Derek Malcolm recommends: Al Pacino retrospective

Some of Al Pacino’s great roles can now be seen on the big screen again in BFI Southbank’s latest retrospective
Channel Five
14 February 2014

His stock might not have risen in the past few years but Al Pacino certainly hasn’t fallen as far down the “must-see” list as Robert De Niro, whose last few films betray everything he once stood for.

Some of Pacino’s great roles can now be seen on the big screen again in BFI Southbank’s current retrospective. This weekend alone you can see Sidney Lumet’s grippingly metaphorical Dog Day Afternoon, Brian De Palma’s flailingly melodramatic Scarface and Hugh Hudson’s much-improved, re-edited Revolution.

The big moment of this intense actor’s career, however, as Michael Corleone, can be revisited next week when The Godfather: Part II begins a run of screenings. The argument still rages as to which is the better effort by Francis Ford Coppola — the original Godfather or its successor.

Critically, Part II probably wins, having more detailed character studies and a greater moral sense than its predecessor.

By then, Coppola was a more confident film-maker and, after the first success, the Hollywood suits let him get on without interference — yet the original Godfather still stands up as an almost perfect gangster movie. Certainly the public remember it better, perhaps because of that horse’s head in the bed and some memorable lines, including, “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse”.

But Pacino’s lead performance helps make Part II the subtler film, which, without melodrama, explains the difference between Michael and Brando’s Vito. One man held power with influence and respect, the other with fear and violence.

Incidentally, De Niro, playing the young Vito in the film and on a hiding to nothing because of the charisma of Brando’s performance, is almost as subtle as Pacino and wins out through sheer technique.

The Al Pacino restrospective is at BFI Southbank, SE1 (020 7928 3232, bfi.org.uk) until March 20.

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