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It was a good night to be the bad guy.

Al Pacino — aka Tony Montana — reunited with director Brian De Palma and "Scarface" co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Steven Bauer on the 35th anniversary of the classic 1983 crime drama Thursday night at the Beacon Theatre as part of Tribeca Film Festival.

Pacino, now 77, told the crowd that the movie, which has since become a pop-culture phenomenon, was his own idea. It came to him after seeing the 1932 film of the same name, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Paul Muni as main character Antonio "Tony" Camonte.

The 1983 reimagining quickly became infamous for its over-the-top violence and vulgarity, sporting over 200 uses of the word “f--k,” for starters. While the cast said the profanity was never an issue with their own children years later, they knew the filthy language was an impactful part of the script.

"Bombast was part of what we were trying to say with the movie," Pacino said. "It was bigger than life."

That bombast was evident in the film's gory murder scenes, including the notorious chainsaw execution.

"That was in (Oliver Stone's) script," De Palma said. "He did all this reporting in Florida and he based it on these gangsters who were chopping up bodies with chainsaws and dumping them in the garbage."

"I thought that we had to show that these were different kinds of gangsters," he explained.

The film received an X rating three times — the MPAA rating board particularly struggled with the scene of a clown being shot. Luckily, producer Marty Bregman, who masterminded the film alongside Pacino, put together a strong presentation to the board and finally scored the go-ahead for an R rating.

Pacino said he had a feeling from the start that it would be one of those special roles — and his hunch was right.

"I did have a feeling, I must say it's true, because there are certain roles you feel that can challenge you ... there was something about the preparation, there was something about the text and Brian,” Pacino told the crowd.

“I felt this is about something that I really want to say,” he said.

"Scarface" was snubbed by the Oscars after its premiere, but was nominated for three Golden Globes in 1984: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture in a Drama for Al Pacino, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Drama for Steven Bauer, and Best Original Score for Giorgio Moroder.

It is, instead, perhaps best known for its wildly violent action and classic one-liners, like Pacino's all-too-familiar "Say hello to my little friend," which Cuban immigrant-turned-drug-lord Montana shouts just before spraying bullets at dozens of would-be assassins in his Miami mansion.

Pacino told the Tribeca audience that the famous line — penned by screenwriter Oliver Stone — never gets old.

"What you mean, 'Say hello to my little friend?'" he repeated to the audience when asked about how the quote manages to remain iconic.

The Q&A clocked in at just under an hour, hardly enough time for the cast to dive into the history of the film. But Bauer, who played Montana's trustworthy companion, Manny, recalled how he and Pacino spent an entire summer getting into their roles by pretending to be old pals from Cuba.

Bauer admitted he isn't in the acting game anymore, but he didn't waste any time taking control of the stage and chiming in to share his memories of filming "Scarface" back in the day.

Pacino secured the role after starring in "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II," as well as two leading roles in Sidney Lumet's New York City-centric pictures "Serpico" and "Dog Day Afternoon." Most recently, Pacino portrayed Joe Paterno in the HBO film "Paterno," which followed the longtime Penn State University football coach during the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Pfeiffer, who landed her first leading role in "Grease 2" (1982), gained mainstream attention for her portrayal of Tony Montana's wife, Elvira Hancock, in "Scarface."

She told the audience that she learned a lot from Pacino and still attempts to protect her characters "at all costs," just like he does.

"I have always tried to emulate that, and I tried to be polite about it, but I think that that's what really makes great acting and I think that it and so I really try to emulate his process," she explained.

Pfeiffer was pressed about playing a female character that, especially in the wake of #MeToo, is seen as submissive to the overcompensating male leads.

"The other thing about Elvira is, I remember at the time even then I kind of got a lot of questions about, 'Well, you're playing someone who is subservient, what sort of message is that sending to women?'" she explained. "I was also in my early 20s and hadn't thought a lot about it at the time, but I really feel that sometimes you could do a lot more for a cause by actually being an artist, really presenting to people what is the truth, and not sugar-coating it.”

"And I felt that by allowing people to observe who this character is, and the sacrifices that she's made, said more than getting up on any soapbox preaching to people," Pfeiffer concluded, to cheers from the audience.

De Palma looked back on his gangster classic and noted how — to this day — the acting blows him away.

"The amazing thing about is seeing this movie again and again is the amazing performances," he said.

Even with 30 years to reflect on his cinematic choices, the director said he still wouldn't make any changes to the film.

When asked if he could ever see a female version of Tony Montana, he flatly replied, “No.”

Pressed on his thoughts about a contemporary revival, with a storyline centered on, say, Russia or Mark Zuckerberg, he again gave a simple "no."

"I like gangster movies," he said.

The 1932 film of the same name was loosely based on the rise and fall of Al Capone. It was Sidney Lumet's idea to base the film on Cuba immigrants in the remake.

De Palma's other directorial credits include "Carrie" (1976), "Dressed to Kill," (1980), "The Untouchables" (1987), "Mission: Impossible" (1996), "Mission to Mars" (2000) and "Redacted" (2007).