Howard Hawkes' 1932 Prohibition-era gangster saga was updated to an ’80s cocaine epic starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana in one of Hollywood’s most enduring and imitated roles.

Pacino’s tour de force performance in Scarface picks up where Michael Corleone left off in the Godfather movies, but with renewed vigor. He’s a recent arrival to the U.S. from Cuba when prisoners were released in 1980. Tony quickly climbs to the top of a cocaine distribution operation in Miami that’s buying directly from Bolivia.

With a brilliant script by Oliver Stone and Brian De Palma at the helm, the pace is fast and furious, the action brutally violent. The chainsaw shower scene is a classic as is the finale with Tony proclaiming, “Say hello to my little friend!” – machine gun fire explodes and he dies in a hail of bullets.

Though it may appear to be anti-drug, Stone was sure to add a subtle message about “legalizing and taxing” drugs to “drive out the organized crime element.”

The excellent supporting cast includes Michelle Pheiffer (Elvira), Steven Bauer (Manny), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Gina), Roger Loggia (Frank) and F. Murray Abraham (Omar).

But it’s Tony who eats up the scenery – whether he’s slaying his rivals, romancing Elvira, obsessing about his sister or shoveling obscene amounts of coke (“yayo”) up his nose.

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