This scene and his entire performance (especially the end on the steps) is enough for me to watch this one over and over. I don't understand how this movie doesn't get love as much as the others. I think it was even better to do it 16 years after Part II. Think about it, Pacino is 16 years older and seasoned. His Michael is more sedate and has you wondering how he was such a ruthless Don. His anguish and regrets are entirely believable. I love Pacino, but he could not pull that off successfully lets say 2 years after Part II (no one could). I think the distance between films makes it more powerful. Yeah, the worst part in that movie is Sofia, but she's not the star, and we know she can't act so I can easily not be bothered by that. The rest of the actors are amazing, the plot is good, new characters are welcome additions, and a lot of loose ends get tied. Pacino should have got his overdue Oscar for this. Finally give it to him as Michael Corleone. Such a missed opportunity to not give him it for an iconic character and one of his best performances.
Squeezed in between The Godfather films, Pacino creates another memorable performance of a cop who takes no bribes, Frank Serpico. I like to think that this was his mini vacation before taking up a more ruthless Michale Corleone or haywire Sonny. Pacino brings the sensitivity and vulnerability (that we would see in Scarecrow of the same year) to Serpico. He blends that with integrity, frustration, and toughness. The hospital scene where he receives his shield, and lets go those emotions of everything he goes through is sublime.
Started Angels in America tonight -- Al's first line is "I wish I was an octopus, a fucking octopus!" -- and it only gets better from there. Off to a great start...
"Cats -- it's about cats, singing cats -- you're gonna love it"
In a freakish display of consistency by a guy who doesn't really lend himself to such mundane things - Al Pacino somehow won his Triple Crown awards when he was in his 20s/30s/50s/60s and 70s - whew.
The only living American male to do it at all and he didn't just achieve it during a hot streak .......though he has had those too.
Today's recommendation: The most recent of his record 5 Triple Crown wins - a tour de force and one of the decades best, period - vote for it in the Viced Best Performances of the 2010s poll or catch up with it on HBOGo.
In my opinion, this is Al Pacino's best performance. He really jumps through hoops in his performance as a desperate, failed bank robber. At first, Sonny thinks he's got everything under control. Spraying cameras, taking the right money, but as soon as he gets that call from across the street, all hell breaks loose. Sonny goes through the motions with all the blame on his back. He's a desperate man who's time is running out. The pinnacle of his masterful performance comes down to phone calls with his women.
After the movie, I was reading up on the true story, and was shocked to find the real Sonny Wojtowicz. That had to be one of the most accurate casting I've seen. The casting of John Cazale was also brilliant considering that Salvatore Naturale was only a teenager.
Started Angels in America tonight -- Al's first line is "I wish I was an octopus, a fucking octopus!" -- and it only gets better from there. Off to a great start...
"Cats -- it's about cats, singing cats -- you're gonna love it"
Watched this later last year. Absolutely fantastic miniseries, with pretty much everyone at the top of their games, but Al still managed to be its standout element. Brilliance.
It's possible that the best performance Al Pacino ever gave - wasn't in the movies or on TV but as Walter "Teach" Cole in David Mamet's "American Buffalo" on stage.
He played it often and to great acclaim from 1980-1984 - and it's still associated with him - and him with Mamet - all these years later.
Sam Rockwell was due to star in the part in a new revival ...........before this years Broadway shutdown.
"It's the actors who are prepared to make fools of themselves who are usually the ones who come to mean something to the audience." - Christian Bale
......... and that's another thing about Al Pacino - he'll play the fool too, he's remarkably unpretentious and self-deprecating and he's just more fun - what great actor ever was so willing to go out on a limb and try things - anything - just to entertain and challenge you?
The first comic book performance ever nominated for an Oscar - a wild and original comedy portrayal - today's recommended movie - Dick Tracy (1990):
I already recommended a Pacino movie for today but what the hell it's a relevant date:
Two years ago, today: April 7th, 2018: Paterno - his 4th HBO movie premieres.
