Introduction: Say Hello To My Little Friend

When Oliver Stone went to work on "Scarface," he wasn't just crafting a great screenplay - he was also getting back at cocaine. Like many in Hollywood, Stone learned firsthand how destructive the drug was. He also nearly took a hit, literally, when researching the film in the Colombian underworld. In fact, on one occasion, Stone wasn't sure he'd make it out of the South American country alive.

Having survived his own habit, and his dangerous liaisons with those in the cocaine trade, Stone was ready to tell an epic story of a drug lord's rise and fall. "Getting even (with cocaine), getting paid to make a movie about it and making it a good one on top of it, there's nothing better," he said.

Yet it would be some time before Stone truly had the last laugh. When first released in December 1983, "Scarface" took a drubbing from the critics for its violence, and did so-so at the box office. As Steven Bauer recalled in "Variety," before the release of the film, Martin Scorsese warned him Hollywood wouldn't like it "because it's about them." And indeed, there are a lot of movie executives who probably learned a few things from Tony Montana's management style, but everyone from lawyers to real-life criminals have told Oliver Stone how much they love the film, and how much it reminds them of their co-workers.

Whatever slams the film took back in the day, the court of public opinion has since weighed in otherwise. Like many popular films, "Scarface" and its legacy grew on television, home video and now DVD, making it an icon of pop culture. The 20th anniversary DVD of the film sold two million copies on DVD during its first week in release alone. Now "Scarface" looks to win over a new generation of fans with two video game adaptations from Vivendi Universal Games; Scarface: The World Is Yours will be released this fall on the PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, while Scarface: Money. Power. Respect. will arrive in October for the PlayStation Portable.

From gangster film fans to rap stars, "Scarface" has earned a passionate following over the years. You also can't watch an episode of MTV's "Cribs" without seeing a "Scarface" poster on a rap star's wall. As with "The Warriors," the hip-hop community has done a lot to keep the film alive. In fact, the 20th anniversary DVD has a special segment titled "Def Jam Presents: Origin of a Hip-Hop Classic."

As Scarface director Brian DePalma once told the New York Times: "The hip-hop community was seeing all around them what was happening in the film - that cocaine makes you feel all powerful, and you surround yourself with entourages, palaces, outrageous clothes and women, and you lose all touch with reality...You ultimately explode, you perish because of your own excess."

Now TwitchGuru takes a look back at one of the true classic films of the 1980s, the game it inspired, and why after all these years "Scarface" still matters. Legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone gave us the story behind the film, and writer David McKenna, and the game's executive producer Pete Wanat of Vivendi Universal, gave us the back story of the game.

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