December 9, 1983: This was a big day for movies: Barbara Streisand's Yentl premiered. So did Terms of Endearment, which would win the Academy Award for Best Picture. So did a film version of Stephen King's killer car story Christine. So did the 4th Dirty Harry movie, Sudden Impact, in which Clint Eastwood introduced the catchphrase, "Go ahead, make my day." And so did Scarface.
It was not quite a remake of the 1932 Howard Hawks film starring Paul Muni as Italian immigrant and booze bootlegger Tony Camonte, although the catchphrase "The World Is Yours" was borrowed, and the film was dedicated to the memories of Hawks, who died in 1977, and screenwriter Ben Hecht, who died in 1964. But not to Muni, who died in 1967.
Somehow, this film, directed by Brian De Palma after Sidney Lumet dropped out, with a screenplay by Oliver Stone, written by Oliver Stone, and starring Al Pacino as Cuban immigrant and Miami cocaine trafficker Tony Montana, has inspired hip-hoppers. Newsflash, "gentlemen": You are not Cuban, and Tony Montana is not a role model.
But, like fellow gangster movies The Godfather and Goodfellas, the movie has its share of memorable quotes:
* "Me, I always tell the truth, even when I lie."
* "All I have in this world is my balls and my word, and I don't break them for no one."
* "In this country, 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."
* "Every day above ground is a good day."
* "Don't get high on your own supply."
* "Say hello to my little friend!"
An urban legend states that the rock bank Blink-182 chose their number based on the number of times the word "fuck" is used in Scarface '83. It's not true: They were originally named simply "Blink," and an established band had that name, so they added 182, and it was just a random number, with no previous significance.
(Scarface '83 uses the word 207 times. At the time, it was a record, but it has since been far surpassed by many. Not counting purposeful movies, like Fuck, a 2005 film about the word itself, using it 857 times, or Swearnet: The Movie, a 2014 film that uses it 935 times, the movie with the most "F-bombs" is The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013, 569 of them.)
The movie also stars Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, F. Murray Abraham, Míriam Colón, Harris Yulin, Paul Shenar, and comedian Ángel Salazar, one of the few people in the movie who was actually a Cuban exile.
It is worth noting that Tony Camonte ends up begging for his life, while Tony Montana goes down figuratively with all flags flying, and literally with all guns blazing. The original 1932 film was supposed to end that way, but Hawks bent to pressure to make Scarface look like a coward. On the other hand, Camonte, while insane, wasn't stupid enough to become addicted to his own product; Montana was stupid enough to do that.
Shenar died in 1989, Loggia in 2015. Colón in 2017; and Geno Silva, who played "The Skull," who ends up killing Tony, in 2020. As of December 9, 2022, De Palma, Stone, Pacino, Bauer, Pfeiffer, Mastrantonio, Abraham, Salazar are still alive. (UPDATE: Salazar died in 2024, Yulin in 2025.)
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December 9, 1983 was a Thursday. English soccer star Jermaine Beckford was born.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. No games were scheduled for the NHL. There were 9 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the San Diego Clippers, 111-92 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 100-93 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Denver Nuggets, 119-90 at the Boston Garden.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 96-83 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 110-104 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Chicago Bulls, 115-112 in overtime at the Chicago Stadium.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz, 126-117 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mike Mitchell scored 36 points for the Spurs.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Detroit Pistons, 123-117 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. Kelly Tripucka, from my hometown of Bloomfield, New Jersey, scored 36 points in defeat for the Pistons.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Dallas Mavericks, 132-124 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
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