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Al Pacino Vs Robert De Niro: who is the best of the two?

135

Comments

  • #62
    happysunnydays
    Closed Accounts Posts: 247 ✭✭happysunnydays


    Ol' Donie wrote: »
    Jepers, De Niro wins easily looking at this.

    And you left out my favourite: Midnight Run.

    ..and 'Mean Streets', first time working with Scorsese


  • #63
    square ball
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 397 ✭✭square ball


    Have to go with De Niro. Likes of This Boy's Life, King of Comedy and Meet the Parents showed that he was more versatile. Meet the Parents was okay. Rest of franchise was shocking but are 3 of the top 4 highest grossing movies he's been in. Very little between the two actors at the top of their game and it would be a massive shame if we don't see get at least one excellent role before they retire. This century hasn't been too kind to either of them to be fair.


  • #64
    Hannibal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,819 ✭✭✭Hannibal


    Ol' Donie wrote: »
    Jepers, De Niro wins easily looking at this.

    And you left out my favourite: Midnight Run.

    I added Midnight Run, I forgot about it.

    I definitely won't be adding Last Vegas or Grudge Match ☺


  • #65
    dark crystal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,962 ✭✭✭✭dark crystal


    Birneybau wrote: »
    Copland. Midnight Run.

    + Righteous Kill, City By the Sea, 15 minutes, Flawless and Mad Dog and Glory. He was actually a Bounty Hunter in Midnight Run, though :P


    Personally, I like Pacino better. I love The Godfather films (yes, even the third one), Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, ..And Justice For All, Sea of Love, Devil's Advocate, Insomnia, Donnie Brasco, City Hall, Scent of a Woman and Carlito's Way.

    De Niro has been in some classics alright, but I just prefer Pacino's style.


  • #66
    Dirty Dingus McGee
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,631 ✭✭✭Dirty Dingus McGee


    Pacino's performance in Dog Day Afternoon is on of the all time great performances.

    I've never understood why people dislike Pacinos slight over acting, its part of what makes his films enjoyable.If every film contained a series of restrained performances you'd be bored to death


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  • #67
    RobbingBandit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,386 ✭✭✭✭RobbingBandit


    Birneybau wrote: »
    Pacino could never do a 'Raging Bull' or "Taxi Driver".

    De Niro could never do Scar Face or Scent of a Woman, he does do a good catatonic both in a serious role as seen in Awakenings and funny as seen in Analyze This/That.

    Both are excellent actors that have had very few mishaps between them, Pacino maybe in an upcoming Marvel movie, don't ever see De Niro doing that kind of role, Rocky and Bullwinkle aside.


  • #68
    Birneybau
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,419 ✭✭✭✭Birneybau


    RobbingBandit wrote: »
    De Niro could never do Scar Face or Scent of a Woman, he does do a good catatonic both in a serious role as seen in Awakenings and funny as seen in Analyze This/That.

    Both are excellent actors that have had very few mishaps between them, Pacino maybe in an upcoming Marvel movie, don't ever see De Niro doing that kind of role, Rocky and Bullwinkle aside.

    Yeah, De Niro is much less of an overactor.

    *Half joke.


  • #69
    Pinkman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 504 ✭✭✭Pinkman


    Along with Jack Nicholson they are my two favourite actors of all time.

    Overall I would go with De Niro simply because in my view there is no actor that has had a lead role in as many classic/great films as he has. He is also far more diverse due to his success with comedy later in his career. Both have gone drastically downhill since the late 90's. De Niro has been in far more films since then than Pacino (about twice as many since 2000) has but make no mistake - both have starred in a lot of absolute tripe in the past 15 years. Pacino was in rubbish such as Gigli (considered one of the worst films ever made), 88 Minutes, Son Of No One, Jack & Jill among others and De Niro has been in too much crap to even mention.

