IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive
RottenTomatoes.com
Register | Log In | What is RT?
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Trailers & Pictures The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches by subscribing to our Google Subscribed Links profile.
 
Movies / On DVD / Scarface
Scarface

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Email to a Friend
  • Add to List
  • Bookmark and Share
  • Buy Poster External Icon

Scarface (1983)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
87 %
Tomatometer

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted: 38

Fresh: 33

Rotten:5

Average Rating: 7.4/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 50 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Brian De Palma's blood-and-sun-drenched saga of a Cuban deportee's rise to the top of Miami's cocaine business has become something of a popular classic since its release; it's been referenced in rap songs and subsequent gangster movies... Brian De Palma's blood-and-sun-drenched saga of a Cuban deportee's rise to the top of Miami's cocaine business has become something of a popular classic since its release; it's been referenced in rap songs and subsequent gangster movies and quoted the world over. Despite this lovefest with the dialogue, the film's brutal violence and lack of positive characters still make it controversial and disliked by certain critics. Al Pacino stars as Tony Montana, whose intelligence, guts, and ambition help him skyrocket from dishwasher to the top of a criminal empire but whose eventual paranoia and incestuous desire for his kid sister (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) prove his undoing. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Tony's neglected coke-addicted trophy wife, and Steven Bauer is his concerned friend. F. Murray Abraham, Robert Loggia, and Paul Shenar are some of Tony's sleazy business partners and potential killers. Oliver Stone wrote the expletive-packed screenplay, based on Howard Hawks's 1932 version--which was ostensibly about Al Capone and starred Paul Muni and George Raft. The synth-heavy Giorgio Moroder score expertly evokes the drug-fueled decadence of 1980s Miami, and De Palma provides several of his elaborate set pieces, including a horrific showstopper in a motel room with a chain saw. [More]

Starring: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

Starring: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia

Director: Brian De Palma

Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriter: Oliver Stone
Producer: Martin Bregman

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Scarface

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

This is very much a film of the 80s in its portrayal not of moral decline (there is little declining left to do) but of unstoppable ego-centrism. With guns.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/17/01
Nick Hilditch
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Perfomances are excellent...despite its moralistic conclusion...

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Pacino, of course, goes way over the top and through the floor on the other side.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
08/13/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image

Scarface could be the male moviegoer's answer to Mommie Dearest ... when it's not grotesquely melodramatic, it somehow manages to be incredibly dull.

Full Review Source: DVD Review | comment 2 Comments
07/10/07
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
DVD Review
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
05/31/07
J.B. Mitchell
Orlando Weekly
Ratings Image

Painted in exuberant, extravagant swaths of red, Brian De Palma's foolhardy epic is a thing of delirious grandeur

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
08/28/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
Ratings Image

Ugly and overrated

comment 1 Comment
10/21/05
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World
Ratings Image

What's left to say?

comment Comment
08/15/05
Bill Clark
FromTheBalcony
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/05
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
06/30/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

Sometime it fun.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
06/27/05
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ratings Image

Stylish ultra violence = one popular film for many, sad to say.

comment Comment
06/08/05
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com
Ratings Image

The most frantic and assured film of Brian De Palma's impressive career.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
05/27/05
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star
Ratings Image

A slyly ironic vision of America’s still-thriving meritocracy.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
05/04/05
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
Ratings Image

To be honest, Scarface isn't exactly what you could call a 'good' movie. It's overwritten, overacted and overdirected (not to mention overlong). And yet, against the odds, it still works.

Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
03/05/05
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic
Ratings Image

No review available.

comment Comment
10/12/04
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
Ratings Image

Pacino, em mais um de seus grandes momentos, transforma Montana em um ícone do gênero e da década de 80, conduzindo um filme que seria fartamente copiado nos anos seguintes.

comment Comment
05/22/04
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image

...Brian De Palma’s criminally over-the-top remake of the 1932 Howard Hawks gangster classic

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
02/27/04
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly
Ratings Image

As time goes by, films like Scarface only gain in their importance.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
02/27/04
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Scarface

March 21, 2006: "Godfather" Video Game Debuts Today
Variety was kind enough to remind me that the new "Godfather" video game hits the shelves today, which is good news because I'm kind of a sucker for (GOOD) movie-based... More...

