Depends on if you want someone who knows he's currently a bad actor, or one who doesn't. Yes, both used to be excellent under the right direction... but that is a time passed.
Deniro knows it and uses it to his advantage like William Shatner. Pacino seems to be oblivious of it, which makes it so much better when he acts seriously.
I'm gonna say the travesties they've wrought in the last 15 years keep either of them from being considered the best living actor. Little Fockers has 2 separate moments that are competing for the absolute low point in DeNiro's career. You could say that Pacino wins just by being less prolific at making legacy destroying shit. Fact is, an entire generation of people only know DeNiro from shitty movies basically. PS Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson and Robert Duvall, any of them would make a better case for lifetime achievement at this point. I didn't forget Clint Eastwood or Robert Redford, they're serviceable on screen but their best work is behind the camera. /opinion
They're both fantastic actors but Deniro seems to have lost it lately. Pacino did an amazing job last year in You Don't Know Jack and a few years back with The Merchant of Venice and Angels in America. I can't remember the last truly great Deniro performance.
Does it really matter what movies they did in the past years? most good actors have those few undesirables both are still legends and will be at the very top or close to it on any best actors of all time list. I picked Al.
I cannot pick, two great actors who have had very good ups, and some pretty awful downs. And both played some of the best gangsters of all time, and both were in fucking Godfather. So I really can't pick here.
@ryanwho: Though I do agree with you that De Niro seems to do less damage control than Al Pacino when they do their inevitably shitty "paying the bills" movies (though It's more of a "pay for my grandkids' cars" movie these days).
Pacino. He atleast tries to stay relevant with projects like You Dont Know Jack and Merchant of Venice in the last few years. De Niro, while still having an amazing list of past movies he took part in, he still let himself go.
If we're talking about the 1970's there's no way to choose between the two. I want nothing to do with the the bizarre doppelgangers that are walking around in their skin these days.
I'd have to go with Deniro though. His performances in Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America, and Mean Streets are just unreal. I feel like Pacino truly lost his way starting with Scarface, which is a movie I love for it's camp value, not necessarily for it's quality. If you look at most of his 70's output he was an incredibly subtle actor, and his emotional outbursts were effective and terrifying, but used in service of the story. He slowly began to rely on these outbursts as a crutch over the years with Heat being the only movie where they pay off.
@ryanwho: Gene Hackman had a great 20 years between the French Connection and Unforgiven, but he's no Robert Duvall or Jack Nicholson. He's got a handful of great roles, but started late and retired early. I think a good comparison to Pacino and Deniro, however, is Michael Caine. He did some early work as some very shady characters (see, for example, Get Carter - you'd be amazed at how intimidating he managed to be) , and has put out a steady stream of good material amidst the crap throughout his life.
I guess I'd say Get Carter pales in comparison to Taxi Driver and Too Late the Hero is no Deer Hunter, but when we go for lifetime achievement - well, then you also have to factor in how Little Fockers compares to Inception, or how Righteous Kill compares to the Dark Knight. Despite the high quality of some of his work, however, I've never seen any evidence he still has interest in challenging roles, sort of like the Italians.
I can't decide. Pachino certainly kept more of his dignity, but De Niro did so many great movies already. I can't blame him for going for the easy and probably a lot more relaxing payday. Now if you don't mind, I have to watch Heat for the 3,000th time.
and deniro only really has one character type with maybe 3 shades of it, you could say the same about pacino but I think he has numerous characters
he has taken chances that sometimes didnt pay off but sometimes did
of course both have lost their way, but i especially dislike what deniro is doing in comedies today, just dont find him funny, wasn't bad in Machete, but again not great
i can always watch pacino though, he's one of my favourite actors, but besides that i think he's a better actor, maybe fewer iconic roles but more roles and substance generally
Log in to comment