Watching it today - I'm leaning towards the former.
Other times I can't look past the clunky nature of the last half as if it were two films smashed into one. Sometimes I'm in the mood where I see this as one of De Palma's finest efforts capturing the meteoric rise and tragic fall of an ambitious crime lord incapable of seeing past his own paranoia. That's partly because I have a pretty different reaction to it every time I see it. I've seen Scarface so many times now I can't even remember what my first viewing was like. For whatever reason, it was the movie you had to see in order to be a part of the in-crowd. Scarface is a film that is just damn near impossible to avoid - especially within my generation of mid-late 30-somethings who grew up sneaking VHS rentals and late-night viewings on HBO.
'This town is like a great big chicken waiting to be plucked.'