See More Topics...

Related Forums for Scarface

REEL_REVIEWER
(1983/Rated R)-Brian De Palma's SCARFACE is still a fun watch thanks to Al Pacino!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/3

REEL_REVIEWER
(1983/Rated R)-Brian De Palma's SCARFACE is still a fun watch thanks to Al Pacino!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/3

REEL_REVIEWER
(1983/Rated R)-Brian De Palma's SCARFACE is still a fun watch thanks to Al Pacino!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/3

REEL_REVIEWER
(1983/Rated R)-Brian De Palma's SCARFACE is still a fun watch thanks to Al Pacino!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 3/3

watch this for free online
by: BoineCracker 2/4
See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
FRESH: 1 93% Iron Man
FRESH: 2 85% Forgetting Sarah Marshall
ROTTEN: 3 50% Sex and the City - The…
ROTTEN: 4 52% Leatherheads
ROTTEN: 5 12% Made of Honor

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
FRESH: 77 77% Indiana Jones and the …
FRESH: 97 97% 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
FRESH: 88 88% Mongol
FRESH: 78 78% Standard Operating Procedure
ROTTEN: 30 30% War, Inc.

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Mirrors

Mirrors

Alexandre Aja talks exclusively to RT!

Best Animated Movies

Best Animated Movies

Which films top RT's list of the greats?

RT's Costume Guide

RT's Costume Guide

Dress to impress this Halloween!

The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Bloom

New pics of Rachel Weisz' latest!

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Steve Carell to Get Smart again.
 64
  • Goyer Debunks Every Single TDK Sequel Rumor Source: MTV
 42
  • Weekly Ketchup: Branagh directs Thor, Seagal vs. aliens?
 92
  • The Net Reacts to 25 Minutes of Watchmen Footage
 50
  • Brett Ratner Is Your God of War Source: UGO
 24
  • Kenneth Branagh Directing Thor? Source: Variety
 36
  • First Shots of Mia Wasikowska as Burton's Alice Surface Source: Slashfilm
 2
  • Bill Murray Talks Ghostbusters 3 Source: Ain't It Cool News
 19
  • Weekly Ketchup: Johnny Depp to play Tonto in The Lone Ranger
 47
  • Exclusive: David Carradine Cameo in Crank 2 says Statham
 2
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: Bill Murray's Best Movies
 46
  • Critics Consensus: Express Scores, Body of Lies Falls Flat
 35
  • Weekly Ketchup: Steve Carell to Get Smart again.
 32
  • Box Office Wrapup: The Dogs Rule Once Again
 29
  • RT on DVD: Exclusive Indiana Jones Concept Art, Quantum of Solace DVD News
 11
  • Box Office Guru Preview: Audiences Surrounded by Lies
 9
  • Exclusive: Alexandre Aja talks Mirrors and Piranha 3D
 8
  • Meet Corey Feldman Courtesy of RT
 1
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Exclusive: Alexandre Aja talks Mirrors and Piranha 3D
 8
  • RT Interview: Jason Statham Chats Death Race, Crank 2 and The Sweeney
 9
  • Video Exclusive: Gerard Butler talks RocknRolla and 300 sequel with RT
 13
  • Video Exclusive: Maria Bello, Brendan Fraser and the Mummy 3 Cast Talk to RT
 14
  • RT goes behind the scenes on Stargate: Continuum
 4
  • Starship Troopers' Casper Van Dien Shares His Five Favorite Films
 48
  • RT Interview: Philippe Petit on Crossing the Twin Towers on a Wire
 2
  • RT Interview: David Duchovny on The X-Files, Californication and Directing
 11
  • RT Interview: Ben Barnes on Taking on the Journey of Prince Caspian
 1
  • RT Interview: William Moseley on His Last Narnia Adventure in Prince Caspian
 2
 
 

Around The Network

  • Scarface at Rotten Tomatoes
 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.