---
title: "Scarface"
year: 1983
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/scarface"
fi1m_id: "scarface"
imdb_id: "tt0086250"
tmdb_id: 111
wikidata_id: "Q47075"
fi1m_score: 79
critics_score: 65
critics_reviews: 9
published: "2026-09-15"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:32.721296+00:00"
region: "LT"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Scarface (1983)

Directed by Brian De Palma · 2h 50m · Action, Crime, Drama

## Identity

Scarface

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/scarface
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** scarface
- **IMDb ID:** tt0086250
- **TMDB ID:** 111
- **Wikidata ID:** Q47075
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086250/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/111, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q47075

**Fi1m score: 79** · Critics 65 from 9 reviews

*In a sentence:* Al Pacino makes wanting more money sound like a threat to everyone within earshot

> Brian De Palma’s *Scarface* is an absorbing, ugly account of criminal ambition, driven by Al Pacino’s ferocious performance. Its 170 minutes include some unnecessary insistence, but the vulgarity has a point.

## Synopsis

Tony Montana (Al Pacino) is a Cuban refugee in Miami who sees the cocaine trade as a route to money and power. He wants to move upwards, and violence is part of the business he chooses. Brian De Palma directs Oliver Stone’s screenplay about ambition and criminality, with Steven Bauer as Manny Ray, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elvira and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Gina. Robert Loggia plays Frank Lopez. Tony’s pursuit of wealth places him among people for whom success means having more than the next man.

## Review

*Scarface* is a forceful gangster film whose excess mostly earns its keep, though it repeats itself too often. Brian De Palma and screenwriter Oliver Stone follow Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee in Miami, into the cocaine trade with little interest in making his ambition respectable. Wealth is something he wants without qualification, and Al Pacino makes that wanting uncomfortable to watch. There is little comfort here for anyone who likes a criminal to explain why he had no choice.

Pacino’s performance is pitched high, but there is thought behind the volume. The swagger has an ugly impatience: Tony seems to regard everyone else’s existence as a delay in his own advancement. That makes him funny in a way that soon becomes unpleasant, and Pacino is willing to stay unpleasant long after a more ingratiating performance might have asked for sympathy. Tony’s desires are easy to recognise, however much his behaviour makes us recoil.

John A. Alonzo’s cinematography gives the gaudy surroundings a harshness that suits Tony, while Ferdinando Scarfiotti’s production design makes the display of wealth feel increasingly oppressive. The decoration looks exhausting, and that seems exactly right for a man with Tony’s appetite. De Palma allows the ugliness to register without constantly competing for our attention. His relative visual restraint matters, because Pacino is already supplying enough aggression to dominate the image.

The chainsaw sequence is where the film’s brutality becomes hardest to stomach. We were horrified by it; the threat of the tool is enough to make the criminal swagger turn sickening. De Palma understands how quickly anticipation can remove the pleasure from watching dangerous people, and the sequence makes violence feel like something to dread. It also complicates the invitation to enjoy Tony’s nerve, which matters in a film so often carried by his confidence.

The weakness is repetition, particularly across a running time of 170 minutes. Editors Manny Ray and Gerald B. Greenberg give Pacino room to establish Tony’s appetite, then leave him more room to establish it again. Stone’s dialogue can be viciously funny, but the repeated aggression gradually becomes less revealing, and some exchanges continue beyond their usefulness. Giorgio Moroder’s score adds another emphatic presence beside the acting. Its pressure suits the film, although quieter stretches would have given both the music and Pacino more force.

As a gangster film, *Scarface* is unusually unwilling to offer the consolation of criminal honour. Stone’s interest in acquisitiveness is plain enough, and De Palma gives it a suitably disagreeable setting. There is a limit to how much insight comes from watching a greedy man want still more, which is why the film can feel thinner as it gets longer. Yet the humour and horror make that greed more unsettling than a tidy speech about the American dream would have done.

