Al Pacino’s larger-than-life portrayal of megalomaniacal cocaine kingpin Tony Montana helped transform Brian De Palma’s Scarface from a standard crime thriller into a gruesome meditation on the American dream. Oliver Stone’s floridly profane script provides an operatic arc for Montana—from impoverished Cuban refugee to stateside drug lord—in his quest for money and power. A solid cast includes breakout performances from Michelle Pfeiffer as Tony's wife, Elvira, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as his sister Gina. Veteran character actors Robert Loggia and F. Murray Abraham, as ruthless rival dealers, throw themselves into Stone and De Palma’s fever dream with voracious abandon. But it’s Pacino’s performance, at once furiously intense and darkly comic, that embodies the film's at-all-costs vibe. His volcanic delivery of the scathing dialogue has become part of the pop culture lexicon, particularly within the world of hip-hop.