    Both starred in the woeful Righteous Kill. I mean to go from Godfather II and Heat to nonsense co starring 50 Cent is just shameful. Both have starred in several films with 50 Cent. There is no excuse for this. Obviously De Niro doesn't read scripts anymore and just looks how much he is getting paid but he should at least check who his co-stars are.

    It is a shame neither have got involved in a cable TV series - De Niro had signed up to replace James Gandolfini in HBO's 'Criminal Justice' but recently dropped out.

    I remember about a decade ago Channel 4 did an extensive poll and Pacino beat De Niro as the greatest actor ever, with De Niro coming out on top a few years earlier in a Film4 poll so it is interesting. Both are teaming up once again for the Irishman, directed by Scorsese and co staring Harvey Kietel and Joe Pesci. They would want to get a move on with it though as it has been in development for a long time. Amazing how Pacino and Scorsese have never worked together.


  • #70
    e_e
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,464 ✭✭✭e_e


    I'd have to go with Pacino just for Dog Day Afternoon. Probably in my top 5 performances of all time.


  • #71
    Into The Blue
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,358 ✭✭✭Into The Blue


    Pacino just plays pacino in every one of his films.. Where as its hard to reconcile the fact that it's the same actor in Cape fear, casino, taxi driver, heat, untouchables, Copland....

    Master of his trade.


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  • #72
    Jesus Wept
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,243 ✭✭✭✭Jesus Wept


    It's hard to call considering they are both **** these days. Actually I take that back about Bob, he still has some good turns on occasion.


  • #73
    SimonTemplar
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,815 ✭✭✭SimonTemplar


    It is sad to see the careers of two titans of cinema fizzle out, and in some cases, take embarassing turns.

    I'd love to see the two of them sink their teeth into a quality script one more time...a True Detective type show with a talented writer could be amazing.


  • #74
    Jesus Wept
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,243 ✭✭✭✭Jesus Wept


    I'd say it'd be generic as ****.


  • #75
    SimonTemplar
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,815 ✭✭✭SimonTemplar


    i heart chewy louie wrote: »
    I'd say it'd be generic as ****.

    As I said, a quality script


  • #76
    kryogen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 25,953 ✭✭✭✭kryogen


    Bobby all day and I am a huge admirer of Pacinos work


  • #77
    Cork boy 55
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭Cork boy 55


    Worth
    Robert De Niro 200 million $
    AL pacino 135 million $


  • #78
    The Strawman Argument
    Closed Accounts Posts: 477 ✭✭The Strawman Argument


    They're not very alike at all but I'm gonna go with De Niro and I'm not even bothering to think about all his roles, the first two that came to mind, Raging Bull and the King of Comedy, show enough talent and range to beat most actors with ease. There's perhaps a bit of an argument that De Niro's greatness predominantly came from a great working relationship with Scorsese, I can't think of any performances from him away from Scorsese that reach the same highs, but it's not like he hasn't any other good performances so it'd be weak enough of an argumnet.

    Pacino in the Godfather Part II is as good of a performance in a film as I can think of though.
    Cork boy 55 wrote: »
    Worth
    Robert De Niro 200 million $
    AL pacino 135 million $
    Absolutely meaningless, especially if you take a look at where most of De Niro's $$$ came from.


  • #79
    Dog of Tears
    Closed Accounts Posts: 812 ✭✭✭Dog of Tears


    I'd probably rather go for a few pints with Pacino.


  • #80
    kstand
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,248 ✭✭✭kstand


    Pacino all day long - his ability to lose his temper in a scene is untouchable.


  • #81
    NotCominBack
    Closed Accounts Posts: 456 ✭✭NotCominBack


    The Strawman Argument wrote: »


    Absolutely meaningless, especially if you take a look at where most of De Niro's $$$ came from.

    So, where did most of De Niro' s deniro come from?


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  • #82
    NotCominBack
    Closed Accounts Posts: 456 ✭✭NotCominBack


    De Niro wins every time, mostly because in some cases he doesn't have to say anything to steal the scene. Only the greats can do this, D Day Lewis, Heath ledger etc.

