The greatest American actor of all time, according to Al Pacino
There can be no doubt that perhaps the greatest export in US history is the contribution Hollywood has made to movies. The country is certainly the most prolific maker of top-drawer movies in the Western world, and it means its pool of actors is perhaps the deepest too. Looking back at the history of American cinema and the actors who have sculpted its success, it’s difficult not to consider the gigantic impact of Al Pacino.
Rubbing shoulders with Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Val Kilmer, and James Caan, Pacino helped bring some of the greatest movies in Hollywood history to life, including The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and Scarface. His position on the Mount Rushmore of America’s acting talent should surely be guaranteed with his legacy as richly contoured as just about anybody in the business.
As a result of his stardom, many consider Pacino to be one of the greatest American actors of all time, even if he did his best to sully his legacy with the release of 2011’s Jack and Jill, where he performed the awful ‘Dunkaccino’ song. Even still, Pacino managed to survive the self-sabotage thanks to his nine Oscar nominations in the bank and his one Academy Award win for 1992’s Scent of a Woman. In truth, he should have likely garnered many more awards, however, glittering gongs are only a small part of acting, and his influence is perhaps his ultimate legacy.
When it comes to Pacino himself, however, he has a pretty rounded opinion of some of America’s greatest actors, stating his favourites in an interview with Playboy from back in 1979. “Gary Cooper was kind of a phenomenon,” he started, “his ability to take something and elevate it, give it such dignity. One of the great presences. Charles Laughton was my favourite. Jack Nicholson has that kind of persona; he’s also a fine actor. Mitchum’s great. Lee Marvin, too. These guys are terrific actors”.
When asked outright for the performer he considered to be the best actor in America, Pacino named an altogether different star: “Among the post-Brando actors—I call it post-Brando, it was about ten years after Brando that a lot of actors….There are so many fine actors….I don’t know. George C Scott”. Of course, it should be noted that Pacino’s choice does seem a somewhat flippant one, and he should realistically consider the man he used as a timestamp for what acting truly was in Marlon Brando.
However, there can be no doubt that Scott deserves the recognition that many of his contemporaries received ahead of him. Scott has delivered some of the greatest on-screen performances, but is rarely mentioned by average cinephiles in the same breath as Pacino and Brando.
The Oscar-winning actor, who claimed his Academy Award for his performance in 1970’s Patton, Scott also thrived in collaboration with such acclaimed directors as Stanley Kubrick, Peter Medak, Paul Schrader and Otto Preminger. For contemporary audiences, his most recognisable role was in Kubrick’s Dr.Strangelove, where he played the maniac American Gen. ‘Buck’ Turgidson.
Elsewhere, Pacino also names some of his favourite filmmakers, stating: “Mel Brooks will have these flashes in his films; you laugh for hours afterward. I wonder how he is, what he’s like. The same with Woody; I go to see all of his films”.
Take a look at a clip of Scott as the titular real-life general George S. Patton from the 1970 film Patton, directed by Franklin J Schaffner below.
