Title: Scarface
Writer: Oliver Stone
Director: Brian De Palma
Year: 1983
Actors: Al Pacino (Tony Montana)
Steven Bauer (Manny Ray)
Michelle Pfeiffer (Elvira)
Story Summary: The film Scarface (1983) is about a Cuban refuge named Tony Montana (Al Pacino) that is released from a refugee camp in Miami. He is released by a wealthy drug dealer (Frank Lopez) in exchange for assassinating a government official from Cuba. Tony goes to work for Frank and soon rises above him on his own and becomes a successful wealthy drug dealer. Tony is arrested and charged with money laundering and tax evasion. Tony is offered a deal by another powerful drug dealer named Sosa Alberto and will not have to serve prison time if he assassinates a journalist. Tony takes the deal but when he is supposed to assassinate the journalist he backs out. The journalist had his children in the car and Tony refused to kill his children. Sosa thinks that Tony betrayed him and sends his men to kill him. Tony and his men try to defend themselves when Sosa’s men come, but they are outnumbered. Tony is also so high on cocaine that he cannot function or do anything. In the end, Sosa’s men end up killing all of Tony’s men and Tony (Bregman & Palma, 1983).
Al Pacino used a style of acting known as impersonation style acting to transform himself from an Italian-American to Cuban born refugee, Tony Montana. Impersonation style acting is defined as “an actor who attempts to impersonate actual people for a role, such as in historical and biographical stories” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014, Chapter 5 Key Terms). Pacino really had to transform who he was as person to impersonate Tony Montana. Scarface required Pacino to transform his accent and mannerisms to that of Cuban Gangster. Pacino used the realism acting style convey genuine mannerisms of a gangster throughout the film.
Michelle Pfeiffer is a character actor because she is able to adapt so well to the character of Elvira. Pfeiffer is able to effortlessly transformers herself from a lady, to a drug addicted wife of a gangster. She uses the realism acting style to give a genuine feel to her character. There is a scene where Elvira and Tony are eating in a restaurant. Tony is high on cocaine and starts saying rude things to her. Elvira throws her drink and his face and starts yelling at him. Her acting in that scene is so convincing that you could mistake it for an actual argument.
I would have to classify Steven Bauer, Manny Ray, who plays Tony’s right hand man as a personality actor. “Personality actors can make it difficult for audiences to differentiate between the actor and the character” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014, Section 5.5). Bauer’s amazing acting skills allow him to not only play the character of Manny, Bauer becomes Manny in the film. If I were to see Steven Bauer on another movie or show I would automatically associate him as being a Manny, Tony’s right hand man. Bauer also plays a role that utilizes the realism acting style. In his role he genuinely plays a Cuban gangster.
I classified Al Pacino as an impersonator actor in Scarface, but based on his acting in other films he fits other acting categories. Pacino fits into the star category because of his popularity as an actor and with movie goers. You can tell that Pacino researches all of his characters parts in each movie by the unique performance he gives. His best example of this the film The Godfather (1972), Pacino plays the head of the Corleone mob family. He gives an exquisite performs that no other actor could come close to matching. Pacino’s performance has contributed to THE Godfather bring one of the most well-known and popular movies of all time.
Reference
Al Pacino. (2011). Comedic Monologue for Men – Al Pacino as Tony Montana. Retrieved from http://www.monologuedb.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tony-montana.jpg
Bregman, M. (Producer), & Palma, B. D. (Director). (1983). Scarface. [Motion picture}. United States: Universal Pictures
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc
Scarface. (2014). Single-Breasted Suite. Retrieved from https://bamfstyle.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/scarwed-party1.jpg
Scarface– Pfeiffer. (2011). Flashback Five – Michelle Pfeiffer’s Best Movies. Retrieved from http://images.amcnetworks.com/blogs.amctv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/scarface-pfeiffer-560.jpg
Steven Bauer. (2012) Interview: Scarface’s Steven Bauer. Retrieved from http://twitchfilm.com/assets_c/2012/09/photo-Scarface-1983-14-thumb-630xauto-25506.jpg
ashlymcclain 
