After seeing the other roles Pacino played in the 70's such as The Panic In Needle Park, Serpico, Scarecrow, Dog Day Afternoon, Bobby Deerfield, ...And Justice For All, and then Scarface in 1983, it seems like the part of Michael Corleone is a very rare and unique character for Pacino. In all of those other movies, he played characters that were energetic and crazy while he made Michael calm and cool. I dont know, but after seeing all the other movies he made before and after GF, it seems like it was an even better performance than I had originally thought because it was a character he normally didnt play. What do you guys think???

Pacino is just HOT

He is my favorite actor and he is the man without Michael's performance the Godfather wouldn't have been what it is today.

It just shoes you his versatality as an actor. The people who consider pacino only as an over the top actor who is always overzealous in his acting should see his performances in namely parts 1 and 2.

Definately a versatile actor. A great actor. Not many could get away at being convincing playing a gangster, then a cop, a homo, a low life drug addict. Let us not forget another fantastic role, perhaps as great as his GF roles ; "Scent Of A Woman" How convinced were you by his great acting that he was really blind? An outrageous piece of acting by an outrageous actor!


Don Cardi

He's definitely one of the greats.

However, his "mannerisms" came through in certain scenes of 1 & 2, especially when Kay was working his nerves.

Al Pacino's charchter michael is a jackass. Al played a horrible jack ass and should have been recasted.

Huh? What do you mean by "mannerisms"?

i think pacino did an excellent job in the godfather movies. HE's awsome! hes the reason why they are my favorite movies.

I agree with the other replies.

I remember my first impression in watching GF1 and GF2 was my surprise at how understated and subtle the performances of Pacino and Brano were.

When I first watched the movies a few months ago, I didn't know what to expect. I had seen Scarface (1983) so maybe I was expecting to see some hot-headed guys.

But Pacino and Brando surprised me with their restraint. This is what makes GF1 and GF2 so powerful, because FFC lets the pot simmer but it almost never boils over (except when Pacino snaps at Kay in GF2 in the "abortion" talk, which is what makes this scene so dramatic).

i agree, without al the godfather would be nothing. like his performance is soo amazing. although the films are beautiful on their own, if somebody else played micheal i dont think i would have cared about the character. he makes you think this is a real person. eventhough he is involved in mafia, you know hes trying to get out.

Let me first go on record that I think Pacino is great actor. But his body of work has not encompassed the scope of his contemporaries. I'm not here to judge why or if that is good or bad; it just hasn't. Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson have all played a much wider variety of character; comedy, villain, lover, loser, leader, psycho, macho man, etc. I don't recall Pacino doing any comedy, and if he did, not much. Was he type-cast or just not interested?

Variety doesn't equal to superiority. Pacino's GF I&II(from innocent college boy to ruthless Don), Serpico(honest cop), Dog Day Afternoon(homosexual bankrobber) and Scarface(Cuban gangster) are as good, if not better, then the top 5 list of any of the 3 u mentioned. Must I point out that each character is very DIFFERENT from the other. Not once does Pacino ever portray em' in a way that might make him look redundant. That's versatility to me. I'm surprised u mentioned Nicholsan and Hoffman, who are great actors btw, but are not as good as Pacino and most critics will agree with me on that. Jack Nicholson has been playing the same character for the past 25 years now. U see HIM in every movie. DeNiro, i agree, is a step ahead of Al.

btw, Pacino has played a lover, a psycho, villain, loser etc.

I LOVE Al Pacino and think he is today's greatest actor. As Don Cardi said, look at Scent Of A Woman (one of my fave movies)-what an INCREDIBLE acting job from Al, as usual. As much as I admire DeNiro, Hoffman etc., I just don't think they are as talented as Al and I cannot picture any of them playing a part instead of Al (for example, DeNiro playing Michael Corleone instead of Al.) I just can't see it.

His performance in pt 2 when he is yelling at kay about the abortion the look in his eyes and the scream in pt 3 when Mary gets shot makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up so to speak.

I should have explained. I meant Pacino's now patented screaming and what could be called over-acting.

But I love Pacino. Although he is the same in a lot of his movies, I couldn't see any of his characters being played by anyone else.

Glad to know that I am not the only one who thinks the scream was overdone. Besides that, Pacino is awesome.

Yeah I have to agree he mostly just screams a lot. I saw a fake headline once that said "Pacino gets hearing aid;appologies for last 13 movies" Most of the roles he (and De Niro for that matter)takes nowdays are shit.