Al Pacino,one of the greatest actors that ever lived?

He should have really won way more than pone academy award so late in his career.

He should have won them one after another for:

Godfather
Dog Day Afternoon
Godfather part 2
Serpico

Who compares to this great man besides Robert De Niro?Maybe Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholason?

Do you believe any of the above mentioned actors are better than him?

From what i have seen he seems to be the best current living actor...But i have to see more works of De Niro.

Daniel Day Lewis is leagues above him..but I don't find that a detriment to Pacino's skills. I prefer Pacino's work. I think a lot of Pacino's roles over the years have been too similar, sort of like Denzel Washington. Still love them both. I also prefer De Niro to Pacino.

But Daniel Day Lewis has done what like 10 films in 4 decades?

If they forced Pacino to prepare 4yrs for a role the result would obviously be better...each one to his choices...

Its true that Al has not had the Versatility of roles as De Niro or Roles that needed deep involvement and preparation like D.D.Lewis of Lincoln but what has been thrown at him he aced it and moved us.

If you see a regular movie like ...Justice for All i wonder if either De Niro or D.D.Lewis could have topped that performance as just a regular guy,something tells me Lewis definitely would not have as he is used to being in character after having done deep research to give his best....that would not have been possible with a regular guy..

My opinion is if not the undisputed best,hes as good as any out there...

I enjoy Pacino's movies more than DDL's based on subject matter, script and supporting cast. Lincoln... historical... great acting... yet so boring.

Give me Dog Day Afternoon any day over that, or Heat, the Godfather I or II, Scarface, Dick Tracy, Donnie Brasco, etc.

Robert de Niro too. One thing that differentiates de Niro from Pacino is that de Niro has done a much wider range of movies. Far more comedies than Pacino. Taxi Driver, Godfather II, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Casino, The Deer Hunter, Once Upon a Time in America, Wag the Dog, Untouchables, Jackie Brown, Ronin, Heat, Meet the Parents, The Departed, etc.

Exactly both Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico were documentry kinda of movies but yet his acting made it interesting and his performance was moving...

I cannot compare. I consider Al Pacino and DeNiro as the best actors of their generation.
The best actors of this generation(from hollywood) for me are DDL and Gary Oldman. DDL is certainly a cut above the rest. Acting has evolved and is evolving. So it is extremely unfair to compare the best actors from different eras.

Okay i guess you are correct

Don't get the too similar critique. Look at his roles in Scarface and the Godfather. He essentially played the same role on both but in one he was cold and calculative whereas in the other he was flamboyant and impulsive. And he played the hell out of both.

Forza wrote:I enjoy Pacino's movies more than DDL's based on subject matter, script and supporting cast. Lincoln... historical... great acting... yet so boring.

Give me Dog Day Afternoon any day over that, or Heat, the Godfather I or II, Scarface, Dick Tracy, Donnie Brasco, etc.

Robert de Niro too. One thing that differentiates de Niro from Pacino is that de Niro has done a much wider range of movies. Far more comedies than Pacino. Taxi Driver, Godfather II, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Casino, The Deer Hunter, Once Upon a Time in America, Wag the Dog, Untouchables, Jackie Brown, Ronin, Heat, Meet the Parents, The Departed, etc.

I'm polar opposite. I think Lincoln was riveting largely in part of DDL along with his performance in Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood....sure they were slow moving, but historical period pieces like that are meant to be that way. Great stuff from him all around. I can at least forgive him for Last of the Mohicans

No one forget Carlito's Way.

Daniel-Day Lewis is one of my favourite actors of all time yet hasn't reached the level of Pacino and De Niro. He has not brought the same innovation, inspiration,technique and depth that those two have. If DDL is a perfect actor, Pacino & De Niro take it to the next level as these two are the best of all time for me. Some of the performances omitted on this thread of them, is near shocking. DDL has some way to go before reaching that level. Although as current actors, DDL along with Bale, Oldman etc is the pre-eminent actor.

And Neal? Last of the Mohicans was a true epic and near masterpiece. I understand it was slow at parts yet it was one of the best films of the 90s.

Daniel Day-Lewis is the best!!!

As for Al Pacino, I'm a fan. I love him in The Godfather, haven't watched Part 2 yet. Scarface, was pretty meh. Said so in the movie house thread, I think I got some abuse for that. But as a classic film Scarface just didn't do it for me.

De Niro >>> Pacino. Look at de Niro's work. From Taxi Driver (which imo is his best performance ever, again I should mention I haven't watched Godfather Part 2 yet), to Raging Bull, from GoodFellas to comedies like Meet The Parents. Not only is he versatile but he just kills it on set every time.

