Scarface (1983 film) favor of releasing the film with a less restrictive R rating. In response, De Palma argued that, if the latest version of the film was now considered an R, then his original version would also be rated R, rationalizing that the edits which he made were minor. The MPAA told De Palma that only his latest edit would be certified as an R. De Palma believed that the changes were so slight that no one would notice if he released his original version anyway, which he ultimately did. "Scarface" premiered on December 1, 1983 in New York City, where it
Brian De Palma enrolled at the newly coed Sarah Lawrence College as a graduate student in their theater department in the early 1960s, becoming one of the first male students among a female population. Once there, influences as various as drama teacher Wilford Leach, the Maysles brothers, Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard, Andy Warhol, and Alfred Hitchcock impressed upon De Palma the many styles and themes that would shape his own cinema in the coming decades. An early association with a young Robert De Niro resulted in "The Wedding Party". The film, which was co-directed with Leach and producer Cynthia Munroe, had been shot