Marvelously controlled and de-glamorized performance that started his current geezer hot streak: Paterno, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, The Irishman, Hunters.
What more can be said about this fucking movie in the year 2020? Not much...
But Pacino here gives the best performance of a character's transformation ever. It's not a gradual change over the course of the three-hour runtime (that'd be too easy)... it happens around an hour in like the flip of the switch. And it is the most natural, believable change in character/performance that you could imagine. There are many other brilliant facets of the performance to appreciate here, but this one struck me this time around (on watch #whothefuckknows, lol).
All 3 could stake a claim as the very best post-Brando American actor - and they each played the same role - The Devil.
But they didn't play the same exact Devil and Pacino's specifically was not "what if Al Pacino played the Devil?" but rather "what if The Devil WAS Al Pacino?"
Written that way too - as a smooth talking manipulator, a verbose, wildly charismatic, a funny and aggressive borderline midget/little devil who really knew his way around New York and how to act tough on subways.
This is where the "oh he's overrated - he plays himself all the time and yells!" criticism reached its peak but also where his iconic legend did too - now as he approached 60 (?) you had a case of people turning their movies over to him alone as the entire concept.
Today's recommendation: The Devils Advocate (1997):
Coppola and Pacino in conversation after the success of Part I:
Francis: We sure proved those imbeciles that wanted Robert Redford or Warren Beatty or whoever-the-fuck to play Michael wrong. Al: Those motherfuckers haven't seen anything yet.
Best eyeball acting of all time and it ain't close.
Best eyeball acting of all time and it ain't close.
It's my favorite Al performance and the degree of difficulty of course is off the charts - basically playing a hollowed out emotionless zombie who has to ground and center a 3 and 1/2 hour film .......... and this scene is of course the greatest "small moment" in acting history and is maybe the scene I'm best remembered for raving back in the IMDB days - to Mattsby at least - but what the hell, one more time - you only turn 80 once:
@14 seconds in - a fake smile, a joke, wiped away and his eyes from warm and familial to cold and dead - in less than 3 seconds. He's piecing it together and that look, that change in him and in his control ........is almost unspeakably evil.
Best eyeball acting of all time and it ain't close.
It's my favorite Al performance and the degree of difficulty of course is off the charts - basically playing a hollowed out emotionless zombie who has to ground and center a 3 and 1/2 hour film .......... and this scene is of course the greatest "small moment" in acting history and is maybe the scene I'm best remembered for raving back in the IMDB days - to Mattsby at least - but what the hell, one more time - you only turn 80 once:
@14 seconds in - a fake smile, a joke, wiped away and his eyes from warm and familial to cold and dead - in less than 3 seconds. He's piecing it together and that look, that change in him and in his control ........is almost unspeakably evil.
It actually comes to my mind whenever an actor does it - fake smile dropping to serious/ominous. It's their Banana Daiquiri moment!
But nobody did it like Pacino. Among the very, very best eye actors ever - you could pluck and study thousands of scenes/moments from his movies, especially The Godfathers and Dog Day Afternoon which I saw on the big screen once, his eyes have never looked wider, with exhaustion and busyness and edge, and there's the manic delight behind his eyes (with oddly funny, flirty blinking) in Local Stigmatic, warmth and amazement and devastation in Scarecrow, the "If you're a rat" scene in Donnie Brasco, and up to recently The Humbling opening scene, his Holly Hunter scenes in Manglehorn the way he squints and avoids her, and The Irishman with insanely dynamite eye-work. There's too much to name. And what happens when you take that major tool away from an actor - well, Scent proves he can master space even without the arrow of looking. Almost forgot Scarface (& so many others)....
A couple other biggies for the eyes and him - the Cruising single tear in the mirror and when he makes his eyes really wide in Scarecrow in the phone booth and then later they are unresponsive and empty when he goes catatonic in the fountain. But yeah there's a whole lot of those to pick - Phil Spector & Paterno have some really memorable "eye acting" where he avoids eye contact whenever he's challenged or confronted with the truth like a guilty child etc.
