There are very few actors that I can watch in just about any movie the do, but Al Pacino is one of them. There are a few others mentioned in this blog. He is a consummate method actor that embodies every role he’s ever performed in. That’s not to say that every movie he’s been in has been brilliant, but is performances have rarely been anything south of great. Not to mention he’s incredibly cool at whatever he does. Does anyone look cooler in a pair of shades then this guy?
There are several movies that truly stand out in his career, and make him memorable for many people. The first would obviously be his career maker The GodFather Part 1, and the second one being Scarface. I must confess that to this day, I’ve never watched any of the Godfather movies in their entirety, but it is on my list of things to do before I die. Scarface however is one of his movies that I have seen several times. Not just because of Pacino I must confess, but also his costar Michelle Pfeifer. Two of my favorite actors in one movie is pretty hard for me to miss.
He’s also done a few smaller and less memorable movies that really worked for me. One was Carlito’s Way, and the other was The Devils Advocate. He plays opposite sides of the law (kind of) in both movies, but he still really shines. While Carlitos Way is a bit more his typical stick, The Devils Advocate isn’t. He starts off as what appears to be a good guy lawyer (if there is such a thing), and turns out to be the devil incarnate. Like that was a big character stretch for the audience.
I was a bit surprised to learn some of the roles he turned down. Probably the biggest, has to be the role of Hans Solo in the Star Wars franchise. I have to believe that was one of the best decisions in movie history. For the life of me, I just can’t imagine anyone buy Harrison Ford playing the role of Hans Solo. As great as Pacino is, my brain nearly blows up imagining him as a renegade space pilot rescuing princesses and being chased by evil galactic forces. Sometimes fate has a way of doing the right thing.


Well, it certainly does seem to take up quite a bit of our time, when you have a look around, and see all the publications out there that talk about it. And, I’m not just talking about traditional media like television, newspapers, and magazines. Although it is extremely prevalent there. But it obviously lives like crazy on the internet. When you come to think about it, the internet is really the ultimate gossip magazine. Not because it’s so easy for the big tabloid companies to publish their stuff, but because it’s really more and more driven by the population at large. Just look at the power of social networks online with it comes to celebrity news.