    Don't think Pacino has this ability


  • #83
    Dirty Steve
    Closed Accounts Posts: 234 ✭✭Dirty Steve


    Cork boy 55 wrote: »
    Worth
    Robert De Niro 200 million $
    AL pacino 135 million $
    Sylvester Stallone 400 million $
    Arnold Schwarzenegger 300 million $
    Daniel Day Lewis 50 million $


  • #84
    Decuc500
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭Decuc500


    I’d probably choose De Niro but I don’t subscribe to this idea that he hasn’t done anything of note in the last 10 years.

    Stardust, Everybody’s Fine, Stone and particularly Silver Linings Playbook are all great performances.


  • #85
    Birneybau
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,419 ✭✭✭✭Birneybau


    Decuc500 wrote: »
    I’d probably choose De Niro but I don’t subscribe to this idea that he hasn’t done anything of note in the last 10 years.

    Stardust, Everybody’s Fine, Stone and particularly Silver Linings Playbook are all great performances.

    Stardust and his role were pretty terrible to be honest. Maybe it was the novelty of his performance but it's really not a great film.


  • #86
    FortuneChip
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,857 ✭✭✭FortuneChip


    NotCominBack wrote: »
    De Niro wins every time, mostly because in some cases he doesn't have to say anything to steal the scene. Only the greats can do this, D Day Lewis, Heath ledger etc.

    Don't think Pacino has this ability

    Slow down now. Heath Ledger has some very good performances, but I wouldn't be putting him in the "greats" with Day Lewis. That's a completely different level.

    With both their careers spanning such a long time it's natural to have some horrible movies in there. At their very best, De Niro might edge it, but I do enjoy a Pacino hoo ha! Heat showed how good they could be together, Righteous Kill was an atrocity.


  • #87
    The Strawman Argument
    Closed Accounts Posts: 477 ✭✭The Strawman Argument


    NotCominBack wrote: »
    So, where did most of De Niro' s deniro come from?

    The numerous cynical cash grabs of the past fifteen years where he does damn near nothing but collect a cheque. Wealth isn't a great measure of acting ability.


  • #88
    Dog of Tears
    Closed Accounts Posts: 812 ✭✭✭Dog of Tears


    The Strawman Argument wrote: »
    The numerous cynical cash grabs of the past fifteen years where he does damn near nothing but collect a cheque. Wealth isn't a great measure of acting ability.

    He has a lot of business interests outside of film.


  • #89
    NotCominBack
    Closed Accounts Posts: 456 ✭✭NotCominBack


    FortuneChip wrote: »
    Slow down now. Heath Ledger has some very good performances, but I wouldn't be putting him in the "greats" with Day Lewis. That's a completely different level.

    With both their careers spanning such a long time it's natural to have some horrible movies in there. At their very best, De Niro might edge it, but I do enjoy a Pacino hoo ha! Heat showed how good they could be together, Righteous Kill was an atrocity.

    Nah, he's going down amongst the greats, no poll required for that.
    Official top 5
    1. De Niro
    2. D D Lewis
    3. H Ledger
    4. A Hopkins
    5. Pacino


  • #90
    chicorytip
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,342 ✭✭✭chicorytip


    DeNiro's performance opposite Pacino in Heat was a masterclass in acting. He is the best screen actor I have ever seen even if he has taken a number of ill judged roles in recent years and is not really a comedic actor.


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  • #91
    Iranoutofideas
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,083 ✭✭✭Iranoutofideas


    There's a funny story about Al Pacino and Robin Williams when they worked together on some film.

    Pacino was psyching himself up before a take by screaming and shouting. The whole crew were terrified to even look at him. Except for Williams who was watching everything - when Pacino let out one particular roar, Williams shrieked "EEEEeeeeek!"

    Everyone burst their hole laughing, Pacino included.


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