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Al Pacino vs. Robert DeNiro


lzzoso

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Hello, everyone out there. The reason why I started this topic, aside from the obvious I stated about these two being the greatest actors of any generation, is because I was watching the biography channel the other night and it had Al Pacino on at 12am and Robert Deniro on at 1am (Central Standard Time, I am in Dallas, Texas). Believe it or not this was the first time I had ever seen the biographies of these two legends on television. Aside from watching them I also DVR'd them. Anyway, last night I was amazed to see that the Al Pacino movie, "Cruising" was on one of the Encore channels. I have seen this movie a long time ago but naturally watched it again last night. For those unfamiliar with it, it is the movie where Big Al goes undercover as a gay man in search of a serial killer targeting homosexuals in NYC. Decent movie. Released in 1980. Of course with Al any movie with him in it is worth watching. Anyway, what REALLY caught my eye was at the end of the movie when the credits were rolling it says PRODUCED BY JERRY WEINTRAUB.

Now, for the true Led Zeppelin fans, we all know that the same Jerry Weintraub helped promote some of Led Zeppelins live concerts during 1977 North American tour. The same Jerry Weintraub who also promoted the almighty ELVIS himself. I personally found this pretty interesting. It seems there may be some kind of link between Led Zeppelin and Mr. Al Pacino.

Another side note: Jerry Weintraub also produced at least 2 of the "Oceans Eleven" movies and its sequels.

How's it going "lzzoso?" I hope all is well with you. Is Jerry Weintraub related to Fred Weintraub? Fred Weintraub produced the legendary Martial Arts film ENTER THE DRAGON starring the late great BRUCE LEE. Whats your input on this? ROCK ON!

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How's it going "lzzoso?" I hope all is well with you. Is Jerry Weintraub related to Fred Weintraub? Fred Weintraub produced the legendary Martial Arts film ENTER THE DRAGON starring the late great BRUCE LEE. Whats your input on this? ROCK ON!

Hello, ZeppFanForever. To be completely honest with you, I really do not have any idea if the two are related. I only know of Jerry Weintraub because of the books I have read or the shows I have seen about him. I have never heard of Fred Weintraub. Sorry. I am sure with the advent of Google it would not be hard to find out if these two are or are not related.

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It seems there may be some kind of link between Led Zeppelin and Mr. Al Pacino.

In The Song Remains The Same during some black and white footage of driving through New York you can see a cinema advertising The Godfather. :D

(or was it Godfather II?)

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In The Song Remains The Same during some black and white footage of driving through New York you can see a cinema advertising The Godfather. :D

(or was it Godfather II?)

Very good point! I remember that. I think it is during "Heartbreaker". I also think it was for the "Godfather Part II". Very observant.

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Honestly it depends on what I'm watching. Certianly DeNiro with his face all burned preaching at the end of Cape Fear is fucking intense! But Pacino as Michael Corleone! And Dog Day Afternoon! DeNiro as Boris in Bullwinkle???? WTF?

I'm glad we have them both to fight over! :lol:

and Goodfellas

and Casino

and The Devil's Advocate

and Jackie Brown

and Raging Bull

and Taxi Driver

and Serpico

and Scarface

Yeah, I'll take em both! :beer:

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You gotta remember De Niro in 'Meet the Parents'.... proof of his diverse skills

It's because of that very movie I have to say Pacino. Al Pacino has never annoyed me, but De Niro annoyed the shit out of me in that movie.

Another reason why I vote Pacino is because I saw him once in a movie, one of the first films he made, and I didn't recognise him, because he was young and had a beard, and I was watching the film thinking "gee, this guy is such a great actor, I wonder why he never became famous?" well when I saw the credits, I realised! I think the film was Serpico.

Interesting story about Robert De Niro, when he was making that film New York New York with Liza Minelli, John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote a song for the movie, New York New York of course, and they took the song to a production meeting, and De Niro said he didn't like it, he didn't think the song was very good. So Kander & Ebb, at that stage two very successful composers, left the meeting very pissed off. So they went back to work and grudingly had a re-write of the song, which of course became the song we all know, and their biggest hit.

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Speaking of DeNiro, I am not sure if most of you know this but Bobby D. was one of the last persons to see John Belushi alive. He stopped over at Belushi's bungalow at the Chateau Marmont. Of course at that time John Belushi was still alive. Probably very fucked up but still alive. He died a few hours later. From what I have read this really hurt Bobby because he wishes he could have done something to help his friend.

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Speaking of DeNiro, I am not sure if most of you know this but Bobby D. was one of the last persons to see John Belushi alive. He stopped over at Belushi's bungalow at the Chateau Marmont. Of course at that time John Belushi was still alive. Probably very fucked up but still alive. He died a few hours later. From what I have read this really hurt Bobby because he wishes he could have done something to help his friend.

How's it going "lzzoso?" I hope all is well with you. You're right, DeNiro was one of the last people to see John Belushi live. The other was Robin Williams. All three used to hang out a lot especially for the drugs. ROCK ON!

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How's it going "lzzoso?" I hope all is well with you. You're right, DeNiro was one of the last people to see John Belushi live. The other was Robin Williams. All three used to hang out a lot especially for the drugs. ROCK ON!

