Im probably gonna cop shit for this topic cause you wouldent be in this forum if you didnt love scarface but i was wondering what you guys and gals think..which movie do you like better and why...i personally love both movies but believe scarface overshadows carlito's way... making cw underatted...Scarface 9.5/10 Carlito's way 9/10

I agree, I believe Scarface is superior to Carlito's Way. First of all, Scarface is easily the most notably and quotable film between the two. Also, Scarface has more action and I just always felt Carlito's Way was overrated.

SCARFACE was the superior film. It may be perceived as a cult movie now, but believe me, 25 years ago, they really believed they were going to make an epic film. If not for some squeamish and bigoted movie critics, it might have been received that way.

As far as CARLITO'S WAY, it's a VERY good movie. As far as the critics who just saw it as another gangster vehicle for Pacino, they have to at least give Sean Penn credit for a phenomenal supporting performance. I thought he was Oscar worthy.

oh yeah ..definently Sean Penn gave a steller performance..i soughta reckon the characters in Carlito's way were more full of substance...which is why i rate SCarface .5 more than CW...a close call for me..laters

Well, I don't know about the quotable argument. I mean, what if rappers had masturbated over CARLITO'S WAY as much as they have for SCARFACE?

Seriously, "Here Comes the Pain!" could easily have become as well known as "Say Hello to my Little Friend!"

Also, why is CARLITO'S WAY overrated?

I love SCARFACE and CARLITO'S WAY, both really well-made, if not great, crime dramas from Brian DePalma.

Both stories take the traditional ganster crime story formula, but with different approaches. SCARFACE was produced with the intention of being the ultimate incarnation of the "American Gangster Myth" with inspiration from Shakespeare's epics: Small-time street nobody that societ doesn't give a shit about rising through the ranks, becomes a king by his own hand, but inevitably falls from his throne.

Of course people enjoy as Montana enjoys his perks of women, money, and drugs.

Like Shakespeare's tragedies, people over succeeding generations keep coming back to SCARFACE, but why? Maybe its the Oliver Stone-penned, Al Pacino-personified protagonist in Tony Montana. He's a scumbag, but a charming guy that you WANT to like. You shouldn't feel sorry for his death, because its his own damn fault, but you do anyways.

Meanwhile, CARLITO'S WAY is the melancholic, reflective approach taken to the same material of SCARFACE. Carlito Brigante has had the women and money as the heroin drug kingpin of Spanish Harlem. But after 5 long years in jail, and getting out of the joint out of sheer luck of a wreckless city District Attorney's office, Brigante now wants to take this rare "2nd chance" in life, and guess what?

He doesn't want to get back into crime. He certainly doesn't want to return to jail.

Yet in the circumstances that transpire, as occurs to Robert DeNiro in the finale of HEAT, Carlito is trapped. Yet the downer ending of SCARFACE, you don't feel any serious emotions when Montana gets a shotgun blast to the spine.

But Brigante's finale? Heartbreaking.

I love both movies, but as I mature and age grows on me, CARLITO'S WAY seems to work more wonders to me. However, what movie would I rather watch over and over? SCARFACE.

SCARFACE (1983) - ****
CARLITO'S WAY (1992) - ****

Oh and I forgot...Sean Penn DID kick major ass in CARLITO'S WAY.

"So long Dave!"

I've always felt that Carlito's Way was sort of like a sequel to Scarface, had Tony not gotten killed. It takes off assuming he went to jail for his tax evasion, after killing Manny and Gina, and became penitent. Maybe not 100 % possible, but I think that's a fun way to look at it.

I think along the same rough lines, sopranorleone.

I also think along those lines.

i can see where your coming from with the whole sequel thing..i disagree though..i dont see it like that at all...its just all the familiarities(cant spell) you see throughout the movie that remind you of scarface...brian de palma was actually quite reluctant on making this film as he himself ..thought about the comparisons it would have to tony montana....

Tony stands alone. And Carlito stands alone. They could never be the same, but they are both bad ass. But I'd pick Scarface anyday.

I always thougt Carlito was an elder Tony trying to get out of the buisness.

Carlito became somewhat reformed. He gradually became better as a person. He didn't want that much out of life anymore. He would have been satisfied with his $75,000 so he could go and live his dream.

The more Tony got, the more he wanted. He was already living his dream but that was not enough for him. He gradually became worse as a person.


When comparing the two, they may have started out the same way, but they became much different as time went on.



Don Cardi

I agree DC.
Far be it from me to set the moral compass for a couple of drug dealers, but I think that Carlito probably had more redeeming qualities than Tony.
He could've, and in hindsight should've, let Pachonga kill Benny Blanco after their initial altercation. Tony never would've mellowed to the point of giving Benny a second chance.
Tony was probably the better gangster, where Carlito was probably the better person.

i reckon ive watched both movies over a hundred times..both classics..love em

Carlito's Way because of Al Pacino action and looks,

Carlitos Brigante looking awesome in his black leather coat like always superb , I am gonna get this coat from Slimfit Jackets.

Too tough a decision, fan of both these great films

Call it a tie,

A close call but, Scarface wins it for me by a nose!

Very close call to me as well. It seems the general person couldn't tell you who starred in Carlito's Way. I thought this was one of Al's greatest roles as you wouldn't expect him to look and sound like a Puerto Rican. Loved this movie since the first time I seen it at 13 when it came out.

"You ain't a lawyer no more, Dave. You a gangster now"

To me, they're two rather different types of films. Despite both being directed by Brian DePalma and both starring Al Pacino, the comparison goes only so far.

IMO, Carlos Brigante is a more interesting, more three-dimensional, more complex and nuanced character than is Tony Montana. He's a wiser human being because of the things he's learned in life - particularly the value of learning from one's mistakes, changing one's ways, and escaping the limitations of one's environment. Tony Montana, by contrast, would seem incapable of that degree of self-reflection, let alone actual reform. From start to finish Tony is a machine, utterly consumed by his ambitions, ruthlessly determined to get whatever he wants, by any means necessary. He may be more cunning and calculating than Carlos Brigante, but Carlos may be the smarter character.

Ultimately, each film is a morality play, albeit with different viewpoints and different approaches. Overall, Scarface is probably the better film, due to better production values for one thing. But to me, Carlito's Way is in most respects the better story.

~ Q

in my opinion scarface is much better than the carlito's way movies. BUT i do like those movies alot i like the one where he is younger and meets nickey barnes and shit.

both are excellent films in their own right. i like carlito's way. carlito is a complex character who has learned the error of his ways and wants out. tony rises to the top and sadly spirals downward and can't save himself. on another note i believe they are going to remake scarface.

What I found interesting about the two films was the main character has some good in them.

I think people in the drug business can show some good when it does not cost them anything.

They do what they have to do if it will cost them.

So Tony would have blown up the car even if the wife and kids would die.

Carlito would have killed his friend once he saw he was not his friend was just using him.

Yes indeed.....Its more like Tony reppin Miami with his own Swag and Carlito is Tony with New York swag. In my opinion.

Scarface for sure. I did not enjoy David Kleinfeld's character at all. I know the character is supposed to be kind of awkward so I won't call it bad acting. Perhaps, it is great acting, just a shitty character, and hence, why I take Scarface all day.