TMR 039 – Scarface (1983)

This week on Total Movie Recall, we destroy our nasal septums with 1983’s Scarface. Ryan presents a cogent, detailed thesis on this film’s central character as a metaphor for the all-eating, never-satiating, soul-crushing machine that is capitalism, and Steve counters with “No he’s not.” Touché Steve… touché.

Scarface (1983)

d. Brian De Palma
w. Oliver Stone

Starring:
Al Pacino
Michelle Pfeiffer
Steven Bauer
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Robert Loggia
Richard Belzer

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.

Things discussed in the show:

Mountains of cocaine and cubano sandwiches

Jaws (Steven Spielberg, Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss)

Dark, season 3 (Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese, Louis Hofmann, Karoline Eichhorn, Lisa Vicari)

Esotericism / Rosicrucianism

Lost (J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Yunjin Kim, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O'Quinn, Naveen Andrews, Matthew Fox, Daniel Dae Kim)

The Leftovers (Damon Lindelof, Tom Perrotta, Justin Theroux, Amy Brenneman, Christopher Eccleston)

Avatar The Last Airbender, season 2 (Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Zach Tyler, Jack De Sena, Dee Bradley Baker, Dave Filoni, Lauren MacMullan, Mae Whitman, Dante Basco, Michaela Jill Murphy)

Game of Thrones (David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau)

Ulysses - James Joyce

MacGruber (Jorma Taccone, Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer)

Wayne's World (Penelope Spheeris, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere, Lara Flynn Boyle, Alice Cooper, Meat Loaf)

Tenet (Christopher Nolan, John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki)

Mulan - 2020 (Disney, Niki Caro, Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Li Gong)

Blow (Ted Demme, Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente)

Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds

The Business of Drugs - documentary hosted by Amaryllis Fox (Spice / MDMA / African heroin / meth in Burma / opioids)

Scarface - 1932 (Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson, Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley)

Armond White film reviewer

Scarface in hip hop culture - The Notorious B.I.G., Sean Puffy Combs (P Diddy), Nicki Minaj, Rich the Kid, Lil Wayne, Big Boi, The Geto Boys, Jay-Z.

De Palma - 2015 documentary (Noah Baumbach, Jake Paltrow, Brian De Palma)

Hi, Mom! (Brian De Palma, Robert De Niro, Allen Garfield, Lara Parker)

Casualties of War (Brian De Palma, Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Don Harvey)

Sisters - 1972 (Brian De Palma, Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning)

Blow Out (Brian De Palma, John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow)

Body Double (Brian De Palma, Robert J. Avrech, Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, Gregg Henry)

Untouchables

Charlie Rose interviewing Brian De Palma

Phantom of the Paradise (Brian De Palma, Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper)

Mission Impossible - 1996 (Brian De Palma, Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart)

The Movie Brats directors (Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Paul Schrader, Brian De Palma, John Milius and Steven Spielberg)

Ayn Rand vs. Scarface. Who's the more hardcore capitalist?

"Never get high on your own supply."

"Never underestimate the other guy's greed."

"I have eight killers with badges." Murderers in the police, medicine & military.

Order of the Nine Angles (O9A) murder plot to kill his army squad

Scent of a Woman (Martin Brest, Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, James Rebhorn)

Serpico (Sidney Lumet, Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe)

Hunters (David Weil, Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Lena Olin)

The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin)

Steve's theory that Tony wants to have sex with his sister because she's as genetically close to him as can be, and his narcissism is to big for him to handle.

Wall Street (Oliver Stone, Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Tamara Tunie)

American Psycho (Mary Harron, Bret Easton Ellis, Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas)

The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie)

Top 10 movies that use the word fuck the most (

Debby Harry (of Blondie) - "Rush, Rush" - "Rush, rush, got the yeyo? - Buzz, buzz, gimme yeyo"

Queens of the Stone Age - "Feel Good Hit of the Summer"

Next Week: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade