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Book Summary and Reviews of The World Is Yours by Glenn Kenny

The World Is Yours by Glenn Kenny

The World Is Yours

The Story of Scarface

by Glenn Kenny

  • Critics' Consensus (7):
  • Published:
  • May 2024, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The behind-the-scenes story of the iconic film, featuring new interviews with the cast and crew.

An unflinching confrontation of humanity's dark side, Brian De Palma's crime drama film Scarface gave rise to a cultural revolution upon its release in 1983. Its impact was unprecedented, making globe-spanning waves as a defining portrait of the gritty Miami street life. From Al Pacino's masterful characterization of Tony Montana to the iconic "Say hello to my little friend," Scarface maintains its reputation as an unwavering game changer in cult classic cinema.

With brand-new interviews and untold stories of the film's production, longtime film critic Glenn Kenny takes us on an unparalleled journey through the making of American depictions of crime. The World Is Yours highlights the influential characters and themes within Scarface, reflecting on how its storied legacy played such a major role in American culture.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"This meticulous examination of Scarface is a wildly enjoyable ride… Kenny patiently outlines every moviemaking piece and shows how it fits in the bloody, brilliant Scarface puzzle." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Comprehensive, energetically written… Scarface fans should be sure to read this absolutely necessary book, and so should readers who enjoy a good book about moviemaking, even if they haven't seen this particular film." —Booklist

"Kenny provides a discerning inquiry into Scarface's legacy, crediting the film's fatalism and extravagance with making it a touchstone in hip-hop music and offering a neutral survey of criticism that the movie glorifies violence. Readers will be spellbound." —Publishers Weekly

"Glenn Kenny is not merely a tremendously skilled writer, he is, more importantly, an interesting one… The wild, weird world of film and filmmaking is where and what he lives and breathes." —Todd Hanson, The Onion, Aqua Teen Hunger Force

This information about The World Is Yours was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny is a long time film critic based in New York. He has written for publications such as Film Comment, the Village Voice, and Rolling Stone and contributes film reviews to the New York Times and RogerEbert.com. He teaches film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He is the author of Robert De Niro: Anatomy of an Actor and has appeared in films such as Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience and Ricky D'Angelo's The Sky Is Clear and Blue Today.

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