# Al Pacino **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2009, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811 "2009-06-15T06:39:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/21 "2009-06-15T15:55:10Z")
_Insomnia_ sucked. _Righteous Kill_ sucked. I’ve got no love for _Author! Author!_ But aside from these and _The Devil’s Advocate_, _88 Minutes_, _Scent of a Woman_, _Revolution_, _Gigli_, _Any Given Sunday_, _Dick Tracy_, _Cruising_, _Bobby Deerfield_, _City Hall_ and _The Godfather Part III_, he’s solid gold! ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/22 "2009-06-15T16:32:00Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I didn’t care for Scent of a Woman either. That he won the Oscar for that one over all his wonderful performances is really pathetic. Ouch. Let’s just say we are enemies for life… Say the same thing about Christopher Walkin and it is for eternity! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/23 "2009-06-15T16:35:42Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Ouch. > > Let’s just say we are enemies for life… > > Say the same thing about Christopher Walkin and it is for eternity! I got no issues with Christopher Walkin. Christopher Walken, though, is a hack! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/24 "2009-06-15T16:42:25Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Pacino, on the other hand, is just a scenery-chewer, and has been so post-_Godfather_ (although his work in there is phenomenal). He can be entertaining, but it rapidly becomes a comedic schtick, akin to Jim Carrey or Jack Black. He’s excellent in [Donnie Brasco](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119008/amazon) and does very little chewing. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/25 "2009-06-15T16:45:34Z")
Pacino like the other 70’s iconic actors (De Niro and Nicholson) became parodys of their own success. I find only when they have a strong director (Scorssese for example) who can reign in their egotistical hammy acts are they watchable. Pacino’s turning point was Scarface. It was a fun role but damn if he didn’t stay over teh top after that. I mean sure he had over the top moments (Dog Day afternoon) but these were not constantly over the top and he had the sense to use them as big moments of explosive energy to otherwise quiet reflective characters… (Think Michael Corleone yelling at Frankie Five angles about the Hit on Michael’s home where his kid’s played) Now his performance amp is always set to 11. Hard to watch. While Insomnia wasn’t great it had great moments from him because a director had the balls to say “Ok Al this time I want you to do the line without shouting it.” That being said My guilty pleasure is his performance in Dick Tracy… awful movie… hammy performance but for soem reason it makes me smile, go figure. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/26 "2009-06-15T16:49:26Z")
Pacino was overdue for an Oscar. It’s happened a few times, an actor gets awarded the Oscar not so much for his present performance but for all the great roles he should have got one for. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/27 "2009-06-15T17:56:11Z")
Well bollocks to the lot of you. 😉 I like Al, so there ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/28 "2009-06-15T17:56:29Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > So, apart from The Devil’s Advocate, 88 Minutes, Scent of a Woman, Revolution, Gigli, Any Given Sunday, Dick Tracy, Cruising, Bobby Deerfield and The Godfather Part III, has Mr. Pacino been in a bad film? Absolutely ! “People I Know” [People I Know (2002) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274711/) I noticed this at a swap meet, looked over the cast and thought “it couldn’t be that bad - look who’s in it.” I was wrong. Dead wrong. Want 90 minutes of my life back wrong (kept waiting for it to get better). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/29 "2009-06-15T18:09:40Z")
I love Pacino hamming it up. It’s hilarious. When he is in a stinker and he knows it he will at least chew scenary to be entertaining. Good for him. Godfather I and II (and he is even better in II) shows him delivering a performance that is out of this world. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/30 "2009-06-15T18:10:37Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I got no issues with Christopher Walkin. > > Christopher Walken, though, is a hack! 😛 This, of course, means war! ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/31 "2009-06-15T18:14:32Z")
> [@kingpengvin](#): > > Pacino like the other 70’s iconic actors (De Niro and Nicholson) became parodys of their own success. I find only when they have a strong director (Scorssese for example) who can reign in their egotistical hammy acts are they watchable. > > Pacino’s turning point was Scarface. It was a fun role but damn if he didn’t stay over teh top after that. I mean sure he had over the top moments (Dog Day afternoon) but these were not constantly over the top and he had the sense to use them as big moments of explosive energy to otherwise quiet reflective characters… (Think Michael Corleone yelling at Frankie Five angles about the Hit on Michael’s home where his kid’s played) > > Now his performance amp is always set to 11. Hard to watch. While Insomnia wasn’t great it had great moments from him because a director had the balls to say “Ok Al this time I want you to do the line without shouting it.” > > That being said My guilty pleasure is his performance in Dick Tracy… awful movie.. hammy performance but for soem reason it makes me smile, go figure. Definitely. As he’s gotten older, Pacino must have developed some sort of nutritional deficiency because he’s increasingly felt the need to chew the scenery. Granted, it worked in **Dick Tracy** because it was a movie based on a comic strip and he was playing a live-action cartoon. It also worked in **The Devil’s Advocate** where his deliberately campy over-the-top performance partially saved what was otherwise a turgid supernatural thriller. However, if done too often, it can push him into self-parody. That’s why I also thought he gave a good performance in \*\*Insomnia \*\*where he effectively dialed it down and played someone who could be mistaken for a real human being. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/32 "2009-06-15T18:24:41Z")
How about Pacino in Heat? Definitely a movie that would have benefited from tighter editing, but pretty damn good overall. I even liked most pf Al’s role until his “Because she’s gotta GREAT ASS!” moment. It was like someone _trying_ to ruin the immersion. In my book, he’ll always be great because of the Godfather trilogy. (3 wasn’t up to snuff, but not because of Pacino.) ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811/33 "2009-06-15T18:40:22Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Well bollocks to the lot of you. 😉 > > I like Al, so there Well, you didn’t ask if Pacino has ever given a bad performance but rather if he’s ever made a bad movie. I generally like Pacino too. I just don’t think all his movies are good. He was fine in _88 Minutes_, but the movie was still contrived trash. For bad performance the list would be different. _Simone_ _Insomnia_ (didn’t like his performance but somehow still liked the movie) _Ocean’s 13_ (didn’t list this before since it isn’t really his movie, but he’s just taking a paycheck) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-pacino/499811.md?page=1)