De Niro vs Pacino

Pigman II

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RobAMerc

i used to say pachino ( probably my favourite actor ) but he has become a caricature of himself recently - he plays the blind guy in Scent of a woman in all his roles.

Although I think DeNiro is a terrible comic actor - I didn't like him at all in Meet the fokkers or analyse this

Mr Quiet

Both just actors who did some good stuff and then they also did some sh1te stuff.

They like to shout alot too.

Basq

DeNiro no question..

Karl Hungus

While neither actor is up to much lately, I've always leaned towards DeNiro. Taxi Driver, Once Upon A Time In America, Goodfellas and so on, I've just enjoyed a whole lot more films with DeNiro than I have with Pacino.

Dark_lord_ire

none of them hold a candle to daniel Day Lewis.

Otis Driftwood

2 pretty different actors that tend to get lumped together for some reason.
For what its worth DeNiro gets my vote.

Passenger

I think to objectively judge each actor you have to look at their respective repertoire or an individual performance that was particularly intriguing.

Both are very gesticular actors, they use big loud voices and body gestures to be convincing in their characters. Some of their recent roles were not from the acting school of subtlety. Though saying that on a technical level they are superb when they have good material and are very much on par with one another. They seem to be very lazy in choosing their material in recent years though.

Most people will always lean toward DeNiro as he probably has a more expansive repertoir of films to his name, films that more people will have seen. Plus his career had a massive early boost by his critically and commercially sucessfull colaboration with Martin Scorsese.

Two Academy Awards for De Nino (Six Nominations) Though none since 1991 Cape Fear.

One Academy Award for Pacino (Seven Nominations) Though none since 1993 Secent of a Woman.


Here;s their best work;



Pacino:

Serpico
Dog Day Afternoon
Scarface
Godfather I, II, III
Heat
Scent of a Woman
Glengarry Glen Ross
Carlito's Way
Donnie Brasco
The Insider


De Niro:

Godfather II
Taxi Driver
Mean Streets
The Deer Hunter
Raging Bull
King of Comedy
Brazil
Angel Heart
The Untouchables
Cape Fear
Goodfellas
A Bronx Tale
Casino
Copland
Flawless
Ronin

Aidric

De Niro gets my vote everytime, has a better body of work, just about.

weemcd

Passenger wrote: »

De Niro:

Godfather II
Taxi Driver
Mean Streets
The Deer Hunter
Raging Bull
King of Comedy
Brazil
Angel Heart
The Untouchables
Cape Fear
Goodfellas
A Bronx Tale
Casino
Copland
Flawless
Ronin

- once upon a time in america?

fail

ziedth

It's always been Pacino for me personally but De Niro is the better actor

Sleipnir

Passenger wrote: »

Pacino:

Serpico
Dog Day Afternoon
Scarface
Godfather I, II, III
Heat
Scent of a Woman
Glengarry Glen Ross
Carlito's Way
Donnie Brasco
The Insider


De Niro:

Godfather II
Taxi Driver
Mean Streets
The Deer Hunter
Raging Bull
King of Comedy
Brazil
Angel Heart
The Untouchables
Cape Fear
Goodfellas
A Bronx Tale
Casino
Copland
Flawless
Ronin

DeNiro was also in "Heat" of course and I think they both played their roles excellently in that.

Out of your list of movies, I think DeNiro seems to have been in more good movies.

Ah, I like them both because they're both equally good.

Karl Hungus

weemcd wrote: »

- once upon a time in america?

fail

Yeah, that's easily one of DeNiro's best performances, amazing film.

keane2097

I voted De Niro, but it'd be very tight for me - think they're both class.

I wish to god De Niro would stop with his absolutely feeble attempts at comedy - they are facepalm-inducing in the extreme.

humanji

I'd have to go with DeNiro. When he's on form, he is absolutely fantastic. Sadly, he's done some absolute turkeys. Pacino has some amazing films to his name too, but as said above, he always seems to play the same character. This in itself isn't a bad thing, (he'll I love John Cusack for the same reason) but in acting terms, being the same character all the time really isn't that hard to do.

Oh, and +1 for Daniel Day Lewis. I really believe he's one of the best actors there's ever been.

SaintHubbins

I personally would always choose De Niro. Again he has a better body of work and has had more variety in his roles. That said, Pacino's performance in Godfather 2 is one of the greatest performances in film and possibly better than any performance of De Niro's.

Running Bing

SaintHubbins wrote: »

I personally would always choose De Niro. Again he has a better body of work and has had more variety in his roles. That said, Pacino's performance in Godfather 2 is one of the greatest performances in film and possibly better than any performance of De Niro's.

Yeah I would agree with this.


I think De Niro is the more subtle of the two....Pacino tends to rely too much on the shouty **** in a lot of his films.

His performance in the Godfather films (all three) is untouchable though. Absolute class.

Karl Hungus

humanji wrote: »

Pacino has some amazing films to his name too, but as said above, he always seems to play the same character.

Watch The Merchant of Venice. Pacino put in an extremely subtle and powerful performance, not his usual bombastic dial in.

pinksoir

I said De Niro.

Day Lewis is a fine actor but he's from a different generation.

