Scarface (1983)

Scarface is a dorm room poster that runs 170 minutes, and plenty of poster owners missed the point. Tony Montana isn’t a role model. He’s a warning with a great wardrobe. Al Pacino plays him at full volume from his first scene, chewing every line like it owes him money, and by the second hour there’s nowhere left for the performance to go. Brian De Palma loves excess, so the movie is excess: the suits, the giant bathtub, the piles of cash that turn into a chore to count. Michelle Pfeiffer is the sharpest thing in it, playing a woman bored by every room she walks into, and Steven Bauer brings real warmth as Manny. It sags in the middle, repeats itself, and Oliver Stone’s script leans on noise. Audiences rank it far above critics, with 1,038,654 IMDb ratings averaging an 8.3. A 6.9 because the style is iconic and the story runs out of road way before the movie does. $851 says you’ve quoted this movie without ever watching the whole thing.

What works: Michelle Pfeiffer’s icy cool, De Palma’s bold, glossy style and a few genuinely tense set pieces.

What doesn’t: At 170 minutes it repeats itself, and Pacino’s nonstop intensity leaves the character nowhere to grow.

Who it’s for: Crime movie fans who want to finally see the whole thing behind the poster and the endless quotes.