scent of a woman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Are you ready to see Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as partners in Righteous Kill? Is it the casting pair-up you've been waiting 35 years for? Or does it feel too strange to watch a whole movie in which they're all buddy buddy? Perhaps you were fully satisfied with their showdown as enemies in Heat, even though the esteemed veteran actors had much less screen time together. Personally, I like the idea of them going head to head better, but that's mainly because they're both such huge figures that having them team up seems a bit unfair to the other side. As enemies they're like the Incredible Hulk and the Abomination or Iron Man and Iron Monger, to compare them with recent superpowered showdowns in cinema.

It's difficult to choose the better actor of the two, or even decide who's been the more successful Hollywood player. De Niro's been in a lot more films, but his ratio of bad films to good might have suffered as a result. Meanwhile, they've both arguably become too much of caricatures of themselves, to the point where it's sometimes hard to tell which performances are intentional self-parodies and which are accidental. However, despite the difficulty of pitting De Niro against Pacino for a general comparative showdown, there are a number of easily corresponding roles among them. So, just for fun, I've come up with seven specific character showdowns, chosen my pick for which is the better performance, and invite you all to vote on your favorite, whether you agree or disagree with my own.

After the jump ... De Niro vs. Pacino -- it's on!

• Dino Risi (1916-2008) - Writer, Director - Oscar-nominated for his 1974 Italian film Scent of a Woman (which was remade in 1992 with Al Pacino). His career spans from the 1940s to the 1990s, and he is credited with being one of the masters of the Commedia all'italiana (Italian Comedy). Other films include Pane, amore e..., which starred Sophia Loren and Vittorio DeSica, Poor, But Handsome, A Difficult Life, The Easy Life and Opiate '67 (aka 15 from Rome). In 2002, the Venice Film Festival honored him with a lifetime achievement Golden Lion. He died June 7 in Rome. (Reuters)
• Bobby Anderson (1933-2008) - Child Actor - Played Little George Baily (younger version of James Stewart) in It's a Wonderful Life. He also appears in The Bishop's Wife, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Samson and Delilah, A Place in the Sun and Raoul Walsh's Silver River. He died of melanoma June 6, in Palm Springs, California. (LA Times)
• Saban Bajramovic (1936-2008) - Singer, Composer, Actor - Legendary singer of Roma music (aka Romani or Gypsy music) and star of the 1997 Macedonian film Gypsy Magic. He died June 8 in Nis, Serbia. (Javno)
• Harry Bernsen (1925-2008) - Producer - Associate producer of Andrew V. McLaglen's Fools' Pride, which starred James Stewart, and Something Big, which starred Dean Martin. He also produced Take a Hard Ride and Three the Hard Way, both starring Fred Williamson and Jim Brown, as well as a European stage musical based on Mrs. Doubtfire. He was the father of actor Corbin Bernsen. He died May 31 in Woodland Hills, California. (Variety)
• Richard F. Brophy (1945-2008) - Producer - Line producer for the horror films House and Speak of the Devil and producer of The Boneyard. He died May 28 in Hollywood. (IMDb)

Al Pacino, one of Hollywood's most successful, versatile and talented actors can now add AFI Lifetime Achievement Award winner to his list of distinguished accomplishments. According to coming soon, the announcement was made today by Sir Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees, that the Institute would give the Lifetime Achievement Award to Pacino at a tribute dinner in Los Angeles on June 7th. The AFI Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor for a career in film and has been given out 34 times since its inception in 1973 -- Pacino's award will mark the 35th anniversary.

During the announcement, Stringer referred to Pacino as "an icon of American film" whose "career inspires audiences and artists alike." In response to hearing he had won the award, Pacino said "I am moved and honored to be considered for such an award." Some past recipients of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award include last year's winner Sean Connery, Tom Hanks (who doesn't seem old enough to be getting a lifetime achievement award yet), Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas and 1973's winner, the great director John Ford.

Pacino's career has spanned over thirty years with many memorable roles in films such as Michael Mann's Heat, ...And Justice for All, Serpico, Brian DePalma's Scarface and, of course, his star-making turn as Michael Corelone in Francis Ford Coppola's classic The Godfather. Pacino is also an eight-time Academy Award Nominee for his roles in film such as Glengarry Glen Ross, Dick Tracy and Dog Day Afternoon. He won the Best Actor Academy Award for playing Lt. Colonel Frank Slade in director Martin Brest's Scent of A Woman, opposite a young Chris O'Donnell and the very cute Gabrielle Anwar.

Some of Pacino's recent work includes turns both in front of and behind the camera on projects such as Two for the Money with Matthew McConaughey, Steven Soderberg's Ocean's Thirteen, 88 Minutes opposite Heat co-star Amy Brenneman and the docu-drama Salomaybe?, which he directed. This is a great honor for Pacino and one he very much deserves. I guess now that he's won a "Lifetime Achievement Award," we can let him off the hook for being in The Godfather: Part III.

What's your favorite Al Pacino movie?