My Top 10 Favorite Screenplays (Part 5 of 5)

9. Scarface (1983) Written by Oliver Stone
Accolades: No major award wins or nominations

Thoughts/Opinions: This is my screenplay "guilty pleasure", while there is a ridiculous amount of cursing and the dialogue isn't intelligent at all, the scipt is still oh so entertaining. Tony Montana is such a volatile fascination of mine. Characters in Scarface-- besides Montana -- are not very deep, you do not tend to feel for them when they are killed, hurt, sad etc. etc. With saying that, I also must say that the sloppyness of the dialogue in this script flows very well with the rest of the film. What makes this screenplay better than an average screenplay that probably is formed better is solely on the back of Al Pacino's performance of Tony Montana. Where every thing else in the script lacks, it is saved by the character of Tony Montana. It is amazing how one character can become so iconic. Along with Montana, Scarface as a film has lived on so well. There are so many films that are much better than Scarface, and scripts so much greater that have drifted and died with time, but this script lives on and doesn't seem to be intending to ever leave our minds. As you will find out later in this blog, the great and always useable quotes come by the dozens I have seen at least 5 different films/TV shows that have featured Scarface quotes (the two the come first to mind are The Sopranos and Gommorah). So get ready; and let's check out some of these epic quotes.

Memorable Quotes:
 Tony Montana: I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.

Tony Montana: I kill a communist for fun, but for a green card, I gonna carve him up real nice.

 

Tony Montana: What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be? You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through! Better get outta his way!

 

 M.C. at Babylon Club: Another great night here at the Babylon, right? Okay. All right! Do another gram, you'll all be babblin' on.

 

Tony Montana: I'm Tony Montana! You fuck with me, you fuckin' with the best!

 

Tony Montana: You wanna fuck with me? Okay. You wanna play rough? Okay. Say hello to my little friend!
[Tony shoots]

 

Tony Montana: In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.

 

Tony Montana: Me, I want what's coming to me.
Manny: Oh, well what's coming to you?
Tony Montana: The world, chico, and everything in it.

 

Tony Montana: The World Is Yours!

 

 

10. Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Written by Guillermo del Toro

Accolades: Nominated- Academy Award Best Original Screenplay

 

Thoughts/Opinions: I know a lot of you probably won't like this pick, but there was just no way I could leave it out. When listening/reading this script all you have to do is remember one thing: this is all original. The story isn't based on a book or a fairy tale, but instead is a completely orginal story. Now after you have thought about that I have a feeling you will understand this choice more. This film blew my mind, never has the story in a film fascinated me so much. Honestly the more I thing about it, the more I thing that maybe I should have put this higher on the list. I have a very hard time deciding what I think the themes of this film are, and to be completely truthful I do not thing there are any major major themes. I know that innocence is part of it, but other than that theme my mind tends to wander. No film I have ever seen has been able to incorporate war, politics, a child's point of view, and fairy tales all into one film, but Pan's Labyrinth does just that. So before you shun this decision please think about what I have just mentioned, and never forget that this film is completely original.

 

Memorable Quotes:

Ofelia: My name is Ofelia. Who are you?
Pan: Me? I've had so many names. Old names that only the wind and the trees can pronounce. I am the mountain, the forest and the earth. I am... I am a faun. Your most humble servant, Your Highness.

 

Capitán Vidal: You could have obeyed me!
Doctor: But captain, to obey - just like that - for obedience's sake... without questioning... That's something only people like you do.

 

Carmen: The captain has been so good to us... Please, Ofelia, call him father. It's just a word, Ofelia, just a word.

 

[first lines]
Pan: A long time ago, in the underground realm, where there are no lies or pain, there lived a Princess who dreamed of the human world. She dreamed of blue skies, soft breeze, and sunshine. One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside, the brightness blinded her and erased every trace of the past from her memory. She forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered cold, sickness, and pain. Eventually, she died. However, her father, the King, always knew that the Princess' soul would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his last breath, until the world stopped turning...

 

Capitán Vidal: Tell my son the time that his father died. Tell him...
Mercedes: No. He won't even know your name.

 

Mercedes: [to Vidal] I'm not some old man! Or a wounded prisoner! Motherfucker... Don't you dare touch the girl. You won't be the first pig I've gutted!

 

Carmen: You're getting older, and you'll see that life isn't like your fairy tales. The world is a cruel place. And you'll learn that, even if it hurts.
[throws the mandrake onto the fire]
Ofelia: No! No!
Carmen: Ofelia! Magic does not exist. Not for you, me or anyone else.

 

 Pan: Quickly Your Majesty, give him to me. The full moon is high in the sky. We can open the portal.
Ofelia: What is that in your hand?
Pan: The portal will only open if we offer the blood of an innocent. Just a drop of blood: a pinprick, that's all. It's the final task.
Pan: Hurry. You promised to obey me. Give me the boy!
Ofelia: No! My brother stays with me.
Pan: You would give up your sacred rights for a brat you barely know?
Ofelia: Yes, I would.
Pan: You would give up your throne for him? He who has caused you such misery, such humiliation?
Ofelia: Yes, I would.
Pan: As you wish, Your Highness.

 

 Rey: Arise, my daughter. Come. You have spilled your own blood rather than the blood of an innocent. That was the final task and the most important.
Pan: And you chose well, Your Highness.
Carmen: Come here with me, and sit by your father's side.

 

Capitán Vidal: I'll make you a deal. If you can count to three without st-t-uttering you can go. Don't look at him look at me. Above me there is no one. Garces!
Garcés: Yes Captain?
Capitán Vidal: If I say this asshole can leave would anybody here contradict me?
Garcés: No one Captain. He can leave.
Capitán Vidal: There you have it. Count to three.
Stuttering Rebel: One...
Capitán Vidal: Good.
Stuttering Rebel: Two...
Garcés: Good - one more and you're free.
Stuttering Rebel: T-t-t-t-t
Capitán Vidal: Shame.

 

Ofelia: Many, many years ago in a sad, faraway land, there was an enormous mountain made of rough, black stone. At sunset, on top of that mountain, a magic rose blossomed every night that made whoever plucked it immortal. But no one dared go near it because its thorns were full of poison. Men talked amongst themselves about their fear of death, and pain, but never about the promise of eternal life. And every day, the rose wilted, unable to bequeath its gift to anyone... forgotten and lost at the top of that cold, dark mountain, forever alone, until the end of time.