Rule number one: don't underestimate the other guy's greed.
Rule number two: don't get high on your own supply.
"Look, the Time has come, we gotta expand, the whole operation. Distribution....New York, Chicago, L.A. ... We gotta set our own mark and ENFORCE IT. We gotta think BIG now."
In the spring of 1980 the port at Mariel Harbor was opened, and thousands set sail for the United States. They came in search of the American Dream. One of them found it on the sun washed avenues of Miami... wealth, power and passion beyond his wildest dreams. He was Tony Montana but the world will remember him by another name... Scarface. In this GROUP, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.
* In the final shootout sequence, Al Pacino grabs the gun by the barrel. Although only blanks were used, his hand was badly burned, and production had to be shut down for a few weeks.
* The message on the blimp, "The World Is Yours", is the same message that appeared on a billboard in Scarface (1932).
* This movie uses the word "fuck" 207 times in all. An average of 1.22 "fucks" per minute.
* There was a huge controversy in the city of Miami during the making of the film over whether the producers should be allowed to shoot in the city. The Miami Tourist Board decided not to allow filming, as they were afraid the movie would discourage tourism to Miami, particuarly as it showed Miami's latest Cuban immigrants as gangsters and drug dealers.
* In the chainsaw scene, the movie playing on TV is Earthquake (1974).
* In the opening sequence with Tony Montana (Al Pacino) and the immigration officers, Charles Durning's voice has clearly been used to overdub an actor playing one of the officers. Another of the officers is dubbed by Brian De Palma regular 'Dennis Franz' . If you listen carefully, Al Pacino also had to overdub his own voice at three or four different points in the same scene.
* The word "yayo" was used by Tony Montana (Al Pacino) to describe cocaine. This word was not in the .., and was ad-libbed by Pacino during the first drug deal scene (chainsaw scene), and Brian De Palma liked it enough to keep using it throughout the film. Pacino learned the word while learning the Cuban accent.
* Oliver Stone wrote this film while fighting a cocaine addiction.
* In the scene where Tony is in the bathtub watching TV, he says to Manny, "Look at dem pelicangs fly." This line was what Al Pacino practiced with a language coach to get the Cuban accent right.
* This film has been an influence on hip-hop culture and rap music since the late 1980s. The Houston-area rap group The Geto Boys sampled several lines into their rap songs, and one rapper (Brad Jordan aka Scarface, now the CEO of Def Jam South) in the group took the name of this film as his stage name. Many rappers, including Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs claim this is their favorite film.
* This film is dedicated to Ben Hecht and Howard Hawks.
* The original idea was to make this film a remake of Scarface (1932), which took place in Chicago, but this proved to be impossible due to budget constraints.
* Sidney Lumet was the first choice to direct this film but he backed out. It was Lumet's idea to make the characters Cuban and to include the 1980 Mariel harbor boat lift in the story.
* Oliver Stone named Tony Montana after his favorite football player, Joe Montana.
* Brian De Palma liked the .. so much that he dropped out of directing Flashdance (1983) to direct this film.
* When the film was re-released in theaters in 2003, the studio wanted Brian De Palma to change the soundtrack so that rap songs inspired by the movie could be used. De Palma refused.
* Steven Spielberg visited the set and helped to direct one shot. It is a brief shot of the Bolivians in the final shootout at Tony's mansion.
* The film was given an X rating 3 times (original, 2nd, and 3rd cuts) by the MPAA until director Brian De Palma pulled in a panel of experts, including real narcotics officers, who stated that the film was an accurate portrayal of real life and should be widely seen. This convinced the 20 members of the ratings board to give it an R rating by a vote of 18-2. DePalma then decided to release the original version of the film, since all 3 versions had been given an X rating and he felt the differences were insignificant.
* BodyCount: 42
* A majority of the film was shot in Los Angeles, California standing in for Miami, Florida. This was done because production would have been endangered by protest from angry Cuban-Americans over the film's reported subject matter. Streets and buildings used for shooting were redressed by the art directors to have the 'feel' of Miami.
* Steven Bauer is the only actual Cuban in the principal cast.
* Two of the songs played in the film - "Shake it Up" and "I'm Hot Tonite" are performed by then-21-year-old Elizabeth Daily.
* The international corporation set up by Saddam Hussein to launder money from his various enterprises was called Montana Management.
* The cocaine used throughout the shooting of the film was supposed to be dried milk, but that couldn't be used because it didn't fit well when the scene was shot.
* When Sosa (Paul Shenar) slams the phone down just before the final shootout, there is the faint sound of a ricocheting gunshot under the "slam".
* The prop firearms were equipped with electronic synchronizing devices so that they would only fire when the camera shutter was open. The result was that the guns' muzzle flashes are much more visible and consistent than in most movies.
* Miriam Colon, who plays Tony's mother, is only four years older than Al Pacino.
* John Travolta was considered for the role of Manny Ribera.
* One of the last four-track magnetic stereo releases (if not the last).
* Al Pacino reportedly stated that Tony Montana was one of his favorites of all the characters he's played.
* Although Tony Montana is supposed to be Cuban, making his first language Spanish, he only speaks one line of Spanish during the entire movie.
* Tony's "little friend" is a M203, a standard M16 assault rifle with a single-shot, 40mm grenade launcher attached to the barrel.
* Boom mike visible: Shadow on the wall on the right as Montana is getting shouted at in his mother's kitchen.
* Continuity: The stuntman playing Hector falling through the window has a watch on his left hand. When the "real" Hector gets off the ground, his watch is back on the right hand.
