The role Al Pacino cherishes the most: “I felt personally that I caught that one”
There is no name more synonymous with Hollywood royalty than Al Pacino, with the actor reaching global fame through inconceivably influential films such as The Godfather, Heat, Scarface and Dog Day Afternoon, becoming the performer of a generation and inspiring countless others. Pacino displays a dazzling versatility and sense of emotional woundedness in his work, portraying confrontational and psychologically destructive drug lords and criminals as well as vulnerable characters on the fringes of society, as seen in The Panic in Needle Park and Scarecrow.
Through his work with Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, the actor has established himself as a crucial part of the New Hollywood movement and beyond, yet despite this, there is still one film he favours above all the others.
Every now and then, a film comes along with one line of dialogue that somehow resonates with audiences all over the world and becomes part of our daily vernacular, with only the likes of The Princess Bride and certain nostalgic cult classics from the ‘80’s managing to inject more than one memorable sentence into our brains. When any film is able to do this, it is a testament to the filmmakers and actors who bring these words to life, something that Pacino is perhaps most famous for through his work with legendary director Brian De Palma.
Scarface, directed in 1983, follows a man called Tony Montana who secures a green card by assassinating a Cuban government official, eventually leading to him becoming the biggest drug lord in Miami, ruthlessly killing anyone who gets in his way. The film is widely praised as one of the greatest crime thrillers all time, with Pacino’s character giving birth to some of the most iconic lines and scenes of all time, such as “say hello to my little friend” and the earth-shattering entrance of Michelle Pfeiffer.
However, despite the iconicity of his complete filmography, Pacino spoke particularly fondly of his time with Tony Montana, saying, “Straight out, I just say nothing touches ‘Scarface’, and really the reason I feel that way is, I remember passing a movie house in Los Angeles, the Tiffany [West Hollywood] — It’s not there anymore — where they played all the old films, and they played [the 1931 version of] ‘Scarface.’ I saw it with my friends and I went in because I’d heard about Howard Hawks’ Scarface, Paul Muni, who was in his time one of the greatest actors alive. I said, ‘I gotta do this film, this performance is inspiring me so much.’
“So I called Martin [his producer] and I said, ‘I think we’ve got a shot with Scarface.’ ‘Scarface?’ he said. ‘I’ve never seen it.’ I said, ‘Take a look.’ So,” he added in explaining this as his favourite, he said, “probably that’s why: I feel responsible for it, you know? I felt personally that I caught that one”.
While many of Pacino’s performances have resonated with huge numbers of people, with The Godfather being widely regarded as the greatest film of all time, everyone has their own personal favourites, with the chaotic destruction of Scarface sticking out as a particualrly memorable venture in his filmography.
