My perspectives on William Friedkin's 'The Exorcist'

William Friedkin's 'The Exorcist'

In this video, I will share my perspectives on William Friedkin's 1973 film, The Exorcist.

My perspectives on Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner'

Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner

This is a video I made giving my perspectives on Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner'

My Perspectives on Brian DePalma's 'Scarface'

Brian DePalma's 'Scarface'

Here are some perspectives I took away from Scarface, the 1983 crime drama directed by Brian DePalma, scripted by Oliver Stone, and staring Al Pacino in the title role. Although based on the rise and fall of a drug dealer, the film contains a number of redeeming lessons. The film is also a commentary on capitalism and its negative influence on our society. If Scarface was simply a story about a Cuban drug dealer, the film would not be-34 years since it came out in theaters-relevant and influential to a generation that wasn’t even born when it came out. Considered ultra-violent for its time, Scarface is tame compared to films made since. But what makes this film resonate are the layers beneath the violence which I will now look at.

Thinking outside the box

Sometimes mitigating circumstances influence the choices we make. If you restrict or block access to the American Dream to an entire group of people, a special type of person with a special type of determination willing to resort to whatever means-good or bad-will realize the American Dream by brute force!

The movie shows the importance of resourcefulness and thinking out of the box—there is more than 1 way to do anything. Tony Montana has everything going against him, from being an ex con, on top of that he’s a refugee and on top of that, he doesn’t have much education. But, despite all of his shortcomings, he goes from being a dishwasher to the top of the cocaine underworld in Miami by following the same principles that apply to any other business. 

Decadence

The Babylon Club is appropriately named. In the Bible, Babylon is described as a whore. In the context of this film, the idea of Babylon being a whore is meant to suggest how far Tony and others will go and how much they will give up to gratify their desires. Babylon is also synonymous with hedonism and excess. Early in the film, Frank tells Tony that a chazer is someone who wants more than what he needs, or “a pig that don’t fly straight.” Money and cocaine in this film are 2 sides of the same coin as both are shown in excess amounts, from Tony depositing duffle-bags full of money in the bank to the piles of cocaine on his desk. When Tony gives Gina $1,000.00 to go out and have fun the money (like the cocaine) transforms her into a completely different woman! In a bigger sense, the Babylon Club is also metaphor of capitalism and the moral decline of civilization. 

Principles

The fact that he has a criminal record, has very little education, is a hispanic male, and has that obvious scar on his face makes Tony Montana the perfect fall guy. He has nothing to hide behind such as a bank or a badge or a car dealership or a political title. In a superficial world where appearance is everything, Tony might as well be the Devil. But throughout the film, he is honorable and stands by his principles. Even facing jail time for tax evasion and war with Sosa, he refuses to go against his principles by killing a woman and her children which ends up costing him his life. 

Fronts

Bankers, politicians, and cops are all indirectly involved in the cocaine industry in this film. These unholy alliances are also struck in real life. In 2005, the CIA declassified a document from the department’s Chief of Clandestine Operations admitting the agency’s involvement with the mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro. 

Being a poor latino male with a criminal background, Tony fits the stereotype of a drug dealer contrasted against those in society—such as cops, politicians, bankers, businesses, etc— who are also drug dealers. John Daniel Ehrlichman who worked as a special counsel under President Nixon admitted in a 1994 interview that President Nixon's administration (deliberately) vilified blacks and hippies by associating them with illegal drugs.

Innocence

To Tony, Gina represents innocence and something that hasn’t been contaminated. She is the opposite of Elvira. The fact that she (Elvira) can’t bear children is a metaphor for the innocence she has lost. 

The American Dream

Materialism is the American Dream. For example, there’s a split-screen shot showing Tony and Manny in the sandwich kitchen on one side and a night club, beautiful women, and fancy cars on the other side. Seeing this scene from their standpoint is a microcosm of what everyone who lives in poverty sees looking at the good life as it’s shown on television. 

By the 2nd half of the film, Tony has “made it” and sees things for what they really are. He sees Elvira without her makeup, as a junkie and an alcoholic who can’t have children; he has no real friends; he can’t sleep at night or trust anybody.

Summary of Brian DePalma's 'Scarface'

Brian DePalma's 'Scarface'

This is a plot summary of Brian DePalma’s 1983 film Scarface starring Al Pacino. Enjoy!

In May 1980, Castro opened the harbor at Mariel, Cuba, with the apparent intention of letting some of his people visit their relatives in the US. Within 72 hours, 3,000 US boats were headed for Cuba. It soon became obvious that Castro was forcing the boat owners to carry with them not only their relatives, but the dregs of his jails. Of the 125,000 refugees that landed in Florida, 125,000 had criminal records. 

Opening Titles intercut with documentary footage of boats leaving Mariel headed to the United States. Refugees being processed at immigration centers.

Tony Montana is in a small room surrounded by investigators and answering their questions.

He got locked up for changing dollars, he tells them but they see right through his lies. He demands his rights and they send him to a detention center ironically called Freedom Town. Tony and his best friend Manolo are on the bus taking them to detention center. 

1 month later

Manolo pulls Tony out of a basketball game to give him some good news! They can get out of the camp in 30 days, get a job in Miami, and a green card in exchange for killing Emilio Rebenga, Castro’s former right hand man who tortured the brother of a rich guy in Miami. Castro distrusted Rebenga whom he jailed and released in the refugee camp. The tortured man’s rich brother in Miami wants Tony to execute Rebenga. Tony hates communists and agrees to do the job. Later, Tony, Manolo, and other friends receive green cards.

