Disc Details
Special Features:	Widescreen letterbox format. Chapter selections. "Making Of" documentary. Outtakes. Production notes. Theatrical trailers. Still gallery. Cast and crew bios. "Carlito's Way" trailer.
Video Format:	Widescreen (2.35:1) [SS-DL]
Languages:	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
Subtitles:	English, Spanish, French.
Captions:	Yes
Casing:	1-Disc Keep Case

Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino in 'Scarface'

Tony Montana (Al Pacino) is one of about 25,000 criminals foisted upon the United States by Castro during the Mariel boat lift which allowed another 100,000 law-abiding and freedom loving Cubans to join their relatives in America. Tony and Manny (Steven Bauer) are sent to one of the freedom camps while the US government decides what to do with them. Manny approaches Tony with an offer: if they will kill a former communist beaurocrat who is also in the camp, they will get their green cards in 30 days. Faster than you can say "Rebenga" Tony and Manny are on the streets. They quickly learn that America is far from the land of milk and honey as they are reduced to washing dishes in a run down diner. Again, it is Manny to the rescue. Manny introduces Tony to Omar (F. Murray Abraham), a connected coke dealer. Omar offers the boys less than the going rate to unload a boat load of cocaine. Tony gets in Omar’s face about the insult. Omar decides to let Tony bite off a little more than he can chew. Omar hires Tony’s crew to meet with some Colombian dealers for a buy.

Tony, Manny, Angel (Pepe Serena) and Chi Chi (Angel Salazar) go the appointed meeting place in South Beach. Tony and Angel go inside. Tony tells Manny to come in 15 minutes if they aren’t back. This scene was at the center of most of the rating’s board controversy before the film’s release. Tony and Angel are overpowered by the Colombians. Tony is forced to watch as Angel loses his arm and then his leg to a chainsaw. I remember press reports at the time saying the scene actually showed the arm being cut off. While DePalma and producer Martin Bergman deny this in the "Making Of" feature included on the DVD, there are also two production stills included in the DVD of a severed arm hanging from the shower curtain. Manny and Chi Chi bust in and rescue Tony before he is dismembered. They kill the Colombians and get the drugs and money. Tony calls Omar. Much to Omar’s surprise, Tony was successful. Tony wants to deliver the goods directly to Omar’s boss, Frank (Robert Loggia).

Frank lives in a huge estate overlooking Biscayne Bay. He has all the amenities that millions of coke dollars can buy, including the foxy wife, Elvira (Michelle Pfeiffer). After meeting Frank, Tony immediately knows what he wants in life. He wants the world and everything in it. Tony has big ambitions. His peasant appearance hides a cunning and ruthless mind. This causes others to underestimate him until it is too late. Frank hires Tony. Now that Tony has some money he decides to make contact with his mother and sister. Tony’s mom (Miriam Colon) wants nothing to do with him. His little sister, Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) is thrilled to see her big brother again. Tony becomes her guardian-devil. Tony sees Gina as the only pure thing is his life. She will remain his virgin Madonna or die in the process.

The remainder of the film follows Tony’s rise to the top of the drug world. He gets everything he wants only to lose or destroy it himself. As I said before, "Scarface" is a traditional gangster morality tale. It is told in a more forthright and realistic manner than the old Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, James Cagney and Paul Muni films, but it falls comfortably into that genre. Therein lays the strength of "Scarface." This isn’t a romantic revisionist fable ALA "The Godfather." The great gangster films of the 30s were made during the actual heyday of the great gangsters and desperadoes. While Hollywood usually fictionalized the events, the old gangster films were not very far off the mark in describing their subjects. These bad-guys were men and women who could have gone the other way in life, but the lure of easy money and the lack of compunction at killing to get what you want made it easier for them to sell their soul to the devil. The old gangster films were tragic cautionary tales. While, under the old Hollywood code, the badguy had to die or be imprisoned at the end of the film, many movie-goers still idolized the villain despite their messy end. "Scarface" is considered a must have DVD in the library of many of today’s Gangsta’s. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen rap artists point out their copy of this disk on MTV’s show "Cribs." So what if Tony Montana gets shot about 150 times at the end of the movie, look how he lived when he was alive! I guess they missed the verse that said "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?"

Picture Quality: 5/10
Horrible picture. Grainy. Artifacts abound. Poor delineation between colors. There are a lot of black color motifs in this movie. The DVD has the most inconsistent blacks I've ever seen. They are either shimmery or full of artifacts. Horrible, horrible picture.

Sound Quality: 5/10
Flat, tinny sound. I had to constantly adjust the volume control to either hear the dialogue or turn down the music as the soundtrack jumped up and down in volume.

Menu: 10/10
Very cool menu design. Easy to navigate. Great use of imagery from the film.

Extra Features: 10/10
Excellent documentary. The hour long film includes in-depth interviews with Brian DePalma, Al Pacino, Martin Bergman, DP John Alonzo and writer Oliver Stone. Very informative. The documentary includes it's own chapter selection menu.

The trailers, production notes and outtakes are also good, but it is the documentary which makes this DVD something special.

The Final Word:
The inflated price is due to the limited availability of the DVD. Long out of print, "Scarface" is due for a grand reissuing. This time lets hope Universal remasters the picture and sound. I want it in my library, but I'll bide my time to see if there is a reissue on the horizon.

Rusty White