Classic Gangster Masterpiece Surges in Popularity 42 Years After Release — Now Streaming Free
Four decades after its original debut, one of the most acclaimed gangster films of all time is suddenly finding a new audience on free streaming platforms. Discover why this cinematic classic is making headlines all over again.
If you have been meaning to revisit a neon-soaked, coke-dusted classic without paying a dime, good timing: the one with the poster that launched a thousand dorm rooms just climbed to the top of a free streamer.
Free watch alert: Scarface is currently the most popular movie on Tubi
Brian De Palma's 1983 Scarface is streaming free on Tubi, and at the time I’m writing this it is literally the most-watched film on the platform. Yes, that Scarface — Al Pacino chewing through Miami as Tony Montana, a character so branded into pop culture that people basically call him by the nickname and forget he has an actual name.
- Where to watch: Tubi (free with ads), and it is the platform's most popular film right now
- Release date: December 9, 1983
- Runtime: 170 minutes
- Director: Brian De Palma
- Writers: Oliver Stone (screenplay), building on the 1932 film from Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht
- Origins: A modern reimagining of the 1932 Scarface, which starred Paul Muni as Tony Camonte
- Main cast: Al Pacino (Tony Montana), Michelle Pfeiffer (Elvira Hancock), Steven Bauer (Manny Ribera), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Gina Montana), Mark Margolis (Alberto the Shadow)
For anyone newer to the party: De Palma took the bones of the 1932 gangster film and dragged them into the 1980s Miami drug trade. The result is the rise-and-faceplant of Tony Montana — operatic, brutal, and, thanks to De Palma and Pacino, ridiculously watchable. If you want the studio version of the plot, here you go:
"After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall."
Why this one still hits
This is one of those movies that stamped the gangster genre for decades to come — Pacino goes full volcanic antihero, De Palma stages set pieces like mini-horror films, and the finale is the kind of scorched-earth showdown that directors still chase. It genuinely raised the bar in ways very few have matched since.
The scores and the story around them
On paper, the critical consensus is strong: Scarface sits at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, with audiences landing at a very loud 93%. Inside baseball twist: despite its now-canon status (and all those quotable lines people yell at parties), the movie did not crush in theaters back in 1983. It pulled in $66 million at the box office against a reported $60 million budget — a rough look for a film this big.
Why the soft launch? A lot of moviegoers in 1983 bounced off its graphic, lingering violence — a De Palma specialty — and the excess in general. Time, however, did what time does for cult behemoths: Scarface is now a capital-C classic.
If you have never seen it or you have only seen the memes, this is the perfect low-friction way to fix that. Clear a long evening — it runs 170 minutes — and, well, you know the line.