In the Action-Adventure genre, the Grand Theft Auto Series is probably the dominant force. Rockstar managed to create an immersive open world that players can have a good time in. GTA has rapidly become the most popular franchise in the genre. Therefore, any games of a similar genre will be considered as a GTA knock-off.

As a matter of fact, there are some titles in the GTA series that aren’t completely original. There are lots of missions in GTA that are references to popular movies such as Terminator 2. One of the titles in the series that has so many movie references is GTA Vice City, in which, almost half of the storyline is based on well-known movies.

GTA Vice City is set in Miami, Florida, in the 80s. Back at the time, gang wars were quite frequent in the US. Therefore, many movie references in GTA Vice City are related to the mafia. So, which movies inspired the storyline and missions in GTA Vice City? Without further ado, let’s get into it!

1. The Godfather Trilogy (1972-1990)

The Godfather Trilogy is the most popular mafia movie of all time. It’s based on a novel titled The Godfather by Mario Puzo, which tells the never-ending conflict among an Italian-American gang.

The first Godfather reference in the game is related to Emilio Barzini, one of the major characters in the movie. In Vice City, you can find two restaurants called Barzini’s, with the Italian flag on the banner.

But that’s not all, some of the iconic lines of the movie are also used in GTA Vice City. Such as "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes", which is what Lance Vance says in Supply & Demand.

Apart from that, Michael Corleone’s iconic line, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer", is also the title of the final mission in GTA Vice City.

2. Casablanca (1943)

As shown in the video, after killing all the enemies in the final mission, Tommy Vercetti will say this line to Ken Rosenberg:

“You know Ken. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful business relationship.”

As it turns out, that line is based on the last scene in the movie Casablanca, where the main character says:

“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”

Unfortunately, what Tommy Vercetti said didn’t’ come true. After GTA Vice City, Ken Rosenberg was hooked on cocaine. Ken ultimately had to spend time in rehab in San Andreas. And, because of this, Ken’s relationship with Tommy was beyond repair.

3. Goodfellas (1990)

The third movie reference in GTA Vice City is, obviously, Goodfellas. The voice actor for Tommy Vercetti is none other than the main character of the movie, Ray Liotta. In Goodfellas, Ray Liotta plays a character named Henry Hill.

And, both in GTA III and GTA Vice City, you can find a movie poster for a movie titled “Badfellas”. This is obviously an homage/parody of the movie Goodfellas.

But, the most fascinating easter egg related to Goodfellas can be found in the early cutscene of GTA Vice City. In the cutscene, Sonny Forelli is gathering the gang members. If you look at the back of the room, you can see a man hanging on a meat hook.

GTA fans would later call the man Frankie Carbone. Frankie Carbone is one of the characters in Goodfellas who’s found dead and hanging in a meat-freezing truck.

4. Miami Vice (1984-1990)

Miami Vice is one of the biggest TV series in the US in the 80s. Rockstar adopted some elements from Miami Vice to give the 80s vibes in Vice City. One of which is the GTA Vice City soundtrack, which has the same vibes as Jan Hammer’s arrangement for the Miami Vice soundtrack.

As a matter of fact, for the GTA Vice City intro, Rockstar uses an artwork that’s based on a car scene in Miami Vice.

Even in the gameplay, Rockstar added one of the biggest elements from Miami Vice that to one of the characters. Lance Vance, Tommy Vercetti’s sidekick, is voiced by one of the stars of Miami Vice, Philip Michael Thomas.

In the series, Philip Michael Thomas plays Ricardo Tubbs, and the outfit that Tubbs wore in the series is the same as Tommy Vercetti’s. It’s called the Mr. Vercetti outfit and can be obtained by purchasing a property called Pole Position, which is located south of Vice City.

5. Scarface (1983)

If you’ve beat GTA Vice City, then watched the movie Scarface, you might be seeing a lot of similarities regarding Tommy Vercetti’s storyline.

Both of the characters’ backgrounds are also quite similar. Tommy Vercetti was an inmate in Liberty City who moves to Vice City. The main character in Scarface, Tony Montana, also has a similar background. Tony was a political prisoner in his home country, Cuba, who moves to Miami along with thousands of other immigrants.

Tommy Vercetti then works for a big boss named Ricardo Diaz, while Tony Montana works for Frank Lopez. Later on, Tommy Vercetti kills Ricardo Diaz, after knowing that Diaz almost got him killed during a drug deal. A similar thing happens in Scarface, where Tony Montana kills his boss, Frank Lopez, for the very same reason.

Tommy Vercetti then takes over Ricardo Diaz’s role, and the same goes for Tony with his boss. GTA Vice City also shares a similar ending as Scarface, where both ends with a massive gunfight at the base.

Scarface References in GTA Vice City

However, similar storylines aren’t the only things that they share. There are many other Scarface references that you can find in GTA Vice City:

• Tommy Vercetti starts his journey with Lance Vance, and Tommy eventually has to kill Lance as he betrayed him
  
  
• Tony Montana has a close friend named Manny Ribera, whose killed by Tony later on after Manny betrayed him
  
  
• In Apartment 3C, which is located south of Vice City, there’s a bathroom covered in blood. In it, you can also find a yellow chainsaw
  
  
• In the early scenes of Scarface, Tony Montana almost gets killed by the Colombians using a yellow chainsaw in a small bathroom
  
  
• Tony Montana eventually survives the event and kills one of the Colombians named Hector
  
  
• In a GTA Vice City mission called Treacherous Swine, Tommy Vercetti is assigned to kill Gonzales using a chainsaw. The outfit that Gonzales wears in this scene also looks similar to Hector’s
  
  
• The interior of the Malibu Club in GTA Vice City shares some strong resemblances with the Babylon Club in Scarface
  
  
• The interior of Ricardo Diaz’s mansion also looks similar to Frank Lopez’s
  
  
• The outfit that Tommy Vercetti wears early in the story looks very similar to Tony Montana’s
  
  

From these facts, we can see that GTA Vice City shares some strong resemblances with the movie Scarface in various elements, such as the plot twist, the overall storyline, characteristics, the architecture, and even the outfits. One might say that GTA Vice City has stronger Scarface vibes than the game Scarface: The World Is Yours released in 2006.

So, from all of the movie references mentioned above, which ones have you seen? And which one’s your favorite? Let us know in the comments below! Also watch the following Dunia Games’ video, hosted by Dimedigger.

Check out this article on GTA San Andreas cheats and GTA 5 cheats. Use them in your GTA game now!