Scarface
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BerettaCheetah

The Beretta Cheetah, also known by its original model name of "Series 81", is a line of compact blowback operated semi-automatic pistols designed and manufactured by Beretta of Italy. They were introduced in 1976 and include models in .32 ACP (Models 81 and 82), .380 ACP (9mm Short) (Models 80X, 83, 84, 85 and 86) and .22 LR (Models 87, 87 Target and 89). Beretta still manufactures the Cheetah in Italy with limited imports to the U.S. each year.

The Beretta Cheetah is one of the weapons Tony Montana uses in the movie Scarface, as he uses it in most scenarios of the movie:

  1. When going to a drug deal with Hector the Toad (Al Israel), Tony (Al Pacino) carries a Beretta Model 81 with Pachmayr grips in with him. But when the drug deal goes wrong, Hector takes the gun from Tony and uses it to threaten him, and then proceeds to put it in a suitcase with the drugs and grab his chainsaw.
  2. He uses it to shoot Frank Lopez's hitmen in the Babylon Club.
  3. Then, he inserts a suppressor on it, and uses it to kill Mel Bernstein in the shop during a job interview.

Tony carries this same model Beretta throughout the rest of the film, which he carries in a holster in the small of his back, fixing it with a suppressor when he visits Frank Lopez. This weapon was previously misidentified as the similar Model 84 BB, but the records for the weapons sent to the production indicate that an 81 was used.

Facts

Screenwriter Oliver Stone felt that Tony's Beretta was integral to the character's image. Tony's carrying of an Italian pistol could also be a reference to the original 1932 film, where the main character was an Italian immigrant. A specific reference to Tony's Beretta or "Baretta" (sic) appears on page 158 of the assistant property master’s working production script describing Manny’s death scene. The assistant property master circled “Baretta” (sic) in red ink to be sure that the exact gun was the one to be used by Mr. Al Pacino in the film. The Beretta also appears briefly onscreen lying on Tony’s desk next to his enormous pile of cocaine during the climactic ending of the film.

This weapon is not present in Scarface - The World Is Yours, however, a similar weapon named the .38 Automatic appears.

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