Forza wrote:I enjoy Pacino's movies more than DDL's based on subject matter, script and supporting cast. Lincoln... historical... great acting... yet so boring.

Give me Dog Day Afternoon any day over that, or Heat, the Godfather I or II, Scarface, Dick Tracy, Donnie Brasco, etc.

Robert de Niro too. One thing that differentiates de Niro from Pacino is that de Niro has done a much wider range of movies. Far more comedies than Pacino. Taxi Driver, Godfather II, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Casino, The Deer Hunter, Once Upon a Time in America, Wag the Dog, Untouchables, Jackie Brown, Ronin, Heat, Meet the Parents, The Departed, etc.

And when I say DDL is the best, just look at his performances in Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood, especially the latter.

I mean, they are just out of this world, very few performances can match that.
I understand that he stars in like 2 films every decade, but still you can't take it away from him that he pulls off a magnificent performance every time.

El gunner

Due to repeated collabrations,confused Di Caprico with De Niro?

You mean the intensity of the performance...

Pacino brings the same quality with subtlety in Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.


Explained most well by the late Roger Ebert.

Shit i cannot post the link.

Actually I confused Scorsese with De Niro, lol

King Meyy wrote:El gunner

Due to repeated collabrations,confused Di Caprico with De Niro?

Yeah maybe.

Now that you mentioned him, what is your view on Di Caprio. Imo, he is the best of HIS generation. For the past decade he has starred in the best movies, and when a great director Martin Scorsese wants to keep on working with him like he did with De Niro, that's gotta be a good sign.?

But Jhonny Depp is up there with di caprico or rather di caprico is up there with depp.

Bradd pitt is catching up as well with his recent performances.


Whereas matching DDL's intense performances goes we have:

Heath Ledger from the Dark Knight.
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Jean-Louis Trintignant-Amour
De Niro-Taxi Driver
Al Pacino-Scarface
Bradd Pitt and Edward Norton-Fight Club
Samuel L. Jackson - Pulp Fiction
Robert De Niro - Raging Bull

King Meyy wrote:You mean the intensity of the performance...

Pacino brings the same quality with subtlety in Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.


Explained most well by the late Roger Ebert.

Shit i cannot post the link.

Well tbh I haven't watched the movies you just mentioned now. I have only seen The Godfather, Scarface, Heat, Scent of a Woman, Donnie Brasco, Insomnia, The Son of No One

King Meyy wrote:But Jhonny Depp is up there with him.

Bradd pitt is catching up as well with his recent performances.


Whereas matching DDL's intense performances goes we have:

Heath Ledger from the Dark Knight.
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Jean-Louis Trintignant-Amour
De Niro-Taxi Driver
Al Pacino-Scarface
Bradd Pitt and Edward Norton-Fight Club
Samuel L. Jackson - Pulp Fiction
Robert De Niro - Raging Bull

I will scrap out Heath Ledger, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt and Norton, Samuel Jackson, just because those performances aren't leading roles. I don't know about the guy in Amour. I haven't seen Amour.

See the thing with DDL is that he is a leading performer. He can take one movie and totally kill it by himself. Not many can do that, as Tarantino said great leading actors don't grow on trees when he spoke about DiCaprio, and I think there have been only a few actors that I have seen and taken a film by the scrap of the neck, and made it his own. And those are DDL, De Niro, Denzel Washington, and to a slight lesser extend Al Pacino, DiCaprio (The Aviator), Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump).

Never was a fan of Johnny Depp... In my opinion, the one that comes closest to DiCaprio are Christian Bale, and maybe also Brad Pitt.

..And Justice for all
Serpico
Dog day afternoon

Are absolutely necessary to understand him as his early performances were for good roles...as the years went by and he shunned the the commercial side he kinda disappeared from the radar and was not receiving roles like he initially was after The Godfather and then his decline into repetitive roles as you people say.

Both Norton and Pitt were co leads...i thought we were talking about performances

Al Pacino-The Insider despite being a co-lead he totally kills russell crowe in this film,the way you mention DDl does and going by what you say then Di caprico was the protagonist in Gangs of New York.

And ofcourse Marlon Brando can kill a role and lead the film too like he did in:

The godfather despite limited screen time and Last tango in paris.

Yeah Cristian Bale i forgot about him.

Yeah, in Gangs of New York he aint the leading actor, we weren't discussing roles. We were discussing performances but I just pointed out that, IN ADDITION, he is also a magnificent- and the best leading actor.