Scarface (1983)

Writer-director duo Oliver Stone and Brian De Palma cast a young Al Pacino as Cuban immigrant Tony Montana and they’ve taken over the genre – with a lil’ help from their frens.

The moral of story is that greed and excess destroy, and the rot sets in early. So while Tony has ambitions to rise from lowly dishwasher, even he can’t dream that he’ll be one of Miami’s biggest cocaine distributors in Miami. And the more money he has, the more he wants. But the pitfalls are lined up – from women and cars, to mansions, guns and everything else that a toyboy could want.

The fashion is crazy – Hawaiian shirts everywhere! The drama is thrilling, and the script is genius. The real hook is Al as lose-cannon Tony who delivers one of the most iconic movie phrases in a drug-fuelled rant: “Say hello to my lil’ fren!”

It’s one of the greatest crime films for a reason, says rogerebert.com: “Montana gets it all and he loses it all. That’s predictable. What is original about this movie is the attention it gives to how little Montana enjoys it while he has it.”