Movie Plot (1983 version)

The film begins with a description of how, in 1980, Cuban President Fidel Castro let the gates open on Mariel Harbor in Cuba allowing thousands of Cubans to immigrate to Florida on boatlifts. Some of these immigrants were criminals or ex-convicts. The opening credits show authentic video news footage during the Mariel Boatlift and of the Cuban immigrants arriving in the United States.

The opening scenes shows one of these Cubans, Tony Montana (Al Pacino), one of the 125,000 Cubans that immigrated to Miami, Florida, and one of at least 25,000 who has a criminal record. He is being interrogated by three tough-talking immigration officers about his life in Cuba, and of his arrival in America. He and his best friend and former Cuban Army buddy Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) are met with resistance, particularly because of their criminal records, and are placed in limbo (so to speak) in Freedomtown, a place where Cuban refugees without green cards are kept. A few months later, Manny makes Tony aware of a deal in which a wealthy man named Frank Lopez can give them access to Green Cards and be able to leave Freedomtown. But they have to kill a former Cuban security agent named Emilio Rebenga, who tortured Frank's brother to death in Cuba, in order to obtain it. Tony does this without much thought, stabbing and killing Rebenga during a riot, and they receive their residency.

Over the next few weeks, Tony and Manny begin working in a small Cuban food stand to make money, but Tony soon grows restless. He wishes to leave behind his working lifestyle and have all the money he can possibly have. One evening they both meet with drug dealer Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham) (the same man who made the "Rebenga deal") for another job. Omar wants to unload a boat from Mexico containing 500 kilograms of marijuana and offers to pay them $500 each. Tony balks and demands at least $1,000. Omar offers them $5,000 each for buying two kilograms of cocaine worth $25,000 a piece from Colombian dealer "Hector the Toad" who will be arriving in Miami in a few days. Omar will also give Tony the money as well as weapons for the deal just in case anything goes wrong.

A few days later, Tony and Manny, along with two other associates from Cuba who spent time in Freedomtown, Angel (Pepe Serna) and Chi Chi (Angel Salazar), drive to a small hotel in Miami Beach to meet with Hector for the drug deal. But the transaction soon turns bad when it becomes apparent that Hector doesn't intend to sell the cocaine he has, and wants to steal the money that Tony has, going as far as killing Angel with a chainsaw. After a gunfight, Tony, Manny, and Chi Chi escape with the cocaine after killing Hector and his associates. Instead of allowing Omar to take the cocaine to his boss Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia), Tony takes it to Frank personally, already distrusting of Omar (whether Omar was in league with Hector to kill Tony, or whether it was just a coincidence that Omar set the drug deal up unaware that Hector planned to kill his buyers, is not revealed in the story). Tony manages to win Frank over with his sense of humor and bold attitude, and Tony and Manny end up getting a job under Frank in the drug dealing business. Meanwhile, Tony takes an interest in Frank's girlfriend, Elvira Hancock (Michelle Pfeiffer). Frank takes Tony, Manny and his associates out to the Babylon Nightclub which Frank frequently attends. While Tony flirts with Elvira, she doesn't show any interest in him (or anyone else for that matter).

A few months later, Tony pays a visit to his estranged family's home. It is implied that Tony's father, a U.S. Navy sailor, walked out on the family years ago, but his mother (Miriam Colon) and his younger sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are home. Gina is excited to see Tony (who hasn't seen the family in five years), while his mother isn't as thrilled, aware and ashamed of his criminal history. When he offers his mother $1,000 (claiming he's "made it"), his mother angrily rejects the gift. She believes he's still up to no good, and wants him to leave because she doesn't want him rubbing off on Gina. Tony leaves, but Gina runs after him. He slips her the $1,000 secretly, and tells her to spend it on whatever she wants and to give his mother a little from time to time. It is clear he cares very much about his sister, but as the film progresses it is shown that he is very overprotective of her, bordering on an obsession.

Some time later, while in Bolivia, Tony and Omar begin discussing business plans with plantation owner and drug kingpin Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar) on the behalf of Frank who couldn't make it down. Tony begins making major decisions about distribution of the drugs (decisions that Omar believes only Frank has authority to make). Omar and Tony begin arguing over the matter, while Alejandro offers Omar a quick helicopter ride back home. However, Alejandro orders one of his henchmen hang and kill Omar, gining as reason that Omar was allegedly an informant for the police some years back. However, Alejandro believes that Tony is trustworthy and makes him one of his business partners. After returning to Florida, Tony comes under heat by Frank, who is angry at what had occurred in South America and about his new business arrangement with Alejandro. Tony and Frank end their business relationship, while Tony begins making bolder passes at Elvira, one of them right in front of Frank.

