Line #50 Creator/AlPacino


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/al_pacino.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/{{Scarface 1983}} Say hello to his little friend!]]]]
3	->''"You need some insecurity if you're an actor. It keeps the pot boiling."''
4
5	Alfredo James Pacino (born April 25, 1940) is often regarded as one of the greatest actors in American film history.
6
7	He was born to Italian-American parents in New York City. Despite a difficult childhood in an impoverished neighborhood, he pursued his dream of becoming an actor and was almost instantly recognized as a natural. After taking roles of varying prominence in several on- and off-Broadway plays, he caught the eye of Creator/FrancisFordCoppola while on the set of the film ''The Panic at Needle Park''. Coppola fought tooth and nail to get Pacino in the role of [[Film/TheGodfather Michael Corleone]]; competitors for the role included Creator/RobertDeNiro (who went on to play Michael's father in ''Part II''), Creator/JackNicholson, and Creator/DustinHoffman. Pacino was acclaimed, and [[StarMakingRole the rest is history]].
8
9	He often stars in gangster and cop films and is frequently compared to De Niro. He also maintains his Broadway career, though most aren't aware of it. Pacino's most memorable roles include [[Film/TheGodfather Michael Corleone]], [[Film/DogDayAfternoon Sonny Wortzik]], and [[Film/{{Scarface 1983}} Tony Montana]].
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11	He has been nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nine times in his career, winning Best Actor for his performance as Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in ''Film/ScentOfAWoman''. He's also won four UsefulNotes/{{Golden Globe\|Award}}s, two UsefulNotes/{{Emmy\|Award}}s, two Tonys, and a UsefulNotes/{{BAFTA}}.
12	----
13	!!Filmography:
14	* ''Film/ThePanicInNeedlePark'' (1971) - Bobby
15	* ''Film/TheGodfather'' (1972) - Michael Corleone
16	** ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974)
17	** ''The Godfather Part III'' (1990)
18	* ''Film/{{Scarecrow\|1973}}'' (1973) - Lion
19	* ''Film/{{Serpico}}'' (1973) - Frank Serpico
20	* ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'' (1975) - Sonny Wortzik
21	* ''Film/AndJusticeForAll'' (1979) - Arthur Kirkland
22	* ''Film/{{Cruising}}'' (1980) - Steve Burns
23	* ''Film/{{Scarface\|1983}}'' (1983) - Antonio "Tony" Montana
24	* ''Film/{{Revolution\|1985}}'' (1985) - Tom Dobb
25	* ''Film/SeaOfLove'' (1989) - Detective Frank Keller
26	* ''Film/DickTracy'' (1990) - Big Boy
27	* ''Film/FrankieAndJohnny'' (1991) - Johnny
28	* ''Film/GlengarryGlenRoss'' (1992) - Ricky Roma
29	* ''Film/ScentOfAWoman'' (1992) - Frank Slade
30	* ''Film/CarlitosWay'' (1993) - Carlito Brigante
31	* ''Film/{{Heat}}'' (1995) - Vincent Hanna
32	* ''Film/CityHall'' (1996) - Mayor John Pappas
33	* ''Film/DonnieBrasco'' (1997) - Lefty
34	* ''Film/TheDevilsAdvocate'' (1997) - John Milton
35	* ''Film/TheInsider'' (1999) - Lowell Bergman
36	* ''Film/AnyGivenSunday'' (1999) - Tony D'Amato
37	* ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'' (2002) - Will Dormer
38	* ''Film/{{S1m0ne}}'' (2002) - Viktor Taransky
39	* ''Film/TheRecruit'' (2003) - Burke
40	* ''Film/{{Gigli}}'' (2003) - Starkman
41	* ''Theatre/AngelsInAmerica'' (2003) - Roy M. Cohn (HBO miniseries)
42	* ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' (2004) - Shylock
43	* ''Film/TwoForTheMoney'' (2005) - Walter Abrams
