Hoo-ah!
Thank you to my regular reader Yannick for recommending this blog - Al Pacino is certainly one of the greatest actors alive, and his best performances deserve to be discussed. So, without further ado, here are my ten favorite performances from the legendary actor.
10. Willy Bank in Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
How to ensure that the third film in a franchise keeps things interesting after the second instalment fell flat? Well, casting Al Pacino as your villain is pretty much the best possible power move to get you started.
Casino mogul Willy Bank may not be one of Pacino's most complex characters, but still a very interesting one who is brought to life brilliantly. The actor plays the role with formidable charisma, making for a memorable antagonist for the Ocean crew to go up against. While he has done enough heroic good-guy roles to avoid being typecast, Pacino definitely is one of Hollywood's all-time greatest villain actors, and roles like this certainly expand that legacy.
9. Lefty in Donnie Brasco (1997)
In the grand tradition of Vito Corleone and Tony Soprano, the character Lefty in Donnie Brasco is a violent mafioso who is portrayed as a paradoxically endearing family man. This is necessary for the film's plot and the point of view the story is told from, as the movie is about undercover cop Donnie (Johnny Depp) who begins to sympathize with the criminals he's been sent to bust. Pacino's character is central to this transformation, as he opens Donnie's eyes to the supposed glories and values of the mob lifestyle. The actor is brilliant in this many-sided role, as one might expect from such a talented performer.
And his Brooklyn accent? Fuggeddaboutit.
8. Lt. Vincent Hanna in Heat (1995)
How to make your cops-and-robbers movie into the possibly best cops-and-robbers movie of all time? Well, casting Al Pacino as the main cop and Robert De Niro as the main robber is certainly a start.
Pacino does a remarkable job as the fleshed-out protagonist Vincent Hanna, a high-ranking police officer who is leading a troubled life and pursuing a tough case. The character certainly isn't the archetypical Hollywood police hero, but rather a gritty depiction of a man who has landed on rough times yet whose heart is in the right place, as he struggles to keep his head in the game and do his best to put the bad guys away. The scene where the character meets De Niro's character Neil McCauley in a diner is one of the most fantastically tense movie moments of all time, as two actors of the highest caliber meeting face-to-face on-screen for the first time is quite the monumental occasion.
7. Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
As I've mentioned in a previous entry, I believe Glengarry Glen Ross to be (possibly) the best-acted movie in cinematic history. Not only does it feature names like Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Jonathan Pryce, Alec Baldwin and Alan Arkin, but it features spectacular individual performances from all of them. For most of the aforementioned names, it's the best performance of their career (or at least in each actor's top three). However, the film's arguably best performance is by Pacino, yet it doesn't even make his personal top five.
Pacino plays Ricky Roma, the best salesman in the film's central real estate office. No matter how little you care about real estate sales, this film will immerse you in the other characters' jealousy and fascination with the rogue and eccentric Roma, who gets sales done without even mentioning real estate, due to the slickness of his style. It's a perfect example of an actor creating an absolutely unique portrayal of a character, while bringing a script to life with grace.
6. Shylock in The Merchant Of Venice (2004)
Being such a world-class actor and a well-documented Shakespeare enthusiast, it's no wonder that Pacino got cast as Shylock - definitely the most complex and interesting character in the Bard's classic comedy The Merchant Of Venice. In Michael Radford's cinematic adaptation of the play, Pacino truly brings the many-sided Shylock to life with a gripping performance. While the character is arguably the villain of the story and he has very unlikable moments, his actions do stem from understandable motives, and the actor does an amazing job bringing this conflict to life.
His delivery of Shakespearean lines is impeccable, and it's especially notable in the film's best scene: Shylock's famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech. The pain that the character has endured, along with his growing lust for vengeance upon those that wronged him, comes across powerfully as Pacino delivers the monologue like no other.
5. Jimmy Hoffa in The Irishman (2019)
Along with Joaquin Phoenix in Joker and Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse, this powerhouse was one of last year's 'big three' acting performances in my book. For his first-ever collaboration with Martin Scorsese, Al Pacino stepped into the shoes of notorious real-life criminal Jimmy Hoffa. While the film is told from the perspective of protagonist Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), it's Pacino who steals every scene he's in, giving what is easily the film's most startling performance.
