Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Robert De Niro / Al Pacino <<<< Who do you like best?

oliver9184 · 07-11-2010, 06:03 AM

These two are frequently held up as two of the finest, and most comparable, film actors alive today, and nobody could deny that both have had illustrious careers over the past forty or so years. De Niro is 66 and Pacino is 70 so I think it can be said with reaonable certainty that their best work is in the past, rather than the future. They've starred together twice - in Heat (1995) and Righteous Kill (2008) and appeared seperately in The Godfather Part II (1974). De Niro has two Oscars from six nominations (The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull) and; Pacino has one from eight (the fact that this win was for Scent of a Woman should demonstrate how credible a barometer of acting quality Academy Awards often are).

I voted for De Niro as my favourite even though Pacino has a higher mean /10 score for films of his that I've seen, and even though he has only one 10/10 score versus Pacino's three. The stats say De Niro shouldn't win my vote in this poll but he does. Why? He can do comedy, and he's essentially likeable and - even in his roles as dislikeable characters - almost always sympathetic, and human. Angel Heart is the exception here. Pacino, whose greatest triumph is surely Michael Corleone, is altogether colder and more serious. He's a loner, a crackpot, a renegade. He couldn't ever be a person's best friend, or part of any sort of a team, - which, incidentally, is why I preferred him to De Niro in Heat. I've often wondered how that film would have been with the roles reversed.

The careers of both of these actors hasn't been anything special for at least ten years; by my reckoning De Niro's last great role was in Ronin (1998) and Pacino's was in Donnie Brasco (1997). Since then, De Niro has been content to splash about in weak comedies and Pacino has been... well... he seems to have been doing almost nothing at all. They have both become great in the past tense, almost in the same way that Henry Fonda was great or Humphrey Bogart was great.

Here's De Niro in one of my favourite of his films, fighting with Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy's Life:

And here's Pacino dancing rings around Kevin Spacey in Glengarry Glen Ross:

07-11-2010, 06:03 AM	#1 (permalink)
oliver9184 Psycho	Robert De Niro / Al Pacino <<<< Who do you like best? These two are frequently held up as two of the finest, and most comparable, film actors alive today, and nobody could deny that both have had illustrious careers over the past forty or so years. De Niro is 66 and Pacino is 70 so I think it can be said with reaonable certainty that their best work is in the past, rather than the future. They've starred together twice - in Heat (1995) and Righteous Kill (2008) and appeared seperately in The Godfather Part II (1974). De Niro has two Oscars from six nominations (The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull) and; Pacino has one from eight (the fact that this win was for Scent of a Woman should demonstrate how credible a barometer of acting quality Academy Awards often are). I voted for De Niro as my favourite even though Pacino has a higher mean /10 score for films of his that I've seen, and even though he has only one 10/10 score versus Pacino's three. The stats say De Niro shouldn't win my vote in this poll but he does. Why? He can do comedy, and he's essentially likeable and - even in his roles as dislikeable characters - almost always sympathetic, and human. Angel Heart is the exception here. Pacino, whose greatest triumph is surely Michael Corleone, is altogether colder and more serious. He's a loner, a crackpot, a renegade. He couldn't ever be a person's best friend, or part of any sort of a team, - which, incidentally, is why I preferred him to De Niro in Heat. I've often wondered how that film would have been with the roles reversed. The careers of both of these actors hasn't been anything special for at least ten years; by my reckoning De Niro's last great role was in Ronin (1998) and Pacino's was in Donnie Brasco (1997). Since then, De Niro has been content to splash about in weak comedies and Pacino has been... well... he seems to have been doing almost nothing at all. They have both become great in the past tense, almost in the same way that Henry Fonda was great or Humphrey Bogart was great. Here's De Niro in one of my favourite of his films, fighting with Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy's Life: And here's Pacino dancing rings around Kevin Spacey in Glengarry Glen Ross: Last edited by oliver9184; 07-11-2010 at 06:12 AM..