Post by Taxigirl on Oct 19, 2003 10:32:26 GMT
Alfredo James Pacino
Born: April 25, 1940, New York, NY
Education: High School for the Performing Arts, New York;
Herbert Berghof Studio, New York; Actors Studio
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Dark, volatile, award-winning actor of offbeat 1960s stage fare who, after playing a drug addict in THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK (1971), gained screen prominence for his finely calibrated performance as war-hero-turned-mob-heir Michael Corleone in the landmark revisionist gangster saga, THE GODFATHER (1972). With his sad, sunken eyes and flair for volcanic tirades, Pacino went on to become a major star of the 1970s, playing a series of brooding, anti-authoritarian, streetwise figures who seemed to reflect the cynical mood of the times. His recreation of Michael Corleone for the strikingly bifurcated sequel, THE GODFATHER, PART II (1974), occupied one of the drama's center stages, and Pacino was also acclaimed for his role as the tightly-coiled cop in SERPICO (1973).
A change of pace came with SCARECROW (1973), as Pacino was removed from his most typical environs, the inner city, to play an insecure drifter who unexpectedly makes a close friend (Gene Hackman) while on the road. A more typical Pacino part, but nonetheless one of his most fascinating and courageous, came with his fiery bisexual bank robber in DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975), a character by turns tragic and unwittingly comical as he gains media attention while trying to finance his male lover's sex change operation.
Pacino eventually had to make a false step after such an impressive string of well-written and forcefully rendered characterizations. His first role to trade in merely on his name as a star was BOBBY DEERFIELD (1977), which cast him as a sports car racer involved in a maundering romance with Marthe Keller. …AND JUSTICE FOR ALL (1979) seemed like a move back to terra firma, but its mix of sadness and satire didn't come off, and Pacino displayed lots of angry flash but little complexity or soul. CRUISING (1980), meanwhile, was greeted with either scorn or outrage by audiences and critics, for its ridiculous, simplistic and hateful story of a cop who goes undercover into New York's gay scene to find a killer and ends up being "corrupted." AUTHOR! AUTHOR! (1982), Pacino's first real comedy, was a mildly enjoyable attempt to channel his intensity and energy in a new direction, and his performance in the remake of SCARFACE (1983) was, like the film, over the top but undeniably potent. The slight gains he made with these two films were scuttled, however, by the incredible miscasting that placed him in the dull, superficial saga of 1776, REVOLUTION (1985).
