Comments on: It’s Exactly Like My Business

By: Joe Valdez

Joe Valdez — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:09:29 +0000

Amanda: Oliver Stone apparently wrote a much more realistic crime drama – with four or five gunmen coming to get Tony at the end - which DePalma amped up to the nth degree for effect. Satire is not something you should try at home, but as DePalma demonstrated with Phantom of the Paradise, he can pull this stuff off. I really didn’t care for this all that much when I first saw it, but when viewed as a satire, I have really come to enjoy it. The film expresses my firmly held belief that material excess leads to one place: face down in a pool shot full of bullets under a neon sign that says The World Is Yours. Ha ha. Thanks for commenting! Jim: I think Universal could have done a much better job on the DVD. The behind the scenes featurette is good, but a title this popular should have had an exhaustive documentary with people talking about the film and its impact. The disc belongs somewhere between one of the Lord of the Rings DVDs and anything released by Paramount, which is to say it’s a B-. I enjoyed watching it again to try to guess which tunes Def Jam would have played in which scenes, although I think replacing “She’s On Fire” with something by Missy Elliot or whatever would have been a disgrace. Matthew: I don’t think I agree with you; in almost every gangster movie I can think of, the gangster has nobody to blame for his downfall except himself. I do agree with Amanda and you that for audience members with little grasp of irony, movies like Fight Club become vindicating, even self-improvement guides. Those people are the same ones being made fun of in the movie, but their worship of it only makes me appreciate it as a satire. Thanks for commenting. Patricia: I agree with you that the hyper reality presented by Scarface takes some adjusting to, but I actually think Pacino was still acting all the way through Scent of a Woman. After winning an Oscar for that movie, pretty much every performance was "HOO-WA!" and bug eyed. Daniel: Watching Scarface with the "fucks" and killings all cut out seems quite silly to me. In Europe, they don't censor movies for television, but in the U.S., we have to protect the children from Tony Montana. I'm glad you can learn something on this site, with the minimal amount of undue stress. Thanks for commenting!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:40:14 +0000

Great timing! I’ve been seeing this on AMC over the last couple of weeks and the background info on its history is fascinating.

Ah, Pacino – where have you gone since those days?

By: Pat Evans

Pat Evans — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:52:27 +0000

Good review! A somewhat flawed film which manages to reveal more of itself with each viewing and which was probably the starting point for Pacino’s increasingly OTT performances.

By: Matthew L.

Matthew L. — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:56:06 +0000

The difference between Tony Montana and other movie gangsters is that Tony’s downfall is HIMSELF, not the money and power. In fact, Scarface is the only gangster epic where his downfall begins at the beginning, from the moment he steps onto American soil. There is no enjoyment or pleasure from the spoils of the drug trade for Tony, because he is a monster. Don’t ask rappers to grasp that, cause they can’t. The same way beer-guzzling college kids think “Fight Club” is about fighting or rebelling against consumerisim, they fail to realize that, in the end, Fight Club becomes what it is “fighting” against, which is a PETA-like cult that uses violence to get it’s point across, and a movie with an online gift shop.

By: Moviezzz

Moviezzz — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:23:17 +0000

Another great piece.

Although, a confession.

I saw this film way back on VHS. I liked it and it stayed with me over the years.

I wanted to see it again a few years back, but it was out of print on DVD. I thought about paying quite a bit for a used copy, but didn’t.

I got the special edition the day it was released. I was all excited, and couldn’t wait to watch it.

And, I have yet to watch it.

Maybe now I will.

By: AR

AR — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:26:02 +0000

I very much agree. Visually, it’s stunning, and there are some really inspired moments in the writing. And I find it equally funny how this became the favorite movie for gangstas and cutthroat businessmen, when it very clearly decries that behavior. The last scene when Montana gets shot up is so over-the-top it borders on satire or black comedy. But I suppose that like a lot of satire, if you remove the irony, it becomes vindication?
Anyway, other than those bits, I was somewhat disappointed when I first saw it. There was definitely something empty about the characters that bothered me. Other than being impressed by Stone’s and DePalma’s craft/skill, I didn’t particularly connect with it.