One thing that has characterised recent remakes is their unwillingness to depart from the originals. The remake of Carrie still has the pig-blood sequence in it, the remake of Robocop has jokes about the 1980s in it, and so on. In the same way, any remake of Scarface will succeed or fail based upon its ability to depart from De Palma's vision. Any attempt at imitation would be disastrous, but based on Hollywood's track record, that is exactly what we'd be getting. Scarface is as much a remake of the 1932 film as it is a product of 1980s greed, racial politics, fashions and music. The latter aspect is particularly significant; the soundtrack was composed by electronica pioneer Giorgio Moroder, and the 'Push It To The Limit' montage in some ways set the template for how music videos are structured. No matter how long the 1980s revival lasts, simply apeing the sensibility of De Palma's film will not guarantee either quality or box office success. Under those circumstances, the only thing being pushed to the limit would be our patience. --- What do you think about the remake of Scarface? Have I missed anything out, or got it completely wrong? Drop me a comment below, or visit Mumby at the Movies for my review of Scarface and many, many more...
Freelance copywriter, film buff, community radio presenter. Former host of The Movie Hour podcast (http://www.lionheartradio.com/ and click 'Interviews'), currently presenting on Phonic FM in Exeter (http://www.phonic.fm/). Other loves include theatre, music and test cricket.
