The Miami-based cocaine crime caper Scarface premiered on this day back in 1983 in New York City, before it would go on to see a wider release and universal acclaim for being one of the greatest crime dramas of all time - most notably within the rap scene. Rappers sure love Scarface.
So given its the anniversary of this cinema classic's release, why not educate yourself with some of the lesser known and raddest pieces of trivia behind the history of Scarface and its impact on the world.
- Towards the end of the scene leading up to the big showdown at Tony's mansion, there's a scene early on when the henchmen are entering the Montana mansion - specifically though, you may remember a particular shot of one of the goons throwing a grappling hook up the side of the building. Who directed that shot? That was Mr Stephen Spielberg who done did it, hot off the success of family friendly classic E.T.
- Saddam Huissein loved the film, like, really loved it, so much so in fact that one of the company's he set up to launder money was named Montana Management, the same name of Tony Montana's very own laundering company.
- Can you think of a film about cocaine more famous than Scarface? No you can not, and that's due to the fact Oliver Stone is a very good script writer, who incidentally was kicking his very own cocaine habit whilst writing the script, which probably helped shape the film into the gritty anti-drug film it became.
- Not only did Oliver Stone have his own cocaine blues to refer to when making the script authentic, he even buddied up with the Miami police and narcotics officers for further research. This led to the conception of the infamous motel scene, which was a true event shared with Stone by a Miami officer. Incidentally, this scene is also the only scene in which Tony is referred to as Scarface - though it is delivered in Spanish (it was "Caracicatriz", in case you were wondering).
- The motel scene was also one of the biggest headaches for director De Palma and Universal, as that scene in particular was one of the main driving forces behind the MPAA slapping Scarface with an X rating. De Palma would have to create three edits, threaten to leave, and even bring in narcotics officers to back him up in meetings with the ratings board to finally get an R rating for one of his cuts, though upon getting the R rating he was able to release his original cut during all the confusion. The only scene he cut was a shot of a severed arm hanging from the shower rail, as he personally felt showing less was more.
- One final piece of trivia on the motel scene, the chick in the blue bikini who distracts Manny while the whole event transpires disappeared five months before the film's release. Close friends claim she was in debt to some shady characters and she confided in them that she thought they were going to kill her. To this day, the whereabouts of Tammy Lynn Leppert remain a mystery.
- Another unfortunate member of the cast to lose their life to crime was an actor named Lana Clarkson who played one of the clubbers caught up in the Club Babylon shootout scene; in later life she would be gunned down herself, by the famous music producer Phil Spector. Incidentally, Al Pacino would go on to play said producer in the 2013 film Phil Spector.
- Robert Di Niro turned down the role of Tony Montana leading it instead to be passed to Pacino. John Travolta was a consideration for the role of Manny, however it was Michelle Pfeiffer's role of Elvira that would have the most considerations - Glenn Close, Geena Davis, Carrie Fisher, Kelly McGillis, Sharon Stone and Sigourney Weaver were all considered for the role.
- Miriam Colon, who plays Tony's mum, is only 4 years older than Pacino. Teen Mom ain't got shit on Miriam.
- There sure are a lot of fucks in Scarface. 207 fucks, to be precise. It was the first film to surpass 200 fucks at the time, though that benchmark has been surpassed many times since 1983. 207 fucks for a 170 minute film equals to about 1.21 fucks per minute, with Mr. Tony Montana contributing 182 of those fucks alone. Just gonna hit you up with a little bit of semi-unrelated trivia, in the music industry the censoring of profanity is referred to as "blinking"...
- The kill count of Scarface's tale of excess and violence rocks up to 42. Not bad.
So you've learnt some pointless pieces of info on the film, now why not go re-visit it, yeah?
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