Al Pacino picks his three favourite Al Pacino movies
Alongside his Godfather co-stars Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, Al Pacino has earned himself a position among the most revered names of 20th-century Hollywood. His prolific and diverse path in acting, production and direction has earned him a host of accolades, most notably an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Consequently, he is party to an exceedingly small number of actors to have achieved the so-called Triple Crown of Acting.
The New York City native studied as a keen method actor at HB Studio and the Actors Studio under the adept tuition of Charlie Laughton and Lee Strasberg. Following a successful stage career over the late 1960s, Pacino made his film debut with a small role in Fred Coe’s Me, Natalie, an independent film starring Patty Duke. This modest portfolio addition saw him sign a deal with Creative Management Associates in 1970, who scored him his first lead role in Jerry Schatzberg’s 1971 drama, The Panic in Needle Park.
In a twist of divine deliverance, this harrowing tale of addiction befell the eyes of Francis Ford Coppola, who saw huge potential in the 30-year-old actor. Without hesitation, Coppola scouted out Pacino for the central role of Michael Corleone in his new project, The Godfather. Going into the role, Pacino felt immense pressure, having beaten the likes of Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and the lesser-known Robert De Niro to the part despite the reservations of studio executives who wanted one of the more established names for the part.
“I did The Panic in Needle Park as my first movie,” Pacino said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I think that’s the reason why The Godfather kept me because they were gonna let me go. They didn’t want me in that movie, you know – Coppola did, even when I thought, ‘Why does he want me?’ So they showed eight minutes of The Panic in Needle Park, and the producers and the studio took me. I was really lucky because it changed everything.”
The Godfather franchise, as Pacino said, “changed everything”. Throughout the 1970s, his Hollywood status grew from strength to strength alongside his back catalogue, which, by the turn of the millennium, included classics like Serpico, Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon, Heat, The Insider, and his Oscar-winning role in Scent of a Woman.
Film buffs would near-unanimously agree that The Godfather parts one and two mark the pinnacle of Pacino’s broad oeuvre. But intriguingly, when The Hollywood Reporter asked Pacino to name his favourite Pacino movies, he had a couple of leftfield choices to offer instead.
Al Pacino’s three favourite Al Pacino movies:
Looking For Richard (1996)
The first movie Pacino named as a particular favourite was his directional debut, Looking For Richard, a 1996 documentary/drama film in which he also starred. Casting Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder and Penelope Allen, among others, Pacino looked to alloy drama and documentary. The film included selected scenes from William Shakespeare’s Richard III alongside a documentary element exploring the ongoing relevance of the British bard in western pop culture.
“I did a movie, that I made [directed], which is Looking For Richard, which has done relatively – compared to the other movies I made on my own which nobody saw – Looking For Richard had an outing, and it did pretty good, I thought,” Pacino said of the movie.
While the documentary was never likely to draw a crowd like that of The Godfather, Pacino was proud of achieving what he had set out to during the project. Looking For Richard was featured at both the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals in 1996 and earned the aspiring filmmaker the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing in Documentaries.
The Local Stigmatic (1990)
Next up on Pacino’s “Best of Pacino” list was The Local Stigmatic, a lesser-known short based on Heathcote Williams’ play of the same name, directed by David Wheeler and co-produced by Pacino. The film follows the story of two working-class Englishmen who spend their spare time arguing about greyhound racing and Winston Churchill. The narrative culminates in a violent altercation with a film star in a bar.
The movie premiered as an installation at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in March 1990 but was never released theatrically. It was eventually released on DVD in 2007 as part of The Al Pacino Box Set.
“The other thing would be The Local Stigmatic, which is really a 52-minute film that, err… it’s not for everybody, but it was personal,” Pacino told The Hollywood Reporter. “They said if I were to think about it – and I’d have to really think about it – if I’m a good enough actor, I can just sit here and think. And maybe I would hold everybody’s attention.”
The short movie, as Pacino said, isn’t for everybody. The broadly accepted criticism is that the film adheres loyally to Williams’ original stage script, making for an unconventional film experience. Beyond this, Pacino’s impressive and dynamic performance is let down by a questionable cockney accent.
Serpico (1973)
The third and final movie Pacino picked from his back catalogue was 1973’s Serpico. Unlike his first two selections, Serpico is respected among Pacino’s finest contributions to cinema. With the mighty wind of Coppola’s The Godfather in his sails, Pacino had little trouble finding work in the mid-1970s. Impressed with the first Godfather movie, director Sidney Lumet hired Pacino for his hit biographical crime drama.
Serpico follows the story of Pacino’s character Frank Serpico, an exemplary NYPD officer who begins to struggle with corruption that pervades the force. The movie poster’s promotional line read: “Many of his fellow officers considered him the most dangerous man alive – an honest cop.”
“I thought Serpico was a pretty good movie,” Pacino asserted while making the selection.
For their work on Serpico, Pacino and Lumet were nominated for Academy awards in their fields, while Pacino took home the Golden Globe award for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama’ at the 31st ceremony.
See the official trailer for Serpico below.
