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The scores of teenagers and adults who have turned the character and film Scarface into a universal symbol of a cultural icon would more than likely be shocked to know that there is nothing new about Tony Montana, his relish for his enemy's girlfriend, or several other facets about the motion picture that has earned a devout cult following in the several years since its opening. Scarface is actually a fairly liberal remake of the 1932 original film of the same name, written by Ben Hecht and directed by Howard Hawks, respectively. The original depicted another "Tony" (last name Camonte, not Montana) and his involvement in the illegal mob world of Chicago's notorious south side, rather than south Florida. The cocaine floundering around in the contemporary version was originally illicit alcohol, while Tony's lust for his rival's girlfriend, and his overbearing, fairly Freudian overprotection of his sister (and yes, she does end up having a relationship with the booze boss's best pal are all included. The primary difference between the two is that the original creators had the ability to condense their story into a respectable 90 minute movie, whereas the running time for the contemporary version takes up two DVDs and spans nearly three hours, approximately twice as long as its predecessors. Lastly, aficionados of the contemporary may be pleased to known that like their favorite, he original contains scores of unmitigated, largely unnecessary, violence galore

The wildly popular 1983 rendition of Scarface was written by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian DePalma. Martin Bregman was the film's producer, while Tony Montana plays the villainous, flawed Tony Montana in what may have been his signature role. The film costars Steven Bauer as his tragically likeable sidekick Manny Ray, Michelle Pfeiffer in a highly believable role as cocaine-bimbo Elvira, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Montana's kid sister Gina. The film was originally released in 1983 and earned its restricted rating due to, you guessed it, violence, a fair amount of sex, as well an open, unadulterated drug usage. As in lots of it. The movie came to DVD originally in 1988. The basis of the film is Montana's swift ascendancy to the top of the cocaine empire in Miami -- via South America, of course, with a brief pit stop in New York -- and his even more rapid descent to the pine box in a tragedy that is at once Oedipal and Socratic and undeniably American.

After escaping Cuban prison during part of the Mariel Boatlift in the early 80's -- in which Castro allowed numerous Cubans to flee the country and prudently opened up his jail cells to allow them to do so -- Montana and his pals take a swift toehold in the drug game, which just so happened to be at the nexus of the cocaine explosion during this time period. He vies for the affections of his boss's (who is soon to be his rival, then his ex-rival as Montana eventually kills him) girlfriend, Elvira, who displays her own Oedipal tendencies by marrying the man (Montana) who kills her lover a la Jocasta. That's around the time that the powdery stuff starts flying into the newly weds nostrils more than it does Tony's clientele, which may contribute to Montana's money laundering and tax evasion charges he gets tagged with. All he has to do is whack a Bolivian journalist in New York to earn the favor of his supplier and stay out of prison, but the situation ethics of Montana comes into conflict with this simple directive. Before long his life -- and that of his friends -- is spinning out of control in one prolonged, drug induced dream in which no one wins.

Yet if this film, much like the original, is known for anything, it's the wanton, fairly gratuitous violence. There are alternately scenes of people being murdered with chainsaws, being hung from helicopters, and the time-honored favorite of bullets to the sternum, spleen, thigh, face, you get the point. No one is safe from Montana's pathological wrath (not even those he loves most, hint), and the end result of such unmitigated ire is far too often climactic violence which has probably inspired minions to view and review this film, but which definitely slow the pace of it down and transform what might have been a psychological thriller into a typical shoot-em' up western. This statement applies doubly to the film's finish, which was largely unnecessary, since it had been noted that Montana was looking at significant jail time if he failed to ice the journalist. All of the machine gun fire (which was usually preceded or finished by fluffy white stuff in some respect) definitely detracts from the plot -- although there are more than likely quite a few aficionados of this genre who would argue -- quite convincingly -- than the violence and drug usage is the plot.