Speaking about Pacino's eye-work, some quite obvious picks that came to my mind:
The way he looks Moe Green in part I, when he says "You Straightened My Brother Out?". So calm and low key but full of threat because you hurt his family. Very powerful quote when you consider the fate of Fredo...
Another one is in part II, the "it was an abortion" scene. All that shock and growing rage inside him, you can see it in his eyes.
Last one (can't find a pic or a video) in You Don't Know Jack. He gave arguably his best performance in the last 20 years imo. I'm talking about the scene he's in jail and recites the "leave me my name" quote. The look and the eyes of an exhausted, hungry man behind bars who tries to retain his sanity!!
I only found a pic from a few moments earlier.
Last Edit: Apr 9, 2020 16:50:01 GMT by TerryMontana
Pacino's pain in the ass, "career" detours can be frustrating and he's certainly not "underrated" in general either.
But not many people saw his fine work in movies like People I Know (2002), The Humbling (2014) and Chinese Coffee (2000) so in his birthday month - a chance to catch up on some quirkier films:
Today's recommended movie: The little seen, but worth seeing Chinese Coffee (2000):
Pacino's pain in the ass, "career" detours can be frustrating and he's certainly not "underrated" in general either.
But not many people saw his fine work in movies like People I Know (2002), The Humbling (2014) and Chinese Coffee (2000) so in his birthday month - a chance to catch up on some quirkier films:
Today's recommended movie: The little seen, but worth seeing Chinese Coffee (2000):
"She did not leave me for another basement!!!"
Give this man a speech to deliver and just sit back and watch!
In the first two films you have Pacino giving masterclasses in masterpieces... and here you have him elevating a solid film (with a few remarkable sequences) into a very good one.
The main problem with the film is that almost every scene without Michael is lacking. In the first two films, there's plenty of time away from Michael... but you have Brando, De Niro, Caan, and the rest of the gang to keep things steady. While in Part III, you have Andy Garcia making out with his cousin.
And also in the first two films, Pacino has many great moments acting alongside others... while here (despite some nice moments with Keaton and Shire) his greatness is almost a one-man-show.
But I'm thankful that the movie exists... not so much as to see the conclusion of Michael Corleone the character, but to see Pacino explore Michael even deeper. Here he's more charismatic, emotional, funny, and dare I say... Pacino-esque. Yet despite these differences... he is still very much the Michael of the first two films. And god damn, he delivers in the big moments. This honestly might flirt with being a top 10 Pacino performance.
Started Angels in America tonight -- Al's first line is "I wish I was an octopus, a fucking octopus!" -- and it only gets better from there. Off to a great start...
"Cats -- it's about cats, singing cats -- you're gonna love it"
While I'm far from a Pacino expert, for me this is pretty handily his most outstanding performance of what I've seen.
And also in the first two films, Pacino has many great moments acting alongside others... while here (despite some nice moments with Keaton and Shire) his greatness is almost a one-man-show.
In a heartbreaking scene with Shire - immediately after he confesses to the priest (literally the next scene maybe - it's been a while?) she says to him "Poor Fredo, drowned".......now if she really thinks it's just that, it's incredibly sad..........if she doesn't and is just repeating the "lie", it's incredibly sad.......but it's not like he "confesses" or "admits" it to her there either after he just confessed - they can only talk around it, not about it.
I always loved that scene and how they play it and how it ties into the "what's the point of confessing if I don't repent?" and it opened up a lot about her Connie character - some more of that would have been a big help I think.....
With Brian De Palma, Al Pacino found a filmmaker more like himself than any other - complicated, idiosyncratic, and not for all tastes.
De Palma found an actor who he could film while in motion the way he visually saw movies anyway - in both their films together he shoots Pacino like he never shot another actor - like a prowling cat - always active, dangerous or in danger.
Carlito's Way (1993) evokes older movies much more than their actual remake of an old movie (Scarface) did - and it has Pacino at his most Bogart too - right down to the old style narration and iconography.
Today's recommended film: Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way (1993):