On Movies: The mystery of the 'Scarface' phenomenon

Al Pacino

,

Oliver Stone

,

Brian De Palma

, they just don't get it.

A quarter century since its December 1983 release,

Scarface

remains a towering pop-cult phenom, a hyperactive gangster pic embraced by hip-hop artists, gangsta rappers, frat boys, gamers, poster merchants, blingmeisters and movie mavens who delight in dropping signature Tony Montana lines into their everyday yammer:

Say hello to my little friend

, indeed.

"I'm convinced that as the years have gone by, that they honestly have no idea, really, why it has remained as popular as it has," says

Ken Tucker

, author of

Scarface Nation: The Ultimate Gangster Movie and How It Changed America

, a trade paperback just out from St. Martin's Press. For Pacino (who starred as the Cuban refugee-turned-Miami crime lord Tony Montana), Stone (the screenwriter) and De Palma (the director), the success of the over-the-top crime saga remains something of a mystery.

"When I talked to

Martin Bregman

,

Scarface's

producer, he, too, was like: 'I don't know why these college kids watch it over and over again - but I'm glad they do!' " says Tucker, editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, and a TV and pop music critic who regularly contributes to NPR's

Fresh Air with Terry Gross

.

"They have no idea of how it resonates in hip-hop culture and why it pops up in TV shows."

Stone was likewise oblivious, says Tucker, who conducted countless interviews with

Scarface

cast and crew (though not Pacino, and not

Michelle Pfeiffer

) while researching his surprising, insightful and often keenly funny photo-laden book. "I would tell him that

Curb Your Enthusiasm

and

The Simpsons

and

The Family Guy

were all referencing

Scarface

, and that was news to him," Tucker recalls. "So, they're kind of clueless to their own phenomenon."

Part of the movie's lasting appeal, says Tucker, is that in some ways it's a classic tale of capitalism, the pursuit of the American Dream. Never mind that it ends in a bloody hail of gunfire.

Writer Stone, of course, went on to direct

Wall Street

, but "in retrospect,

Scarface

was like a prelude. . . . All that stuff about money and power and greed. . . . Stone didn't realize that he had it all in

Scarface

, in this genre movie."

Tucker, a former Philadelphia Inquirer pop music and TV critic, lives in Berwyn. He worked on

Scarface Nation

over a two-year period, going back to the original 1930

Armitage Trail

pulp novel (a pen name for

Maurice Coons)

, revisiting and researching the original

Howard Hawks

-directed 1932

Scarface

, with

Paul Muni

in the title role, and watching De Palma's

Scarface

, transplanted from Chicago to Miami (but filmed, in large part, in L.A.) - well, watching it

a lot

.

"I've watched it at least 25 times," he says, seated recently in an Old City coffee shop. "As many times as the years it's existed. . . .

"And it's certainly a troubling movie in that it's very amoral. A lot of rappers - not just rappers, a lot of young actors and film directors - point to it as representing this code of loyalty, but what I would say is, 'You know, the first thing Tony Montana does to start climbing out of the position that he is in is an act of betrayal. . . . He's a completely amoral character.

"And I guess the argument to that is, 'Yeah, but you got to do that. That's what capitalism is. . . .' "

Pegged to the film's 25th anniversary - a film that is a perennial DVD bestseller and Netflix rental -

Scarface Nation

is chock-full of behind-the-scenes revelations and analysis of the movie's far-ranging influence on music, movies, TV, books, comics, and even home decorating (a

Scarface

shower curtain, anyone?).

And Tucker has coined a new word, too, one that describes a certain epic, over-the-top, coked-up and profane sense of invincibility:

Scarfacian.

Or maybe it just refers to anything to do with the film.

"I'm very proud of that," Tucker says, smiling. "I'm sure it will be used all over the place."

Re: Animator.

The new girl-and-her-dog cartoon movie,

Bolt

, is a big deal for

John

Lasseter

. It's the first project that he's overseen in his new capacity as King of the World - or king of animation, anyway, at both Pixar (which he co-founded) and Disney (where he used to work).

So how is the Chief Creative Officer at the two 'toon studios going to keep the brands separate? The computer-animated

Bolt

, featuring the voices of

John Travolta

and

Miley Cyrus

, looks like Pixar, but doesn't quite have that upstart Pixar sensibility. Are the lines at the studios going to blur?

"I don't worry about that, because both studios are different," says Lasseter, who personally directed

Toy Story 1

and

2

,

A Bug's Life

, and

Cars

. "A studio is its people. And one of the things that I believe in very strongly, and we've changed Disney to reflect this - and Pixar has always been this way - is what we call a filmmaker-led studio. As opposed to every other studio, which is an executive-led studio.

"A filmmaker-led studio means that the stories come from the heart of the filmmakers . . . and because of this, the films will always have a unique quality."

Lasseter says that he respects - no, reveres - Disney's animation heritage. From Walt's earliest days, the studio has put animated films into the marketplace.

"I grew up with the dream of working as an animator at Disney, it's just the only thing I've ever wanted," Lasseter says. "And so what's exciting is that there is this unbelievable heritage that Disney has."

Part of that heritage, says Lasseter, is Disney's adaptations of the classic fairy tale, with Broadway-style musical numbers added to the mix. On the drawing board (and the Apple animation screens) for the Lasseter-led Disney are

The Princess and the Frog

(2009),

Rapunzel

(2010), and

King of the Elves

(2012).

"There is a place with modern audiences for the pure fairy tale, so we'll be continuing to do that," says Lasseter. "And that's one thing we'll be doing at Disney that we won't necessarily be doing at Pixar."