5. Scarface
Numerous pub discussions tell me that not so many folk know that Brian De Palma's loony 1983 crime epic is, in fact, a remake of a 1932 Howard Hawks film of the same name. This is a case of a film not so much surpassing the original in terms of narrative - it is messy, and over-the-top - but in its sheer impact, attacking the viewer with such visceral force that it lodges into our minds, while Hawks' original remains relatively obscure. So complete is this version's insertion into pop culture that everything from animated films, to video games (namely the Grand Theft Auto series) have borrowed from and made homage to it. Up-ending the Prohibition-era context of the original and focusing on something far more exotic and exciting for most audiences - the rise of one man up from a lowly Cuban immigrant to drug kingpin extraordinaire...and then all the way down again - De Palma's film is best lauded for Al Pacino's manic, aptly over-the-top turn as Tony Montana, resulting in the ever-iconic line, "Say hello to my little friend!" in the climactic shoot-out It's flawed, it's ridiculous, but it's also ludicrously entertaining, which is more than can be said for Hawks' good, but not great - and not too memorable - original.