Hey, ZeppFan Forever. You are right about Robin Williams also seeing John Belushi alive that same night DeNiro dropped by to see his friend. I read that they were both there in Belushi's bungalow at the same time. Cocaine seemed to be the reason for them both stopping by. Apparently while Belushi was in his "state" at that time, Williams and DeNiro both had a go at the cocaine that was there. It seems that soon after they both indulged they did not seem to like looks or presence of the woman that was with Belushi in his bungalow and both left soon afterward. Sadly, John Belushi died within a few hours after all this allegedly happened.

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It's because of that very movie I have to say Pacino. Al Pacino has never annoyed me, but De Niro annoyed the shit out of me in that movie.

Another reason why I vote Pacino is because I saw him once in a movie, one of the first films he made, and I didn't recognise him, because he was young and had a beard, and I was watching the film thinking "gee, this guy is such a great actor, I wonder why he never became famous?" well when I saw the credits, I realised! I think the film was Serpico.

Interesting story about Robert De Niro, when he was making that film New York New York with Liza Minelli, John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote a song for the movie, New York New York of course, and they took the song to a production meeting, and De Niro said he didn't like it, he didn't think the song was very good. So Kander & Ebb, at that stage two very successful composers, left the meeting very pissed off. So they went back to work and grudingly had a re-write of the song, which of course became the song we all know, and their biggest hit.

It is pretty clear Deniro's been content to play off his name for the last decade while Panico's been much the same as he has for years but I'd say Bobby's "great spell" lasted for a fair bit longer. From the early 70's to the mid 90's he was excellent in pretty much everything he was in where as by the 80's Pacino was playing the same(admitidly entertaining) character in everything.

I'd say you can see the comparason by looking at the one character they both played, anyone know who that was?

Edited by greenman
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It's because of that very movie I have to say Pacino. Al Pacino has never annoyed me, but De Niro annoyed the shit out of me in that movie.

Another reason why I vote Pacino is because I saw him once in a movie, one of the first films he made, and I didn't recognise him, because he was young and had a beard, and I was watching the film thinking "gee, this guy is such a great actor, I wonder why he never became famous?" well when I saw the credits, I realised! I think the film was Serpico.

Interesting story about Robert De Niro, when he was making that film New York New York with Liza Minelli, John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote a song for the movie, New York New York of course, and they took the song to a production meeting, and De Niro said he didn't like it, he didn't think the song was very good. So Kander & Ebb, at that stage two very successful composers, left the meeting very pissed off. So they went back to work and grudingly had a re-write of the song, which of course became the song we all know, and their biggest hit.

Serpico has to be one of the finest movies made. It was based on the true story of Frank Serpico and his ordeals he encountered uncovering a corrupt police department. He looked so much like the real Frank. I also love the Pacino goes back to his passion of broadway every now and then.

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Robert DeNiro in "Angel Heart" as Louis Cyphere is one of his greatest, but least known, performance.

Al Pacino in "the Devil's Advocate" as John Milton is also a great performance.

Considering that both men are playing the role of "Lucifer, Satan or the Devil" I would have to say that Robert DeNiro is (and plays) a better role. Of course they are two totally different movies but to me Robert is a more convincing "Satan".

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Sorry if I posted an answer before-I don't remember.

I have to pick Pacino.

For a while Harvey Keitel was my favorite actor.

I don't know if I have one favorite-some actors I like for specific roles, esp on TV.

Others for movies-at the moment I really like Chris Cooper.

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Sorry if I posted an answer before-I don't remember.

I have to pick Pacino.

For a while Harvey Keitel was my favorite actor.

I don't know if I have one favorite-some actors I like for specific roles, esp on TV.

Others for movies-at the moment I really like Chris Cooper.

Harvey Keitel is another one of the greatest actors. In my opinion, a slight notch below Mr. DeNiro and Mr. Pacino. Robert and Harvey had been friends since the early 1970's when both of them starred in Martin Scorsese's movie, "Mean Streets". Since then both have appeared in a few movies together, most notably "Taxi Driver" and "Copland".

Edited by lzzoso
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Harvey Keitel is another one of the greatest actors. In my opinion, a slight notch below Mr. DeNiro and Mr. Pacino. Robert and Harvey had been friends since the early 1970's when both of them starred in Martin Scorsese's movie, "Mean Streets". Since then both have appeared in a few movies together, most notably "Taxi Driver" and "Copland".

How's it going "lzzoso?" I hope all is well with you. I love the movie MEAN STREETS! Thats where I got my nickname "Johnny Boy" from. Ha Ha! Take care and ROCK ON my friend!

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  • 3 weeks later...

They've both given iconic performances and duds. I think I've mentioned before that I love the fact that Pacino still does theatre, though DeNiro not doing it shouldn't be held against him. Some are actors for film exclusively (even Brando questioned Pacino's love of theatre. Though Brando had done it, he hated it).

Anyway, it's just about impossible to compare a great role to a great role; a dud to a dud. So looking at recent choices is maybe a better indication of how much juice each guy still has: while DeNiro is doing silly comedies and winners like "Righteous Kill", Pacino's doing winners like "Righteous Kill" but also interesting smaller projects like various Shakespeare roles on film, HBO specials ("Angels in America" and coming up something about Dr. Kevorkian), as well as bringing certain plays on film.

IMDB lists several projects that DeNiro's got coming up but I don't have access to them since that's a paid service (IMDBPro), so they may be awesome. But just looking at interesting side project choices, Pacino looks to be branching out more and trying on different roles, ones in which he doesn't mail in performances, and when he tries, his performances are breathtaking.

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