Scarface Remains one of Pacino's Best Films

One of my favorite actors is Al Pacino, known for films such as Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, The Godfather trilogy, Heat, The Devil's Advocate, Donnie Brasco, and Scent of a Woman. I think that one of his best roles has to be Cuban drug lord Tony Montana in Scarface (1983). It is a re-make of the 1932 film which was directed by Howard Hawks and written by Ben Hecht. The 1983 version was dedicated to Hawks and Hecht. The 1932 film was based on the life of mobster Al Capone, in the days of prohibition.The 1983 film dealt not with the illegal sale of alcohol, but cocaine. The Pacino film was directed by Brian DePalma, who also directed The Untouchables, Carrie and Carlito's Way. It was produced by Martin Bregman who also worked with Pacino on Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Carlito's Way. The screenplay was written by Oliver Stone, who also wrote films such as Wall Street, Midnight Express and Born on the Fourth of July. Ironically, Stone fought cocaine addiction himself while writing the screenplay. In addition to Pacino, the film co-stars Steven Bauer as Manny Ribera, Tony's right hand man. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Elvira Hancock, the cold, distant girlfriend of Tony's mentor, Frank Lopez, played by Robert Loggia. Tony's sister Gina is played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

The film was not loved by everyone. Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars (his highest rating), but film critic Leonard Maltin gave it a poor review. Despite being nominated for 3 Golden Globes, it was also nominated for a Razzie award for worst director, Brian DePalma. Some saw the film as being too violent, with too much profanity. There are 42 people killed in the film. It originally recieved an X rating by the MPAA. The filmmakers knew they could not release an X rated film and have a wide audience. They edited the film, cutting out a lot of the violence. The rating was revised to an R. But, before its release, DePalma actually submitted the original X rated version to theaters. Yes, the film is violent, but so is the world of cocaine trafficking. I see it as being an accurate depiction of that lifestyle.

Scarface is about Tony Montana, who was able to leave Cuba in 1980 when Castro released thousands of refugees to go to Miami. It turned out that many who were coming to America had criminal records. Tony and his friend Manny work in a restaurant briefly washing dishes but decide that they need to sell drugs in order to make some real money. Tony learns about the business from Frank Lopez and eventually surpasses him and takes his girlfriend as well. Scarface is about Tony climbing to the highest level of being a drug lord, but through that process he loses his friends, his family, and himself. It is a portrait of a man who seeks power but only finds weakness and paranoia. He turns to drugs in order to escape from himself. His descent into cocaine addiction is swift, disturbing, and it has a violent ending.

This could have been a very different film. John Travolta was considered for the role of Manny. Robert DeNiro was considered for the role of Tony, but he turned it down. Sidney Lumet was the first choice for director but he did not take the job. The following actresses turned down the role of Elvira: Rosanna Arquette, Melanie Griffith, Kim Basinger, Jodie Foster, Brooke Shields. Two others who auditioned were Geena Davis and Sharon Stone.

A scene in the movie has Tony looking up at a blimp with the message "The World is Yours". He has a statue in his house with a globe above with those words on it. The 1932 film had this phrase on a billboard when Tony Camonte died (Paul Muni).

Scarface has become a bit of a cult classic. It is popular with many in the hip hop community and in 2006 a Scarface video game was released. Its budget was $25 million and it has made $45 million in the US and $65 million worldwide at the box office. It is not a short film, with a length of 170 minutes. But, I put it up there with 2 other favorites, Casino and The Godfather, both which are also about 3 hours. It is long, but it takes time to tell the story, and I think it is a well crafted screenplay. Tony Montana is a hero in the same way as characters from films such as Good Fellas, The Godfather, Casino, Donnie Brasco, Carlito's Way and even Tony Soprano from the HBO show The Sopranos. People see the organized crime lifestyle as glamorous and powerful, with fancy cars, houses and everything a person could want. Those things are part of the lifestyle, but people in that life also sell their souls.


*Some material from imdb.com.

