...And Justice for All The Rewatchables
...And Justice for All poster
...And Justice for All

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Pacino’s second-best performance after The Godfather Part II, strongly disputed

In the discussion (17)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:50Read transcript
  • This is proposed as Pacino’s second-best performance after The Godfather Part II, with Heat placed third; another response rejects even a top-five ranking.
  • Dog Day Afternoon is preferred for greater nuance, and Donnie Brasco, Heat, Any Given Sunday, The Godfather, Scarecrow, Serpico and Sea of Love are offered as competing peaks.
  • Carlito’s Way is offered as a soulful alternative, and The Insider is added to the competing Pacino performances.
  • Dick Tracy and The Godfather Part III are added to the performance debate; this film is proposed as the moment Pacino overtook De Niro.
  • The top-two or top-three defense treats Arthur as the culmination of Pacino’s early mastery: quiet and explosive passages form a coherent journey as the system breaks him.
  • Both Godfather performances and Dog Day Afternoon are placed definitively above Arthur in the opposing ranking; Dog Day receives admiration but is called personally exasperating.
  • The Godfather’s Kay scenes and marital storyline are criticized as obstacles to placing Michael in the top two; the challenge of playing Brando’s son is offered in defense.
  • The distinction is clarified as carrying and justifying an entire film rather than delivering a bad performance within an ensemble.
  • Playing Michael in the first Godfather is provocatively called comparatively easy, while Part II is considered much harder; a particular scene remains admired without being named in this exchange.
  • Michael’s transformation is defended as indispensable to the film; the counterargument imagines De Niro or John Cazale in the role.
  • The ensemble is said to elevate Michael’s performance, and James Caan is ranked above Pacino by one participant; a suggestion that Cazale is better is retracted.
  • Arthur is defended as the full range of Pacino’s abilities, requiring trust in the director and editor, in contrast with Michael’s more observational role.
  • The Godfather ranking dispute returns: Part II is called the best male screen performance in 50 years, while the first film is framed as a young actor still discovering the role.
  • Raging Bull and Scarface are called damaging influences on later actors who imitate them, as an argument against accepting inherited performance rankings.
  • The first Godfather’s stature is argued to confer automatic greatness on Pacino, while the restaurant assassination is singled out as exceptional.
  • A defense enumerates Michael’s wedding exposition, revenge planning, Italian interlude and hospital protection of his father as stages of a demanding transformation.
  • Michael is defended as the role that made Pacino a star and helped make The Godfather great; the opposing argument distinguishes iconic characters from great acting to defend Arthur’s high ranking.