Scarface

The 1983 movie Scarface features Al Pacino as a Cuban refugee turned crime lord. The movie is loosely based on a 1932 film of the same name about the rise and fall of the famous Chicago gangster, Al Capone. The movie gained notoriety for its incredible violence, and it continues to be rated as one of the most violent films of all time.

The story centers around Pacino's character, Tony Montana, who escapes to the United States from Cuba. Tony teams up with other Cuban refugees and gets into the drug dealing business. Tony faces down Columbian drug lords and winds up besting his adversaries by brutalizing them. Eventually, he succeeds at achieving incredible wealth, power, and stature--a guarded gorgeous mansion in Miami and a beautiful wife.

However, Tony Montana's addiction to power turns out to be his Achilles heel. As a result of his never-ending paranoia, Montana dooms himself. Although Scarface was meant in many ways as a parable about the dangers of violence and overreaching, it has become a reinvention of the American success story. Scarface is routinely rated as one of the preferred movies of gang leaders and modern-day drug dealers.

For all its controversy, Scarface remains an astoundingly well-told story and a compelling film. Given its prominence as a gangster icon, memorabilia from the film can retail for hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Writer Oliver Stone gleaned ideas from the Miami Police Department and worked hand in glove with director Brian De Palma to produce this epic picture.