The reason to stay is Pacino, whose performance remains absorbing even when the writing is repeating its point. De Palma lets us enjoy the force of Tony’s personality while making the violence difficult to dismiss, and the unease survives the film’s lapses of pace. Give it an evening when a long, abrasive crime film sounds appealing; it is poor company for anyone hoping to relax.

*Fi1m score 79, published 15 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics respond warmly to Scarface’s excess, with praise clustering around Al Pacino’s swaggering, ferocious performance as Tony Montana. Even the harsher reviews find him magnetic, while supporters credit Brian De Palma’s direction with giving the criminal world both visual flair and a sense of sleaze. The favourable readings see a bitter satire of greed and acquisitive culture, with sharp dialogue, dark humour and forceful set pieces making its broad style feel purposeful.

The spread is wide, however, and the same excess attracts complaints about overacting, length and garishness. The Hollywood Reporter admires Pacino but finds little else to recommend, criticising Oliver Stone’s dialogue and De Palma’s plodding direction; Eye for Film likewise finds the film dated and lacking in heart despite its lead performance. Between those positions, the reservations concern whether the outrageous behaviour yields much insight, and whether the pacing can sustain the film’s scale.

## Straight answers

**Is Scarface worth watching?**

*Scarface* is worth watching for anyone in the mood for a long, abrasive gangster film, and we scored it 79. Al Pacino's ferocious performance carries it even when Oliver Stone's script repeats its point about greed once too often across 170 minutes. It is poor company for an evening when you want to relax.

**How long is Scarface, and what is it rated?**

*Scarface* runs 2h 50m. It is an action and crime film.

**Where can I watch Scarface in Lithuania?**

*Scarface* is streaming on Netflix in Lithuania. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Scarface, and is it suitable for children?**

*Scarface* is an 18 certificate and is not suitable for children. It is a brutal crime film about the cocaine trade, and one chainsaw sequence horrified us; the threat alone is enough to make the violence something to dread rather than enjoy. Anyone squeamish about menace and aggression should look elsewhere.

**How does Scarface compare to The Long Good Friday?**

*Scarface* is the louder and longer of the two, with Al Pacino's Tony Montana wanting wealth without apology across 170 minutes, while [*The Long Good Friday*](https://film.one/film/the-long-good-friday) is a tighter London crime thriller built on Bob Hoskins. Both watch an ambitious gangster discover how little his confidence can settle. The British film is the better company; De Palma's is the more relentless.

**What should I watch after Scarface?**

After *Scarface*, try [*The Long Good Friday*](https://film.one/film/the-long-good-friday) (1980, Fi1m 88): Another ambitious gangster discovers how little his confidence can settle. Then [*A Prophet*](https://film.one/film/a-prophet) (2009, Fi1m 86): A patient account of criminal advancement, with each compromise made painfully clear; and [*The Public Enemy*](https://film.one/film/the-public-enemy) (1931, Fi1m 83): For a shorter, harsher look at ambition with a gun.

