Pacino, Al 1940-

PACINO, AL 1940-

Actor

Theater

Al Pacino burst onto the New York theater scene in the late 1960s. He received an Obie nomination (for Off-Broadway productions) for Why Is a Crooked Letter (1966), competing against George C. Scott and eventual winner Dustin Hoffman. He won the award two years later for his portrayal of a savage young hoodlum in The Indian Wants the Bronx. By 1969 his angry energy had won him several important roles and a Tony award for best supporting actor in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? Hollywood began to take notice of Pacino's talent for playing urban outsiders and cast him as a junkie in Panic in Needle Park (1969). Although many critics and viewers noted certain similarities to Hoffman, Pacino's acting had a unique edge that reminded Lee Strasberg, head of the New York Actors' Studio, of a young Marlon Brando.

Corleone

Director Francis Ford Coppola saw Pacino onstage in New York and felt he would be perfect for the young and alienated Michael Corleone in the upcoming film production of The Godfather (1972). Paramount executives felt otherwise; Pacino's screen tests were repeatedly disastrous. Coppola stood firm, and Pacino was cast. Though he was in awe of costar Brando, Pacino was determined to make his role the center of the film. His nervous uncertainty added to Michael's enigmatic character and shaped his transition from ambivalent family outsider to chilling inheritor of the Corleone throne of violence and power. Critics hailed his stunning performance, and though the film studio promoted Brando as the movie's star (he won an Academy Award for Best Actor), Pacino emerged with a supporting nomination and the lion's share of the public attention.

Follow-Up

In 1972 Pacino returned to the stage in David Rabe's acclaimed drama The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. He followed that with his virtuoso portrayal of a New York cop fighting corruption in Serpico (1973). With Sidney Lumet directing, Pacino became his character, donning accents and disguises at will and using his unique urban energy to connect with masses of film viewers. After Serpico cemented his image as a hothead rebel, Pacino returned to the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974). Many critics felt that the film—and Pacino's acting—was superior to the original. Serpico and The Godfather sequel earned Pacino two additional Oscar nominations. In only a few short years he had emerged from Hoffman's shadow to establish himself, along with Jack Nicholson, as a definitive 1970s antihero.

Peak

Pacino's ability to immerse himself completely in a role paid off in his brilliant, Oscar-nominated portrayal of Sonny, the bungling bank robber in Dog Day Afternoon. His manic desperation became both heroic and tragic as the film progressed, and his unraveling character tries to hold everything—the hostages, the police, his wife, his male lover—in balance. Pacino's chant of "Attica! Attica!" became his antiestablishment war cry and elevated him to the level of pop superstar. He was not content to work only in films, however, and soon returned to the Broadway stage. In 1977 Pacino recreated his role as an alienated young soldier in Pavlo Hummel, earning further critical raves and a Tony award as best actor.

Reemergence

Despite an Oscar nomination for the 1979 film …And Justice for All, in which he played an angry lawyer battling the system, Pacino's film career struggled after its mid-1970s peak. He turned down several important roles, including Lenny, Kramer vs. Kramer (old rival Hoffman grabbed those), Coming Home, Apocalypse Now, and Days of Heaven. A planned film of Ron Kovic's Vietnam autobiography, Born on the Fourth of July (seemingly an ideal role for Pacino), fell through. Most of his 1980s films, with the exception of Scarface (1983), bombed. After the failure of Revolution in 1985, Pacino stopped making movies for several years. He had better luck in the theater, receiving great reviews for his role in David Mamet's American Buffalo in 1983. Finally, in 1989 the film hit Sea of Love revitalized his career, leading to acclaimed roles in Dick Tracy (1990), The Godfather Part III (1990), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), and Scent of a Woman (1992), for which Pacino at last won an Oscar.

Source:

Andrew Yule, Life on the Wire: The Life and Art of Al Pacino (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1991).