Both were once great and are now less so. I do have to say that Pacino at his worst is way more entertaining than DeNiro at his worst. Vote still goes to DeNiro.
Both were great through the 80′s but then DeNiro kind of lost it sometime in the 90′s. He’s still good, but doesn’t pick great films anymore and is a bit of a shadow of himself. Pacino has that overacting bit he does but has been more consistent over time than DeNiro.
Weird pick, but I love Ronan and think that was a fantastic role for DeNiro.
Holy cow. That Bill Simmons analysis of the question (see the link in comment #1) is one of the most exhaustive and interesting approaches to any topic that I’ve ever read.
I like how he ended it with his stepfather’s reaction to the question.
Heat was awesome. Then they inexplicably teamed up for Righteous Kill. Honestly DeNiro. You can say no. Pacino’s been in some crap but it often looked like it might work. DeNiro is sort of like Samuel L. Jackson. He just likes to act and doesn’t care what he acts in. (Although Jackson takes the cake for great actor acting in crappy movies)
Holy cow. That Bill Simmons analysis of the question (see the link in comment #1) is one of the most exhaustive and interesting approaches to any topic that I’ve ever read.
I was interested in what he had to say until he pointed to one of DeNiro’s greatest performances (The King of Comedy) as one of his worst.
I do have to say that Pacino at his worst is way more entertaining than DeNiro at his worst.
Pacino at his worst is way worse than Deniro at his worst. Pacino has a tendency to yell and chew scenery. I loved his Michael Corleone in the first Godfather (and even in the next two), but then you have ridiculous, over-the-top performances like Scent of a Woman. Hoo-ah! Deniro at least usually knows how to not carry it too far.
Scent of a Woman wasn’t bad the first time he did it. The problem is that he kept replaying that performance. He doesn’t always do it, but he’s kind of done a Jack Nicholson and just acts a single character. (He’s not as bad as Nicholson at that of course) Sometimes he plays the character well and sometimes (such as in Devil’s Advocate) he plays it badly. Fortunately he doesn’t always ape Scent of a Woman. Regardless as to how you perceive the movie, I rather liked his performance in Insomnia.
As to what’s worse, a bad Pacino or a bad DeNiro. A bad DeNiro is just boring. A bad Pacino is interestingly and campily bad. And Pacino never did a scene singing “I am pretty.”
I will also say that although everyone is pointing to Scent of a Woman as the beginning of Pacino’s downfall (I have not seen it so I can’t comment), two of the finest performances of his career have happened since then: Glengarry Glen Ross and Donnie Brasco.
Glengarry Glen Ross came before Scent of a Woman. (At least in release – perhaps not production) I agree that Donnie Brasco was quite a different roll for Pacino.
I don’t think it was the downfall of Pacino. I just think that after the Oscar he aped that performance way too much.
But let’s be honest. There were some questionable roles before that. (I might be alone – but I’m not a fan of Scarface’s acting) But even after Scent he has some fantastic acting. I mentioned Insomnia. Yeah there were his sell outs like Simone or The Recruit. But also Carlito’s Way, Donnie Brasco, and to a lesser extent The Insider.
Contrast this with DeNiro’s “comic phase” which seemed more like SNL performances and aping of earlier rolls. (Yes, Meet the Parents and Analyze That I’m looking at you) I’m sure he had fun. But compare that to his work in the 70′s and 80′s. Look at DeNiro the past 10 years and what is his greatest role? The Score? Good movie but I don’t think he brought that much. The classic The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle? His last great role was Ronin in 1997.
Pacino, while also tapering off in quality, has in that same period Insomnia, The Insider & Angels in America.
He was playing The Devil. You know, Satan, Lucifer, Old Scratch. How can he not pull out all the stops? I thought his acting was great, it was just a terrible movie.
Well I’m not sure Angel Heart was a good movie. DeNiro just played a really interesting role in a very interesting way. But his part was pretty minor if quite memorable. This was during his prime just before he sort of started losing it. He still had Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Midnight Run, The Untouchables, and A Bronx Tale to do. So it’s not entirely fair to compare to Pacino.