44	* ''Film/EightyEightMinutes'' (2007) - Jack Gramm
45	* ''[[Film/OceansEleven Ocean's Thirteen]]'' (2007) - Willy Bank
46	* ''Film/RighteousKill'' (2008) - Rooster
47	* ''You Don't Know Jack'' (2010) - Jack Kevorkian (HBO Movie)
48	* ''Film/JackAndJill'' (2011) - Himself
49	* ''Stand Up Guys'' (2012) - Val
50	* ''Phil Spector'' (2013) - Music/PhilSpector (HBO Movie)
51	* ''The Humbling'' (2014) - Simon Adler
52	* ''Manglehorn'' (2014) - A.J. Manglehorn
53	* ''Danny Collins'' (2015) - Danny Collins
54	* ''Paterno'' (2018) - Joe Paterno (HBO Movie)
55	* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInHollywood'' (2019) - Marvin Schwartz
56	* ''Film/TheIrishman'' (2019) - UsefulNotes/JimmyHoffa
57	* ''Film/HouseOfGucci'' (2021) - Aldo Gucci
58	----
59	!!Tropes Include:
60	* AdamWesting: He appears AsHimself in ''Film/JackAndJill''.
61	* AntiHero: They're usually protagonists, but his characters are also bad guys most of the time.
62	* AuthorAppeal: As a director, his two documentaries, ''Looking for Richard'' and ''Wilde Salomé'', are both analyses of specific plays.
63	* AwesomeDearBoy: One of the reasons he accepted the role of Ricky Roma in ''Film/GlengarryGlenRoss'' and even accepted a salary cut for the film's modest budget was that he couldn't pass up the opportunity to work with Creator/JackLemmon.
64	* BlankStare: Has this down so well, it's almost his natural expression. This was especially notable in his portrayal of Frank Slade in ''Film/ScentOfAWoman,'' who is blind. It's an interesting variation of this trope due to his intense and expressive application of it, sometimes overlapping with ThousandYardStare or DeathGlare, both of which were frequently used in ''[[Film/TheGodfather The Godfather Trilogy]]''.
65	* BrooklynRage: He was born and raised in the Bronx, and his characters tend to be very angry.
66	* CareerResurrection: His career took a major hit in the 80's but he bounced back in the 90's. It then stopped somewhat in the 2000s, but he has been making another comeback with the late 2010s.
67	* ChewingTheScenery: If you've seen ''Film/Scarface1983'', then you've seen this trope at its most triumphant.
68	** It seems to be in his contract that every role he takes has to have at least one ranting monologue in it.
69	* ChronicallyKilledActor: Comes with playing criminals a lot.
70	* CoolOldGuy: From the mid-90s onward, his roles have employed this.
71	* EnforcedMethodActing: As is common with his generation of actors, Al Pacino would remain in character both on and off set. One time, between filming scenes for ''Film/{{Serpico}}'' (where he plays a cop), he threatened to arrest a truck driver for exhaust pollution.
72	* FakeNationality: Aside from American and Italian roles (the former his nationality, the latter his ethnicity), he played a Cuban in ''Film/Scarface1983'' and King Herod in ''Salomé''.
73	* GrumpyOldMan: From the 2000s onward his characters tend to be grumpy and miserly older men, a natural evolution to his skill at playing jerk characters.
74	* HairTriggerTemper: Portrays this well, especially as Tony Montana and Lt. Vincent Hanna.
75	* HiddenDepths: Pacino is a surprisingly talented film and documentary director.
76	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: He's one of the go-to actors used to play real people.
77	* JadedWashout: In recent years he's portrayed quite a few aging characters (especially mobsters) whose GloryDays are long behind them, most notably in ''Donnie Brasco.''
