Al Pacino is his own creation! A pocket dynamo capable of quiet tenderness and explosive violence, sometimes within the same scene. After graduating from the Lee Strasberg run "Actors Studio", his first significant movie role was as a heroin addict in 1971's "Panic in Needle Park".
This brought him to the attention of Francis Ford Coppola, who was searching for talent for a little movie called "The Godfather", the rest is history! Some of my favourite (less lauded) Pacino performances are: homosexual bank robber Sonny in "Dog Day Afternoon". His compelling portrait of man caught in the teeth of an impossible situation is faultless.
His crusading, liberal lawyer Arthur Kirkland in "And justice for all" is another beautifully drawn character. Beset on all sides by turmoil, Kirkland bounces between humour and tragedy like a manic superball; the final courtroom scene is a "Pacino-Hurricane".
Finally, my favourite Pacino turn, John Milton AKA "The Devil" in "The Devil's Advocate". Something that could've been ridiculous in lesser hands, becomes a wild, tragi-comic tour-de-force with Pacino's spectacular energy holding it all together. Breathtaking! All together now...."HOO-HAA!".
Excelsior out!
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