### Reviews we read (12)

- **Empire**, Andy Gill (80/100, inferred): The critic praises Al Pacino's spectacular performance as Tony Montana, highlighting his demonic intensity and swagger. They note the film's initial critical disdain but defend it as a black-hearted satire on excess and acquisitive culture. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/scarface-review/)
- **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (4/5): This update of the 1932 classic relocates the story to Miami and follows the rise and fall of a Cuban refugee turned cocaine kingpin. Al Pacino delivers one of his finest performances alongside strong support, with sharp dialogue and vivid cinematography making it a modern classic, though some may find the excesses off-putting. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-kh2sot/scarface/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Martyn Bamber (80/100, inferred): Praises the remake as superior to most updates of classics, highlighting De Palma's visual restraint and the film's portrayal of a gaudy, sleazy world with humor and horror elements. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/scarface/)
- **Evening Standard** (75/100, inferred): The critic highlights Al Pacino's spectacularly over-the-top performance as Tony Montana in the drug trade rise-and-fall story. They praise De Palma's notable sequences and describe the film as visceral with flair. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/pacino-is-spectacularly-over-the-top-in-scarface-7416181.html)
- **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (75/100, inferred): The review discusses how the film has been misinterpreted in hip-hop culture but praises De Palma's subversive, raw take on the gangster genre as a trashy counterpoint to The Godfather, highlighting Pacino's energetic performance. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/scarface-dvd-1798198957)
- **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (3/5): The film’s outrageous excess powers a fun, unashamed study of selfish criminality without any Godfather-style honour and family guff, though its unironic adoption by certain subcultures highlights its ludicrous aspects over piercing insight. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/scarface-1)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Duane Byrge (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film gruesome and violent with little to recommend beyond Pacino's extraordinary performance; criticizes Stone's dialogue and De Palma's plodding direction. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/scarface-review-1983-movie-1163028/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert: The film succeeds as a portrait of a flawed, evil man made human through Al Pacino's performance as Tony Montana. It observes the criminal's rise and self-destruction with anthropological detachment while delivering an exciting crime story. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/scarface-1983)
- **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby: Brian De Palma's update is the most stylish and provocative serious film about the American underworld since The Godfather. It is a relentlessly bitter, satirical tale of greed focused on one young hood's rapid rise and fall in the cocaine trade. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/09/movies/screen-al-pacino-stars-in-scarface.html)
- **Collider**, Andre Dellamorte (70/100, inferred): The critic calls Scarface one of the most entertaining bad movies ever made, praising its quotable dialogue, set pieces like the chainsaw sequence, and cultural impact while criticizing its overlong runtime, overacting, and weaker sections borrowed from the original film. [Read](https://collider.com/scarface-united-93-blu-ray-review/)
- **Eye for Film**, Stephen Carty (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film overrated and extremely dated, a flawed epic lacking in heart despite Pacino's magnetic performance and some memorable scenes. They single out the overlong runtime and garish style as complaints, while noting an attempt at depth in critiquing the American dream. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/scarface-film-review-by-stephen-carty)
- **Den of Geek**, Luke Holland: The critic finds Scarface a tour-de-force that holds up as one of the great gangster films, praising its exuberant performances, irresistible script and striking direction. The broad, brash style and Pacino's larger-than-life turn as Tony Montana are singled out as strengths despite some uneven pacing and dated elements. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/scarface-blu-ray-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Brian De Palma
- **Director:** Brian De Palma
- **Screenplay:** Oliver Stone
- **Cinematography:** John A. Alonzo
- **Editor:** David Ray, Gerald B. Greenberg
- **Music:** Giorgio Moroder
- **Production design:** Ferdinando Scarfiotti
- **Costume design:** Patricia Norris
- **Producer:** Martin Bregman
- **Cast:** Al Pacino as Tony Montana; Steven Bauer as Manny Ray; Michelle Pfeiffer as Elvira; Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Gina; Robert Loggia as Frank Lopez; Miriam Colon as Mama Montana; F. Murray Abraham as Omar; Paul Shenar as Alejandro Sosa
- **Runtime:** 2h 50m
- **First release (the US):** 1 December 1983
- **Genres:** Action, Crime, Drama
- **Budget:** $25 million
- **Box office:** $66 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZMIrD36MG8

## Where to watch in Lithuania

- Netflix: streaming

*Checked 2026-09-15.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director 1984: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Long Good Friday* (1980), Fi1m 88: Another ambitious gangster discovers how little his confidence can settle. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-long-good-friday.md)
- *A Prophet* (2009), Fi1m 86: A patient account of criminal advancement, with each compromise made painfully clear. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-prophet.md)
- *The Public Enemy* (1931), Fi1m 83: For a shorter, harsher look at ambition with a gun. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-public-enemy.md)
- *Pusher* (1996): A smaller criminal operation, with the pressure felt at closer quarters.
- *Sonatine* (1993): For a quieter gangster film, where waiting becomes its own source of dread.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/scarface