Admittedly around that time Pacino did Dick Tracy, Godfather III and Sea of Love. So he started falling first. Although honestly his acting was still on with Godfather III and Sea of Love – it’s just that the films were mediocre. (As I’ve long said, other than Coppola (mis)casting his daughter it wasn’t a bad movie – it just seemed bad compared to the first two) But Pacino did come back with Glengarry Glen Ross, Carlito’s Way and Heat. (And he did win the Oscar for Scent of a Woman which at the time wasn’t a bad performance – it just seems like it in retrospect because it’s become such a caricature.)
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Bill Simmons tackled this a few years back. See here, about half-way down the page.
Comment by Tim J — May 28, 2009 @ 9:43 am
Both were once great and are now less so. I do have to say that Pacino at his worst is way more entertaining than DeNiro at his worst. Vote still goes to DeNiro.
Comment by Brian V — May 28, 2009 @ 10:37 am
Godfather Part II is my favorite movie and mostly because of DeNiro in the flashback scenes. Pacino had already began to grate by part 2.
Comment by Rose Tyler — May 28, 2009 @ 10:54 am
Not a big fan of either.
Comment by Susan M — May 28, 2009 @ 11:06 am
I love both, but I have to go with DeNiro.
Comment by MCQ — May 28, 2009 @ 12:47 pm
Both were great through the 80′s but then DeNiro kind of lost it sometime in the 90′s. He’s still good, but doesn’t pick great films anymore and is a bit of a shadow of himself. Pacino has that overacting bit he does but has been more consistent over time than DeNiro.
Weird pick, but I love Ronan and think that was a fantastic role for DeNiro.
Comment by Clark — May 28, 2009 @ 12:51 pm
I like Pacino’s best more than DeNiro’s best, but DeNiro has been in a lot more good films. A wash I guess.
Comment by John K. — May 28, 2009 @ 12:52 pm
DeNiro all the way. He had me “one of these days I’m going to get organizized.”
Comment by meems — May 28, 2009 @ 1:40 pm
Holy cow. That Bill Simmons analysis of the question (see the link in comment #1) is one of the most exhaustive and interesting approaches to any topic that I’ve ever read.
I like how he ended it with his stepfather’s reaction to the question.
Ay-yay-yay.
Comment by danithew — May 28, 2009 @ 3:06 pm
Who can forget when they teamed up for that immortal masterpiece, Heat?
Comment by Bill — May 28, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
Heat was awesome. Then they inexplicably teamed up for Righteous Kill. Honestly DeNiro. You can say no. Pacino’s been in some crap but it often looked like it might work. DeNiro is sort of like Samuel L. Jackson. He just likes to act and doesn’t care what he acts in. (Although Jackson takes the cake for great actor acting in crappy movies)
Comment by Clark — May 28, 2009 @ 4:13 pm
Holy cow. That Bill Simmons analysis of the question (see the link in comment #1) is one of the most exhaustive and interesting approaches to any topic that I’ve ever read.
I was interested in what he had to say until he pointed to one of DeNiro’s greatest performances (The King of Comedy) as one of his worst.
Comment by Brian V — May 28, 2009 @ 6:25 pm
Pacino at his worst is way worse than Deniro at his worst. Pacino has a tendency to yell and chew scenery. I loved his Michael Corleone in the first Godfather (and even in the next two), but then you have ridiculous, over-the-top performances like Scent of a Woman. Hoo-ah! Deniro at least usually knows how to not carry it too far.
Comment by BTD_Greg — May 29, 2009 @ 7:55 am
Heat is one of my all-time favs, but I have to just forget Meet the Parents and the rest of the mis-steps to give DeNiro the win.
Of course, Pacino doesn’t have a Bananarama song about him…
Comment by Tracy M — May 29, 2009 @ 10:06 am
Scent of a Woman wasn’t bad the first time he did it. The problem is that he kept replaying that performance. He doesn’t always do it, but he’s kind of done a Jack Nicholson and just acts a single character. (He’s not as bad as Nicholson at that of course) Sometimes he plays the character well and sometimes (such as in Devil’s Advocate) he plays it badly. Fortunately he doesn’t always ape Scent of a Woman. Regardless as to how you perceive the movie, I rather liked his performance in Insomnia.
As to what’s worse, a bad Pacino or a bad DeNiro. A bad DeNiro is just boring. A bad Pacino is interestingly and campily bad. And Pacino never did a scene singing “I am pretty.”