From what I've gathered from modern history, Hoffa was a larger-than-life figure with his various political machinations and immense power. Therefore, casting an actor with a larger-than-life persona of the highest order was a smart move. Pacino is truly captivating in all of his scenes, bringing an unparalleled screen presence to the table. I should really watch this film again, whenever I happen to have three and a half hours on my hands.
4. Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)
Al Pacino shines in what is perhaps Hollywood's quintessential "rise and fall" story. At the start of the film, his character feels relatable and redeemable to some degree - sure, he's a criminal, but Pacino plays him in a likable fashion as an immigrant with somewhat idealistic hopes and dreams. As the money and power start to get to his head, however, the character takes a dark turn into the rabbit hole of greed and selfishness.
Pacino portrays Tony Montana's fall from grace with absolute perfection. The character's slow turn into a more shallow and power-hungry version of himself comes across through brilliant facial expressions, the delivery of powerful lines, and various nuances in Pacino's performance. With the actor being a famously big fan of William Shakespeare, one can only imagine how he's channeling iconic characters like Macbeth and Richard III, but in a more modern and American context. The result is quite breathtaking.
3. Will Dormer in Insomnia (2002)
The big thing about this underrated performance in an underrated Christopher Nolan film is right there in the film's title - Pacino plays the hell out of a character suffering from insomnia. Of course, he gets help from the film's makeup department who do a great job making him appear tired, but the foremost reason for the character's realistic appearance is the expert performance by the actor behind the role.
With the twitch in his eyes, slightly bumbled lines and other nuances that only escalate throughout the film, Pacino is frighteningly believable as a character who hasn't gotten enough sleep and is struggling to keep his head in the game. The performance has other attributes too, from the character unveiling his grim past to him showing great emotional range towards the end, but it's the immensely believable portrayal of insomnia that truly makes this one of Pacino's finest hours.
2. Lt. Col. Frank Slade in Scent Of A Woman (1992)
Speaking of Pacino using nuances to be believable in a role, this is the film where he plays a blind man. He plays the role with absolute credibility, which is quite a feat from an actor who is very much not blind in real life. Everything in his mannerisms and expressions seems carefully thought out, and he clearly studied the role well.
But it's not just the character's blindness that makes the role impressive - that's just the tip of the iceberg. Frank Slade is a very fleshed-out character, from his gallows humor and tragic backstory to his cold-hearted mannerisms and occasional moments of pure empathy and warmth. Pacino brings this complicated character to life beautifully, and it is fitting that this is the film that he finally won an Oscar for, after being nominated but not winning for seven times.
1. Michael Corleone in The Godfather Trilogy (1972-1990)
Possibly my favorite movie acting performance of all time, or at least right up there with Jack Nicholson in The Shining (1980) and Ben Kingsley in Gandhi (1982). While Marlon Brando's Godfather performance generally gets the most praise - and don't get me wrong, he is astonishing as Vito Corleone - I have always been much more impressed with Pacino's work as Michael Corleone. The sheer transformation of the character is built with perfection throughout various nuances, thus creating one of cinema's most memorable protagonists.
At the start of the first film, Pacino plays Corleone as the confident but reserved reverse-black sheep of the family (he went to the army and stayed away from the organized crime path that the rest of his family were on). By the end of the film, he is still very much the same character, but in a totally different situation and with new motives driving him. Throughout the second film, Pacino is pitch-perfect as the character struggles to expand his mafia empire while scrambling not to lose it all under increasing amounts of stress. And while the third film isn't nearly on the cinematic level of the first two, the one element that remains consistently amazing is Pacino's acting performance, as he once again takes the character on a new journey as he struggles to turn his business legitimate while dealing with his aging and various other issues.
No one delivers dramatic and memorable lines quite like Pacino, and that gravitas is at its very best in the Godfather franchise - just try and watch the "It was you, Fredo!" or "Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in" scenes without feeling shivers down your spine. Al Pacino may just be the most skillful actor to ever grace the silver screen, and his greatest individual performance has to be his work across the three Godfather movies. Bold claims, but I'm sticking to them.
Thank you for reading! Be sure to tune in next week - 'tis the season for my list of the greatest Christmas-themed TV episodes!
No comments:
Post a Comment