* Revealing mistakes: Extras during the riot stop "rioting" before they are off screen.
* Continuity: The position of the binoculars when Montana chats with Sosa in Bolivia.
* Crew or equipment visible: Director Brian De Palma is visible in the mirror in the last close-up of Tony in the Babylon Club before the shootout begins.
* Continuity: When Tony shoots Hector on the street, the arrangement of the background extras changes, most noticeably an old man standing on the steps.
* Continuity: As Tony is watching the Goodyear blimp go by, the reflection on the window shows him with a cigarette already in his mouth. The very next shot shows him placing the cigarette in his mouth.
* Continuity: When Tony and Angel go up to Hector's apartment to make an attempted purchase of drugs, the sun is shining from the west side of the north-south street (an afternoon shot). In the next scene when a girl standing in the street is flirting with Manny in his get-away convertible, the sun is shining from the east (a morning shot). In the next scene when Tony chases Hector down to the street to finish Hector off, the sun is again on the west side of the street (a late afternoon shot).
* Continuity: When Tony, Manny and Elvira are in the restaurant, Elvira changes position between shots. In one shot she's holding a cigarette in her left hand with her arm above the table. In the next shot her left arm is down and her right is above the table, holding her glass.
* Continuity: When Tony and Gina hug after their first meeting, the positions of their arms change between shots.
* Anachronisms: USA Today boxes visible in background of scenes on Miami Beach early in the film, just after Tony leaves the government camp. USA Today did not begin service in Florida until the fall of 1982, while the scene takes place shortly after the April 1980 Mariel Harbor boat lift.
* Revealing mistakes: When Hector jumps out of the hotel and onto the landing, a bit of the ground moves, revealing it to be a crash mat.
* Continuity: When Tony's bodyguards are trying to convince him to run, Sosa's agents can be seen in the cameras running onto the grounds. A few minutes later the guards are getting killed by the agents and the same footage is playing on Tony's cameras.
* Continuity: When Tony is fighting Sosa's Army in the end, he is shot and falls backwards. His weapon's grenade launcher piece breaks off but is back on while Tony reloads.
* Continuity: In the restaurant, glasses are knocked over and their contents spilled. In one subsequent shot they are shown upright and full again.
* Audio/visual unsynchronized: A bullet squib on one of Hector's goons' chest goes off, without a sound effect, just before a cut to Chi Chi, who shoots him.
* Continuity: Octavio's hat falls off when he first gets shot by the two nightclub hit men. A couple of seconds later, after several cuts, he's shot again, and his hat is not only back on his head but this time it doesn't come off.
* Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the final scene, after Tony gets shot and loses his gun, and he starts yelling, the enemy shooter in the top left-hand corner is still shooting (you can see the shells flying out), but there is no flash or sound.
* Crew or equipment visible: In the original version, in the scene were the "police" were about to arrest Tony, they are helping him count the money (for the second time). The cameraman's thumb can be seen briefly.
* Continuity: In the Hector scene, after Manny is shot by the goon with the revolver, the goon picks up dead Martha's machine gun. The next shot is an over-head view showing the goon still holding the revolver and the machine gun is on the bed.
* Crew or equipment visible: When Tony goes to see Elvira to talk about having kids, when he sits down on the chair you can see the reflections of stage lights in his sun glasses.
* Continuity: In the Babylon club when the champagne is poured Tony puts a cigar in his mouth and raises the glass, but in the next shot the cigar has disappeared.
* Continuity: When Tony gives Gina the present in his mother's house, Gina has very long, manicured nails. In a close-up, Gina touches the locket, revealing trimmed fingernails (clearly someone else's).
* Continuity: During the ambush in the night club, the stage performer in the comic costume is shown being machine gunned twice.
* Factual errors: When Tony shoots Alberto in the car, blood spatters on the window, indicating an exit wound, however the window does not shatter or break.
* Continuity: During the chainsaw/double-cross scene in Hector's apartment Tony is shown chained to the shower rack about to be butchered. Manny bursts in with machine gun saving Tony but Tony is suddenly free and shooting back before Manny has the chance to free him.
* Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Tony goes to kill Frank, Frank says, "Look Tony, please don't kill me." The words don't match his mouth.
* Continuity: When Tony is getting shot at after Octavio the clown goes down, people are seen running by, yet none of them are getting hit with bullets.
* Continuity: When Manny shoots down the glass of the door in the chainsaw scene, you can clearly see there is no glass on the ground in close-ups.
* Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Marta switches positions on the bed when she gets shot. First she is lying dead on the bottom side of the bed, then she is on the top side.
SCARFACE:
* Continuity: When Tony and Manny are at the beach, talking and having drinks, Tony has perspiration mostly under the right armpit. Several shots when talking to the girl reveal no perspiration under his armpit.
* Continuity: After Tony shoots Manny, Gina's robe has a large blood spot on its right side. When they get Gina out of the car at Tony's place, the robe has no blood on it.
* Crew or equipment visible: Reflections of the camera crew can be seen on Elvira's sunglasses as she and Tony are walking out of the car dealership.
* Continuity: When the phone is ringing, it's 3:00 AM sharp. More than six minutes have past, but when the camera spotted on Ernie, we can see it's 3:03 AM.
* Continuity: In the double cross scene when Hecter throws the chainsaw out the window we see blood all over it, but in the next shot when Hecter jumps out the window and lands on the floor with the chainsaw and when we see him on the floor injured the chainsaw is spotless and all the blood is gone.
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