Billy Joel: Piano Man

Billy Joel grew up on Long Island New York, the son of an immigrant who was an accomplished classical music pianist. Billy had more of an interest in rock and roll, which his father did not like. Billy's brother is a classical music conductor in Europe. He dropped out of high school and had dreams of becoming a recording star like his idols, The Beatles. He played in a piano bar in Los Angeles, which led to the hit Piano Man in 1973. Billy teamed up with producer Phil Ramone and ended up having an amazing career which has spanned over 4 decades. He has had 33 top 40 hits, all which he wrote himself. He has sold over 150 million albums worldwide. The show I saw on the Biography channel mentioned how he has had many ups and downs in his personal life. He had a manager who took advantage of him financially, leaving him with no option other than to tour extensively over a 2 year period to get on better ground financially. He has had struggles with substance abuse, and has been divorced 3 times, most notably from model Christie Brinkley. Joel was a boxer as a young man and his aggression and fighting attitude can sometimes be seen in his music. He has toured with another pianist/rock and roll legend, Elton John. In 1987 Joel performed a groundbreaking concert in Russia at the height of the cold war. Billy's albums 52nd Street, Glass Houses, Storm Front and River of Dreams all hit #1 in the US. I admire Billy Joel very much for his staying power and his mark he has made on the world of popular music. My favorite songs of his include; Piano Man, Movin' Out, New York State of Mind, Big Shot, You May be Right, My Life, Pressure, and many more.

* Some information from Biography channel and en.wikipedia.org

Barry Manilow: I Write the Songs

I recently watched a Biography channel profile of Barry Manilow and thought I'd write a bit about this performer. Barry never planned on being a singer. He wanted to be a piano player in the background, not the star. He accompanied Bette Midler, and made money writing commercial jingles early in his career in New York City. He would also arrange music for performers such as Midler and Dionne Warwick. Before he had hit singles he would perform the commercial jingles that he wrote just so the audience would recognize something. He met Arista records chief and music mogul Clive Davis who thought he could make Barry a star. Manilow became known for his ballads such as Can't Smile without You, I Write the Songs, Could it be Magic and Mandy. From 1974 to 1980 he had hit after hit. He tired eventually of all the touring and singing these ballads. He started performing an up tempo fun song called Copacabana, and it became a big hit. He has been praised by Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan. After 30 years of touring to bring his show to the people, Barry decided to sign a contract with a Las Vegas hotel so that the people could come to him. He has branched out by releasing albums that pay tribute to the music of the 1950, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He has also recorded big band type music, Christmas albums and a tribute to the greatest love songs of all time.

* Some information from Biography channel and en.wikipedia.org.

Book Review: "We'll be here for the Rest of our Lives" by Paul Shaffer

I greatly enjoyed this book since I have been a longtime fan of musician Paul Shaffer. He has been the keyboardist and band leader for David Letterman since 1982. He and Dave did the late night show at NBC from 1982 to 1993, and have been at CBS ever since. I admire Paul's musical talents, and it is obvious he has a sense of humor and a certain Las Vegas charm to him.

The book talks about his upbringing in snowy Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It tells about how he moved to Toronto where he met up with some other talented, funny Canadians like Martin Short and Eugene Levy. Paul worked in musical theatre in Canada for awhile and eventually moved to New York City and got a gig playing keyboards for Saturday Night Live. He was noticed by David Letterman who was starting his own show and he wanted a musical director who could play well, but also have a sense of humor.

The book is filled with interesting anecdotes from Paul's life working with some of the biggest stars in show business. He drops a lot of names, but if I had his life I would too.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Falls Short of the Original

I really wanted this to be as good as the first one, which came out in 1987. Like most sequels, the original was so much better. Money Never Sleeps has Michael Douglas returning as financial giant Gordon Gekko. The film opens with his getting released from prison for insider trading. Like the first film, he takes a young broker under his wing, this time played by Shia LeBeouf. Gekko's original protegee, Bud Fox, played by Charlie Sheen, has a cameo with a few lines. It just so happens that LeBeouf is engaged to Gekko's estranged daughter. This is ironic since she is turned off to Wall Street traders by the actions of her corrupt father. She is played by Carey Mulligan, and she had a much better script to work with last year when she starred in the Oscar nominated An Education. Josh Brolin plays a slimy adversary of Gekko's who LeBeouf ends up working for. Oliver Stone appears in a cameo in this film as well as many CNBC personalities such as Maria Bartiromo and Jim Cramer. Other stars included Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon. The script is too long, not organized well, and I found myself looking at my watch wondering when it would end. In a great film you care about the characters and a great film will leave you wanting more. The Wall Street of 1987 had that effect on me. Still all of these years later I can watch it again and again. It was so quotable, and modern day traders still remember it as the ultimate movie about high finance in New York City. So many artists have their biggest hits early in their career and they spend the rest of their careers trying to get back that magic that they once had in their work. I am beginning to feel that way about Oliver Stone. The actors and the sets and costumes can all be good, but if the script is not polished, you don't have a hit. Wall Street 2 needed a better script that could interest people as much as the first one.