Comment by Clark — May 29, 2009 @ 10:08 am
Hehe, Tracy. I think I have that Bananarama 45 single tucked away somewhere!
And yeah, King of Comedy is one of my all time favorites!! How anyone could point to that as DeNiro being bad, I don’t know.
Comment by meems — May 29, 2009 @ 11:07 am
Pacino at his worst is way worse than Deniro at his worst. Pacino has a tendency to yell and chew scenery.
Agreed, but I find his overacting hilarious, especially in Heat.
I think this image says it all:
http://is.gd/Jddj
Comment by Brian V — May 29, 2009 @ 11:48 am
I will also say that although everyone is pointing to Scent of a Woman as the beginning of Pacino’s downfall (I have not seen it so I can’t comment), two of the finest performances of his career have happened since then: Glengarry Glen Ross and Donnie Brasco.
Comment by Brian V — May 29, 2009 @ 11:53 am
Glengarry Glen Ross came before Scent of a Woman. (At least in release – perhaps not production) I agree that Donnie Brasco was quite a different roll for Pacino.
I don’t think it was the downfall of Pacino. I just think that after the Oscar he aped that performance way too much.
But let’s be honest. There were some questionable roles before that. (I might be alone – but I’m not a fan of Scarface’s acting) But even after Scent he has some fantastic acting. I mentioned Insomnia. Yeah there were his sell outs like Simone or The Recruit. But also Carlito’s Way, Donnie Brasco, and to a lesser extent The Insider.
Contrast this with DeNiro’s “comic phase” which seemed more like SNL performances and aping of earlier rolls. (Yes, Meet the Parents and Analyze That I’m looking at you) I’m sure he had fun. But compare that to his work in the 70′s and 80′s. Look at DeNiro the past 10 years and what is his greatest role? The Score? Good movie but I don’t think he brought that much. The classic The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle? His last great role was Ronin in 1997.
Pacino, while also tapering off in quality, has in that same period Insomnia, The Insider & Angels in America.
Comment by Clark — May 29, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
The Devil’s Advocate was just so horrible. I also agree with whoever said his performance in Scarface was way to over the top.
Comment by Rose Tyler — May 29, 2009 @ 12:17 pm
As over the top as the rest of the movie was, Pacino delivers the greatest sports movie speech ever in Any Given Sunday.
Comment by John K. — May 29, 2009 @ 1:31 pm
“The Devil’s Advocate was just so horrible.”
Yes, but in that movie, Pacino had the advantage of being opposite Keanu Reeves, who could make almost anyone else appear an Olivier by comparison.
Comment by Bill — May 29, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
I thought is was anyone being a Keanu Reeves movie would appear to be overacting just because of his woodenness.
Comment by Clark — May 29, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
He was playing The Devil. You know, Satan, Lucifer, Old Scratch. How can he not pull out all the stops? I thought his acting was great, it was just a terrible movie.
Comment by MCQ — May 29, 2009 @ 9:07 pm
Compare his devil to DeNiro’s in Angel Heart. Now that was the devil.
Comment by Clark — May 29, 2009 @ 9:22 pm
OHhhhh! Angel Heart- now that was a good movie.
Comment by Tracy M — May 29, 2009 @ 9:26 pm
Yeah, and that’s a good reason to choose DeNiro in the poll!
Comment by MCQ — May 29, 2009 @ 11:53 pm
Well I’m not sure Angel Heart was a good movie. DeNiro just played a really interesting role in a very interesting way. But his part was pretty minor if quite memorable. This was during his prime just before he sort of started losing it. He still had Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Midnight Run, The Untouchables, and A Bronx Tale to do. So it’s not entirely fair to compare to Pacino.
Admittedly around that time Pacino did Dick Tracy, Godfather III and Sea of Love. So he started falling first. Although honestly his acting was still on with Godfather III and Sea of Love – it’s just that the films were mediocre. (As I’ve long said, other than Coppola (mis)casting his daughter it wasn’t a bad movie – it just seemed bad compared to the first two) But Pacino did come back with Glengarry Glen Ross, Carlito’s Way and Heat. (And he did win the Oscar for Scent of a Woman which at the time wasn’t a bad performance – it just seems like it in retrospect because it’s become such a caricature.)
Comment by clark — May 30, 2009 @ 11:18 pm