Of the same generation - Jack Nicholson. He's unreal. Cuckoo's Nest, ChinaTown, The Departed, Batman, A Few Good Men, The Shining, Easy Rider...

Not to mention Dustin Hoffman.

As far as bodies of work go, Pacino, De Niro, Nicholson and Hoffman would be the top four. In no particular order. Each time I watch one of them in a film they become my favourite.

Liam O

Anyone seen Any Given Sunday? I thought it was good although he did play the shouty guy a bit. Still I thought that it was a strong performance and showed that he can play a more vulnerable character.

I gave my vote to Pacino because I think his performances are more memorable than De Niro's. De Niro has an overall more consistent body of work but he doesn't scale the heights of Al in Scarface and The Godfather for me. I think Casino is slightly overrated and just a copy of Goodfellas in a different setting

ADTR

De Niro. No question.

faceman

I can never understand the comparisons made of both actors. I cant vote in the poll, they are very very different. They come from different schools of acting. I guess the Godfather movies created the buzz because they were never on screen together.

Re Passenger's list, I disagree with many of the choices and you left out some great ones too. Not all of those films pushed the boundaries of their abilities.

However both actors have become parodies of themselves in the last decade, particular De Niro. He cant do comedy to save his life. At least Pacino appears to give the impression that he still cares for his craft by doing choice gems every once in a while such as The Merchant of Venice, Looking for Richard. Not big commercial movies.

I also think its funny how, Pacino, a one time king of restraint (his performance in Godfather was fantastic, the scene in the restaurant where he kills the copper is one of my favourite scenes in film, he doesnt even say a word!) now goes the other extreme of shouting and roaring most of the time, but rarely gives interviews to promote the films he's in.

WRT to De Niro being only able to play the same type of characters, it would seem the case but if you watch the Mission or Awakenings, he was fantastic is those movies too.

Savman

Unless this poll is about Heat or some recently announced Celebrity Deathmatch, I ain't voting.

quickbeam

To those saying that DeNiro can't do comedy, I will have to disagree. If the script is decent, he can pull it off. Trouble with Analyse That and Meet The Parents (and their sequels) is that they were crap films, which nobody really could have saved. It was still his choice to appear in them which was a stupid decision though. My favourite comedy performence from him is in Midnight Run.

Pacino has chosen (marginally) better over the past years. His most outstanding performance for me is Dog Day Afternoon - loved him in that, and more proof he can do subtle.

All in all, I can't choose one over another. Of their generation I'd probably prefer Hoffman who can mix up the comedy and drama much better than either of the others.

Lamper.sffc

Pacino without a doubt. Can play a broader range of characters. The guys performance in Angels in America is outstanding. One of his best.

eagle eye

Why is there not a third option of cannot decide/equal.

For me they are two legends of the big screen and command huge respect despite their recent foray together in something which was so bad it still haunts me.

monkeyfudge

People saying DeNiro can't do comedy clearly haven't seen 'The King of Comedy'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UwqxX9_1M

Lamper.sffc

Or this:D

keane2097

monkeyfudge wrote: »

People saying DeNiro can't do comedy clearly haven't seen 'The King of Comedy'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UwqxX9_1M

I thought that was terribly shít tbh

Pigman II

keane2097 wrote: »

I thought that was terribly shít tbh

Agreed. The whole point of Pupkin is that he is a terrible comedian. Any humour we (the viewers of the movie) could get from that clip would be based on our knowledge that there is probably no irony in anything he is saying. I personally don't find it funny on that level and as straight out comedy for an audience (who would think he was being ironic) I don't think I'd have found it particularily funny either

If you want to see DeNiro in something funny then check out something like 'Midnight Run'. It's more an action film rather than straight out comedy & DeNiro isn't meant to be a 'funny guy' in it but he does make more chuckles playing a hard ass in it than he does in either the 'Analyse' or the 'Meet The' movies.

JP Liz

De Niro wins hands down for me

purple_hatstand

TBH, they've both been phoning in performances for years. Pacino's Oscar for "Scent of a Woman" is just further proof (if any were needed) of the irrelevance of the Academy's decisions and he's suffered from type-casting ever since (The Devil's Advocate, anyone?) DeNiro's career has taken a serious nose-dive since "Heat" but he had some money problems and I think he must have been trying to get some cash together for "The Good Shepherd" which is excellent. Watch it twice. At least. Haven't seen "Righteous Kill" which starred both but, apparently, it's pants.

Ann22

De Niro prob has a more popular selection of films under his belt, they're both gifted actors but imo Pacino has a stronger screen presence. He's very intense, the expression in his eyes at times is pure mad. I've often held my breath watching him.

JerryHandbag

I wouldn't have been able to separate them until I saw 88 Minutes last night....an absolute shocker of a film, you would wonder what state of mind Pacino was in when he read the script. Comically bad. So DeNiro for me.

PullMyFinger!

Pacino just about wins this for me. Less shi*te in my memory from Al than Robert and more passion from Pacino too. Probably my favourite actor of all time.

purple_hatstand

DeNiro's characters are more memorable IMO - JohnnyBoy, (Young) Corleone, Bickle, Michael (Deer Hunter), LaMotta, Pupkin, Noodles, Louis Cyphre, Capone, Conway, Rothstein, McCauley....