oliver9184

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:

settie

Based on what I've seen (and it hasn't been much),I love De Niro more than Pacino.
You said it all: likeable, a comedian, and even his dislikeable characters are so real, you enjoy him on screen.

I should make an effort to watch more of their movies though.

Jetée

From what films are the above two "poll quotes" stemming and referring to; I've heard both of the character lines out of context many times before, but I don't think I've actually ever seen each respective actor state their particular line (read as: don't believe I've seen either film where the quoted dialogue was uttered).

I was pondering something similar to this notion last night, when I could not compare to a reasonable degree of "like-levelness" any actor, today, who has as much an outstanding repetoir of great films and equally great character performances as the still-quite-young Leonardo DiCaprio. It got me on the track of comparing similar in-body and starting careers of actors throughout the decades, and this thread here is a coincidental continuation of what I was musing over last night.

If I were to vote, I'd say I like De Niro as an actor more, and could perhaps be enticed to view a seemingly-wretched new film venture of his (anything between '97-09, a la Showtime) just because he is in it, moreso than if Pacino were stated to be involved. That said, I really enjoyed Pacino more in the late-70s-to-mid-80s, and would give him the nod over De Niro in that era (though I'm not sure I would give him a vote there if we were just comparing the first eight years of each of these two illustrious actors careers).

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ring

I cannot possibly chose between the two.
I've always been partial to Pacino.
Visceral reasons I suppose.

His early performance in: Panic In Needle Park, put him center on my radar.

Google Image Result for http://www.filmforum.org/films/panic/panichead2_07.jpg

oliver9184

The first is a De Niro line from Taxi Driver (1976) brazenly commandeered from the 1953 Western Shane - as originally spoken by Alan Ladd as Shane - though the context is markedly different.

The second is Pacino's quite preposterous catchphrase from Scent of a Woman. He plays a retired US Army Rangers officer - "hoo-hah" is an Army battle cry said to "refer to or mean anything and everything other than no". It should be noted that in Scent of a Woman co-star Chris O'Donnell has hair almost identical to that of Pacino's Glengarry Glen Ross character Richard Roma.

As for DiCaprio - in total agreement. He's the best actor of his generation. Out of his 23 released feature films I've now watched nineteen and only one of those performances (Critters 3) was anything less than 100% effort. I've heard it said that he's too serious and he should do more comedies and lighter stuff - that's a valid point but I'd prefer him to carry on what he's doing currently - stretching himself in dramatic roles - than show up in a lame and forgettable comedy opposite Cameron Diaz or Jennifer Aniston. (Having said that a high-quality comedy starring, and fully utilizing, a fully mature DiCaprio would be something to behold.)

Inception is just five days away and I'm taking a half day off work so that I can watch it absolutely as soon as possible. On IMAX!

HOO-HAH!

MexicanOnABike

I never liked Al Pacino apart from a few early movies like the Godfather. DeNero has been good in almost everything I've seen but for like 10years, he has been playing mediocre roles.

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Jetée

This is beyond coincidental, but it seems I had the answer to, at least, the question of the De Niro quote open and on my desktop since early this afternoon (though only now, did I bother to scroll down and actually see it for the first time).


"You talking to me?" -- courtesy of The Selvedge Yard

__________________
As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves.

—Mohandas K. Gandhi

Titan_Uranus

There's always a flipside to that coin..

seamaiden

De Niro takes the lead for me, but only slightly, and only because Pacino's voice can sometimes be like fingernails on a chalkboard...also, he reminds me of my ex-father-in-law. (shudder)

Jove

I have to watch all of their films before I can make a decision, but it seemed both actors were at their best in their earlier work (70's-mid 90s) and then starred in films where they played angry/grumpy super power-wealthy men.

ring

That's because the Money Machine of H-Wood , has discarded & dis-regarded,
any script-worthy material.

It's been Bullets-Boobs-Bombs & Blowtastic crap for some time now.

Wake-up.

powerclown

I think Pacino in his prime shone just as brightly as DeNiro, he just wasn't in as many good movies as DeNiro. And DeNiro was in a lot more movies overall.

Reese

I voted De Niro. I'm just not a big fan of Al Pacino. Like Seamaiden said, his voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard sometimes.

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