Al Pacino

I tuned it last night to the broadcast of the ceremony for the AFI Life Achievement Award to Al Pacino. It was notably profane, which I guess is appropriate because Pacino's movies must lead the world in F-bombs (the record will one day be set by Samuel L. Jackson). They hardly had a clip to show that didn't need to be bleeped. There were the usual encomiums, blown-kisses, and declarations of love and gratitude. I won't say that they are not sincere, but if you believe these kind of shows, Hollywood must not have any assholes running around, or at least they don't get awards.

But it was nice to see Pacino's career represented in its entirety, from Off-Broadway to today, and remember just how many good performances he's given. As pointed out, he's probably best known for a golden four year period from 1972 to '75, when he made The Godfather, Serpico, The Godfather Part Two and Dog Day Afternoon, certainly one of the greatest four-film stretches in the history of cinema acting. He topped off the seventies with And Justice For All, his fifth Oscar nomination of the decade.

The eighties were a more fallow decade. Cruising was a controversial disaster. Scarface was a critical flop, but has gone on to be a cult hit in video, particularly among the hip-hop culture. "Say hello to my little friend" may be Pacino's most famous line, outdoing even "Attica!", "My father made him an offer he can't refuse," "You're out of order," and "Hoo-hah!" He only made two more films in the 80s, the flop Revolution and Sea of Love. Pacino was no longer a bankable box office leading man, instead he morphed into an eminence grise. A cartoonish turn as gangster boss Big Boy in Dick Tracy earned his first Oscar nomination in over ten years, then in 1992 he was nominated twice, for Glengarry Glen Ross and Scent of a Woman, when he finally won.

I think it's somewhat ironic, but unknown in the way Oscars are handed out, that he won for his weakest nominated performance. By this time Pacino was well known for a tendency to go way over the top and chew scenery, and boy did he masticate in Scent. He was much better in Glengarry, as salesman Ricky Roma. The scene in which he pitches a real estate sale to Jonathan Pryce was sheer brilliance, and practically had me in the audience ready to buy.

Pacino has not been nominated since then, but it was nice to be reminded that he's several world-class performances since then. Now when a director hires Pacino, he's getting a certain product. Long gone is the Pacino who was so magnificently subtle as Michael in The Godfather. Remember the scene in which he calls Carlo to account for Sonny's death? When Carlo lies to him, Michael says quite calmly but supremely chillingly to stop lying, "because it insults my intelligence, and makes me very angry." If he did that scene today he may be shouting at the top of his lungs. Indeed, when Pacino played Michael for a third time in The Godfather Part III in 1990, Michael had undergone the same changes as Al.

In the last decade or so, Pacino has played this kind of role in films like Carlito's Way, Heat, City Hall, Donnie Brasco, The Devil's Advocate, Any Given Sunday and Two For the Money. They are baroque performances, full of bombast, larger than life. This Pacino style is crystallized in a cameo in Gigli, when as some kind of mob boss, he walks into the film for about five minutes and in a fascinatingly overwrought fashion, gesticulates wildly and then leaves, never to be seen again. As over the top as he can be, though, he's fun to watch. I saw Heat again over the weekend, a great film, and sometimes he turns it up to 11, as Spinal Tap would say. You almost want to look away out of embarrassment at times, like when he shouts at Hank Azaria that he got involved with Ashley Judd "because's she got a great ass! And your head is all the way up it!" But then, in the classic diner scene with Robert DeNiro, we see him dial it down, matching DeNiro beat for beat, not in a competitive way, but in a collaborative way. As loony as The Devil's Advocate was, I really dug it, especially because Pacino, given the chance to play Satan, went for it whole hog. The director must have been like a guy firing a pistol behind a race horse, sending it running at full gallop.

Perhaps my favorite Pacino film for the last ten years, though, is Looking For Richard, a quasi-documentary about Shakespeare's Richard III. I would love to see it again, but it doesn't seem to be available on DVD in the USA.

Pacino's body of work certainly is equivalent to almost anyone in Hollywood history, and he richly deserves the accolades he has received.