modelled Tony Camonte and his sister on which notorious Renaissance family?

The Borgias suggested the film's hint of incest between Tony and his sister, a thread already present in the novel.

Which rising star did producer Irving Thalberg suggest for the lead in the 1932 Scarface before its director refused?

Clark Gable was a personality, not an actor, in the director's view, and the role went to a Broadway performer instead.

During which pastime did the tycoon who produced the 1932 Scarface win over the director he had recently sued?

A round of golf did it: he promised to drop his plagiarism lawsuit, and by the 18th hole the director was interested in the job.

Why was the 1932 Scarface almost impossible to see legally for decades before 1979?

Its producer locked it away in his vaults a few years after release, upset that the censorship fights had stopped it making money.

Tony Camonte whistles a tune from an opera by which Italian composer during the 1932 Scarface's violent scenes?

Gaetano Donizetti wrote it: the sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor. The whistle stands out because the film has no background score outside its credits.

In the 1932 Scarface, where does Tony Camonte personally kill the rival gang boss Tom Gaffney?

A bowling alley is the setting, and the camera stays on the last standing pin as it falls, a visual joke about the death of a kingpin.

Which French New Wave director named the 1932 Scarface the best American sound film in Cahiers du Cinéma?

Jean-Luc Godard's praise is echoed at home: the American Film Institute ranks it sixth among gangster films, four places above its remake.

The actor who played crime boss Johnny Lovo in the 1932 Scarface had a son who became which horror star?

Anthony Perkins, the Norman Bates of Psycho, was the only child of Osgood Perkins, who plays the boss Tony betrays.

Which member of BTS released a solo track called Tony Montana on a 2016 mixtape?

Suga released it as Agust D, an alias built from his stage name spelled backwards plus DT, the initials of his birthplace, Daegu Town.

A crime boss had an exact replica of Tony Montana's mansion built for himself in which country?

Italy: Camorra boss Walter Schiavone ordered the copy near Naples, and a 2012 raid on another Naples gangster's home turned up a life-sized porcelain bust of Tony.

John A. Alonzo, who shot the 1983 Scarface, earned an Oscar nomination for filming which Roman Polanski film?

Chinatown made his name, and Alonzo was also the first American cinematographer of Mexican descent to join the union in Los Angeles.