Pacino's prime at least extends into the early 90's
Scarface
Carlito's Way
Scent of a Woman
The Devil's Advocate
Heat
Donnie Brasco
Same goes for De Niro, but Pacino's roles have been a lot better in my opinion.
Overall, Pacino is the better actor
Yea, Pacino had a nice little run in the early 90's. He won his only oscar for Scent of a Women. But, early-mid 70's was where Pacino was at his absolute peak.
Deniro. In the 70s and 80s, it's a great debate but after a while Pacino got into this annoying habit of yelling all of his lines and not even acting anymore. But they both brought it together for classic performances in 'Heat'.
A better comparison would be Gary Oldman vs Daniel Day-Lewis...
lol at actors having a 'prime'..... they get better with age, period. deniro and pacino are just making terrible films lately, they are still great actors, in terms of longevity of being in good films- which is what you people actually mean when you say 'prime'.
pacinos great performances have actually extended into the 00's- the insider(one of his alltime great performances)/any given sunday/insomnia
deniro has also had some very good performances this decade- flawless/the score/men of honour(the film was weak but bob was good still)
Deniro. In the 70s and 80s, it's a great debate but after a while Pacino got into this annoying habit of yelling all of his lines and not even acting anymore. But they both brought it together for classic performances in 'Heat'.
A better comparison would be Gary Oldman vs Daniel Day-Lewis...
I don't really think either of them were all that great in Heat...
Pacino played the "yelling" thing the whole time that you just described....and Dinero did his normal type cast gangster bit...
In fact I really didn't care for that movie at all...
the bank shoot out was great, but other than that I just didn't care for it....I thought the ending sucked as well...
imo it is arguable that deniro's "prime" WAS the 90's, maybe not his most recognisable films but possibly his greatets number of great performances.
awakenings
goodfellas
cape fear
casino
heat
copland
**** there is tons more im sure....
No way the 90s was Deniro's 'prime' or w/e you want to call it. 70s-1980:
Bang the Drum Slowly
Mean Streets
Godfather, Part II (Oscar for Best Supporting Oscar)
The Last Tycoon
Deer Hunter (Nominated for Best Actor)
Taxi Driver (Nominated for Best Actor)
Raging Bull (Oscar for Best Actor... Top 10 all-time performances)
No way the 90s was Deniro's 'prime' or w/e you want to call it. 70s-1980:
Bang the Drum Slowly
Mean Streets
Godfather, Part II (Oscar for Best Supporting Oscar)
The Last Tycoon
Deer Hunter (Nominated for Best Actor)
Taxi Driver (Nominated for Best Actor)
Raging Bull (Oscar for Best Actor... Top 10 all-time performances)
with the exception of deer hunter/raging bull i actually prefer older deniro. people really forget how great he was in all his films through the 90's even the suspect ones like great expectations he was fantastic.
Deniro. In the 70s and 80s, it's a great debate but after a while Pacino got into this annoying habit of yelling all of his lines and not even acting anymore. But they both brought it together for classic performances in 'Heat'.
A better comparison would be Gary Oldman vs Daniel Day-Lewis...
I love them both but their not as good as Al and Deniro(in their prime). And to answer the question of this topic, I think Al Pacino is just a little better than Deniro.
If I had to pick I would have to pick Pacino. They are both great freakin' actors and you could consider them a wash against each other. The great thing about them is usually DeNiro usually played a calmer characters while Pacino played intense ones. Usually that is, not always.
Pacino had some great movies, but I'll always remember him for the speech during halftime in Any Given Sunday shown here...
Al Pacino or Robert DeNiro?