One night at a nightclub, Tony is nearly shot and killed by two hitmen, later suggested to be the Diaz Brothers, two drug kingpins in charge of cocaine distribution in Miami. Tony manages to escape alive and is convinced that Frank is responsible for the hit. Later on, Tony, Manny, Chi Chi, and a few others track Frank down to his car dealership place. Tony tricks Frank into confirming he was behind the attempted hit. Admitting what he did, Frank then begs for mercy at Tony's feet but Manny kills Frank on Tony's order.

Afterwards, all seems to be going well for Tony. He marries Elvira, takes over Frank's empire and becomes very wealthy. He purchases a huge mansion, complete with countless luxury items, as well as many surveillance camera monitors. However, cracks in Tony's "perfect life" begin to form. Both he and Elvira become addicted to cocaine. He becomes more paranoid and distrusting of those around him, and she becomes bored and distant. Tony becomes greedy and stingy with his wealth, while the bank that he launders his illegally gotten cash wants increasingly large amounts of bribes to launder his money. Manny and Gina begin dating behind Tony's back, afraid of what his reaction would be if he found out.

One evening, Tony is arrested for money laundering and tax evasion by Mel Seidenbaum, a local money launder who turns out to be an undercover cop. Tony's lawyer tells him that he faces up to three years in prison alone for the income tax evasion charge. Soon, Elvira becomes tired of the lifestyle, and leaves Tony after a fight at a restaurant.

Alejandro Sosa, not wanting to lose his major distributor, calls Tony down to Bolivia and asks him for help to put a hit out on an anti-Bolivian Government activist (who went on a television talk show and mentioned Alejandro, his henchmen, and their drug dealing). In exchange, Alejandro will make Tony's imprisonment impossible with his White House contacts. Tony and Alberto, Alejandro's best henchman, travel to New York looking for the activist. Alberto plants a bomb under the activist's car, planning to detonate it before he drives to the United Nations building to give a speech about his activist work. On the day the assassination is to take place, Tony orders Alberto not to set off the bomb underneath the activist's car once he finds out his wife and children are in the car as well. When Alberto doesn't listen, Tony grows angry and shoots him in the head.

Tony returns to Florida to find his mother upset over Gina's new attitude (whom she believes Tony corrupted) and a furious Sosa phones Tony, threatening to kill him for not going through with the plan. Tony goes to find Gina at an unknown mansion, and sees her and Manny together in night robes. Realizing Manny has slept with his sister, he shoots and kills Manny in a cocaine-fueled rage (which he later deeply regrets) and Gina reveals that they just married and were going to surprise Tony. Tony and his men take a distraught Gina back to his mansion. Meanwhile, Alejandro Sosa's numerous henchmen are surrounding the place. Tony sits in his office snorting cocaine and in deep regret over his actions. Gina then enters his office saying he doesn't want other men touching her. Then replies "why don't you f*** me tony" she then begins shooting at Tony with a pistol, and hits his arm, but is killed by one of the henchmen entering through the window. As Tony cradles Gina's dead body in his arms, Sosa's army of assassins attack Tony's mansion, killing all of his men one by one, until Tony is left alone to fight them off. In a cocaine-fueled rage, he emerges from his office with an M16 assault rifle and grenade launcher, and begins shooting wildly at the attacking henchmen, killing dozens of them. He manages to take several of their bullets until Sosa's lead assassin (the same assassin who killed Omar) slowly walks up behind Tony and shoots him in the back with a shotgun. Tony plunges off the second floor, over the balcony, and into the small pool in his living room. Tony lies dead, floating face-down in the water as a statue stands above him reading "The World Is Yours".

Scarface The World Is Yours Video Game

A licensed video game, Scarface: The World Is Yours, was released in September and October 2006 as well as an update in June 2007, developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games. The game is a pseudo-sequel, and goes on the premise that Tony actually survived the raid on his mansion at the end of the film. Wii, PS2, Xbox, and PC versions have been released.

Radical and Vivendi also released a second licensed video game, Scarface: Money, Power, Respect, in October 2006. The game is much like Scarface: The World is Yours, but one main difference is that the second game deals more with the controlling of drugs and managing of the Montana cocaine empire and turf, whereas The World is Yours is mostly focused on getting rid of gangs, gaining respect and overall reconstruction of the empire. To date, only a PSP version of this game has been released.

The hit game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City also has some homages Scarface, like an area with the famous bloody bathroom in an empty apartment, along with a chainsaw that can be used as a weapon. Also the Malibu Club is very similar to the Babylon Club. In the beginning of the game, Tommy Vercetti's drug deal gets busted, much like the coke deal that Tony gets double crossed in. There is also a mission in the game where Tommy and his partner Lance Vance kill Tommy's cocaine-dealing boss Ricardo Diaz, much like when Tony and Manny kill Frank. Finally, the last mission of the game ("Keep Your Friends Close...") is a slight spin-off of the final scene in Scarface. In this mission Tommy has to fend off a whole rival gang in his mansion with only a few weapons. The only difference, however, is that Tommy lives through the fight with Ken Rosenberg to start "a new business relationship".