78	* {{Jerkass}}: His characters are usually hard to like. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Film/ScentOfAWoman'', where he was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who also contained HiddenDepths; [[AvertedTrope averted]] in ''Film/DonnieBrasco'', where he was AffablyEvil; and [[ZigzaggedTrope zigzagged]] in ''[[Film/TheGodfather The Godfather Trilogy]]'', where he was more FauxAffablyEvil.
79	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: A few of his later roles have had him play roles like this.
80	* LargeHam: In so many of his performances, he has [[LargeHam/{{Actors}} his own folder]].
81	** EvilIsHammy: The flavor chosen for ''Film/Scarface1983'', ''Film/DickTracy'' and ''Film/TheDevilsAdvocate''
82	** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in RealLife, wherein he is surprisingly very shy and soft-spoken.
83	* TheMafia: His Sicilian heritage and [[BigApplesauce upbringing]] helped him secure his role as Michael Corleone in ''Film/TheGodfather'', and he has since played many roles related to this organization. Humorously inverted in ''Film/TheIrishman'' where he plays the Irish/German-descended Jimmy Hoffa, who hates Italians.
84	* MethodActing: Like many actors of his generation, Pacino employed this as part of his acting style.
85	* ProductionPosse: With actors Creator/RobertDeNiro, Creator/DianeKeaton, Creator/MichellePfeiffer, Creator/AndyGarcia, Creator/BrunoKirby, Creator/AlanArkin, Creator/BradPitt, Creator/MichaelMadsen, Creator/JamesCaan, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Dominic Chianese, Lee Strasberg, Paul Sorvino, Abe Vigoda, Joe Spinell, Richard Bright, Tom Rosqui, and Franco Citti. He has also worked with directors Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, Creator/BrianDePalma, Creator/MichaelMann, Creator/SidneyLumet, Martin Brest, James Foley, Jerry Schatzberg, and Jon Avnet; writer/directors Creator/OliverStone, Creator/DavidMamet, and Barry Levinson; and producers Martin Brest and Irwin Winkler.
86	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Particularly during tirades, he breaks his lines up with sudden stops, seemingly ending his sentence, right before adding an especially cutting remark or impactful line.
87	** Notable in ''Film/GlengarryGlenRoss'':
88	--->''"What are you gonna do about it... '''asshole'''? You're fucking shit. Where did you learn your TRADE, you stupid fucking cunt, you idiot? Whoever told you that you could work with MEN?"''
89	** Also in ''Film/TheGodfatherPartII'':
90	--->''"You heard what happened in my home? In my HOME! IN MY BEDROOM! WHERE MY WIFE SLEEPS!... Where my children come to play with their toys."''
91	* RecurringElement: His documentaries examine a play while simultaneously featuring a performance of the play.
92	* SirSwearsALot: There are few roles of his where his character isn't dominated by this trope.
93	* StarDerailingRole: ''Film/Revolution1985'' was such a big flop that he disappeared from films and went back to theatre until ''Sea of Love''.
94	* StarMakingRole: ''Film/TheGodfather''.
95	* SuddenlyShouting: Works in tandem with LargeHam and ChewingTheScenery.
96	* ThrowItIn: His legendary "GREAT ASS" line from ''Film/{{Heat}}'' was improvised.
97	* TomHanksSyndrome: Believe it or not, he started out as a stand-up comedian.
98	* {{Typecasting}}: As criminals, cops, general authority figures, hardasses, and street urchins.
99	* VerbalTic: Known for his exhalatory vocalisations, which appear in a few of his performances. He has leaned into it as part of his AdamWesting in later life.
100	* VocalEvolution: His voice has gotten considerably deeper over the years. It’s a well known fact that Pacino has been a MASSIVE chainsmoker his entire life, which may be a big possibility for why his voice has gotten extremely guttural as he’s gotten older. It can be seriously jarring to go back and watch ''Film/TheGodfather'' or ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'' and compare it to something like ''Film/{{Heat}}'' and hear how different his voice is in the two films.

Context Creator / AlPacino