Tony and Manolo toil in a small sandwich kitchen in Miami. Tony is frustrated with washing dishes. He didn’t come to the US to bust his ass. They take a break to admire the beautiful women and fancy cars glittering in front of the club across the street.

Manolo’s friends from Miami pull up in a shiny Cadillac and offers them a job picking up 2 kilos of cocaine from some Columbian drug dealers. The drug deal goes bad resulting in the deaths of Tony’s friend Angel and the Columbian drug dealers. Tony delivers the drugs and the buy-money to Frank Lopez. Tony becomes obsessed with Frank’s wife, Elvira. Later, at the Babylon Club, 

Frank shares his wisdom with Tony: Lesson 1: Never underestimate the other guy’s greed and Lesson 2: Don’t get high on your own supply. Tony dances with Elvira. Later, at the beach, Manny is unsuccessful in picking up a woman and Tony tell him that he has to first get money and power before he can get the woman. 

Tony visits his mother whom he has not seen in 5 years. His sister is happy to see him but his mother believes that he’s mixed up in illegal activities. She refuses to accept his money and puts him out of her house. Tony gives the money to his little sister. 

Cochabamba Bolivia

Omar and Tony fly to Bolivia to negotiate a drug deal for Frank with Sosa. The meeting goes bad when Tony defies Omar and negotiates for Frank. One of Sosa’s men identifies Omar as an informer and Omar is killed. Sosa likes Tony but warns him not to cross him. 

Frank is angry with Tony for making the deal with Sosa without his permission. Tony and Frank argue, Tony wants to expand and Frank is cautious of stepping on the toes of rival drug dealers. The meeting ends on a bad note.

Tony pops up at Frank’s place uninvited to propose to Elvira and tells her that he’s no longer working with Frank. 

Tony sees Gina dancing with a man at the Babylon Club. Mel Bernstein, a narcotics detective, blackmails Tony for monthly payments. Tony sees Elvira there and sits with her. He and Frank clash over Elvira. Tony finds his sister in bathroom stall with a man snorting cocaine and slaps her to the floor. Later, 2 gunmen shoot up the club and Tony barely escapes and stops by Frank’s home, finding him and the police detective together. Frank had paid the gunmen to kill Tony over Elvira. Frank begs for his life but Tony kills him and the police detective, anyway. Tony sees a blimp in the night sky saying “The World Is Yours!”

Tony marries Elvira and replaces Frank and finds out that success is not all it is cracked up to be. Now he has to watch his back more by investing large sums on electronic surveillance. Elvira is a junkie and his relationship with his best friend is strained. 

An undercover cop pretending to be a banker busts Tony and Tony is charged with tax evasion. Tony faces prison time. But Sosa has a problem, also, and offers to help Tony with his tax problem in exchange for assassinating a journalist threatening to implicate Sosa and his powerful friends on 60 Minutes. Tony takes the job. 

Feeling pressured from all sides, Tony gets drunk at a restaurant and insults Elvira, telling Manny and everyone within ear-shot that she can’t have children. She leaves him.

He returns to New York to kill the journalist who is making a speech at the United Nations against Sosa and the Bolivian drug cartel. The night before, Albert, an explosives expert, plants a bomb on the car. The journalist is supposed to be alone in the car but when his wife and 2 daughters join him Tony calls off the hit. He and Albert argue and Tony shoots and kills Albert stopping him from blowing up the journalists' car. The journalist makes his speech and Sosa sends a hit squad to kill Tony who kills his best friend Manny whom he told before to stay away from his sister. Gina tells Tony that Manny had quit the business and that they had gotten married. 

Tony returns to his mansion and shortly after this, Sosa’s army of paid killers take out all of Tony’s men, his sister, and eventually, after a long hard shootout, Tony is shot dead, too. 

My perspectives on Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove

Stanley Kubrick's 'Dr. Strangelove' or How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

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"Hit 'em before they hit you!"--U.S. Air Force Brigadier General, Jack D. Ripper

Jack D. Ripper believes that the Soviets are fluoridating America's water supplies to pollute the nation's 'bodily fluids.' Therefore, he sends the 3-digit 'go-code' to an American bomber patrolling Russia. But the Soviets have a secret weapon of their own called the Doomsday device that's automatically set to blow up the world in case of a nuclear attack. The only thing that can stop the U.S. bomber from triggering the Doomsday device is the 3-digit recall code. But there's 1 problem: the U.S. bomber is damaged and unable to get the recall code. Thus, the Doomsday machine is set and the world can only pray and cross its fingers that the plane runs out of fuel before reaching its target!

This '64 film by director Kubrick is a satirical look at the Cold War and those who man the 'switches.' The archetypes in this great film from Jack D. Ripper to Dr. Strangelove himself seem over-the-top until you realize that there were--and still remain in key posts-- individuals equally, if not more, loony in our government who have their finger on 'the button.' Truth is really stranger than fiction. Based on the 1958 book called Red Alert (Peter George) and a script co-written with longtime collaborator Terry Southern, 'Dr. Strangelove' is a Swiss-watch of a movie starring James Earl Jones, Keenan Wynn, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and the ubiquitous Peter Sellers as Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley, and Dr.Strangelove.

My perspectives on Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing'

Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing'

The hidden messages in Quentin Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs'

Quentin Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs'