Al Pacino vs. Robert De Niro

[BloodType49]

Which one of these greats would you say is the better actor ? I love both of them but I think I would lean a bit towards Deniro..Raging Bull...The Deer Hunter and Taxi Driver ..are to me his best performances. Pacino I would say Scent of a woman..Dog day afternoon and the Godfather for his top 3 films.

 

[Indrid Cold]

I'd say that DeNiro is far more consistent...I can't say offhand that I've seen him be bad in anything. I really thought that Pacino was bad in Scent Of A Woman, but he was so incredible in the first two Godfathers...and then awful again in the third, not that any actor could possibly have made that a good movie.
Have not seen DDA, but I need to. I did read the MAD parody as a kid, that one stuck in my head for some reason...

 

[Bulletz]

DeNiro makes better movies(fucking Goodfellas), but I think Pacino actually has a little more chops.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Which one of these greats would you say is the better actor ? I love both of them but I think I would lean a bit towards Deniro..Raging Bull...The Deer Hunter and Taxi Driver ..are to me his best performances. Pacino I would say Scent of a woman..Dog day afternoon and the Godfather for his top 3 films.

Very, very tough call as both are near the top of my favorite all time...that said, I would go with De Niro...a little more diverse...even though his comedy work was not his best work imo, he was pretty good. With Pacino...you can't mention his work w/o Scarface....but Scent of a Woman might be my favorite for him.

 

[redseat]

I loved Deniro in "The Intern"

Very tough call imo but I think Deniro seems like he can do a little more in the acting department where Pacino is really only the "badass" type character while DeNiro can do that and be the "funny" guy.

Though how can you not get the chills with "say Hello to my Little friend!"

 

[Old Lion]

I think they should call it a tie and go have some ice cream.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

It's a pick 'em.

Although I'd say De Niro more often plays "not De Niro" and Pacino is almost always "Pacino".

 

[calsnowskier]

Pacino has become a caricature. De Niro still has caricature aspects, but he can still act.

When they were younger, though, they were both very good.

 

[chf]

Al Pacino's hair in 88 minutes either wins the contest on its own, OR drops Al to 2nd place.

 

[Nosferatu]

This one is easy for me it's De Niro and it's not really that close...

 

[packerzrule]

both are classic so its very hard to choose

I call it a tie

 

[PatsFan2003]

Which one of these greats would you say is the better actor ? I love both of them but I think I would lean a bit towards Deniro..Raging Bull...The Deer Hunter and Taxi Driver ..are to me his best performances. Pacino I would say Scent of a woman..Dog day afternoon and the Godfather for his top 3 films.

Definitely DeNiro. His best performances are better than Pacino's best imo. He just had a little more intensity than Pacino's best. Pacino has had some good one though.

 

[Darth_Tom]

I'd probably take Pacino, but DeNiro is very good too.

 

[Ricky Roma]

Al Pacino is my favourite actor of all time, but Robert De Niro is the best actor of his generation, and arguably the greatest movie actor in history. A lot of the stuff they've both done recently is terribly disappointing, but hopefully 'The Irishman' gets made (Scorsese/DeNiro/Pacino are all linked) and they can go out on a high note.

 

[Duffman]

 

[DragonfromTO]

I haven't seen it mentioned yet but I love Pacino in "...And Justice For All".

And just so it's all even and DeNiro also gets a nod for something that hasn't been mentioned yet... I bet the crowd here has shed a lot of tears over the years at "Bang the Drum Slowly"

 

[BloodType49]

Al Pacino's hair in 88 minutes either wins the contest on its own, OR drops Al to 2nd place.

View attachment 136273

lol

 

[Indrid Cold]

Al Pacino's hair in 88 minutes either wins the contest on its own, OR drops Al to 2nd place.

View attachment 136273

Isn't that Peter Gozintite???

 

[Indrid Cold]

I haven't seen it mentioned yet but I love Pacino in "...And Justice For All".

And just so it's all even and DeNiro also gets a nod for something that hasn't been mentioned yet... I bet the crowd here has shed a lot of tears over the years at "Bang the Drum Slowly"

I loved BTDS, but haven't seen it in 20 years. Need to see it again, made a big impression on me at the time.

 

[Indrid Cold]

Very, very tough call as both are near the top of my favorite all time...that said, I would go with De Niro...a little more diverse...even though his comedy work was not his best work imo, he was pretty good. With Pacino...you can't mention his work w/o Scarface....but Scent of a Woman might be my favorite for him.

I thought DeNiro was very funny, as well as scary, in The King Of Comedy.
Hilarious in Midnight Run, and also excellent when he played straight man to Grodin.
It wasn't a very good movie and Penn sucked in it, but DeNiro had some great comic scenes in We're No Angels, too.
I can't think of similar good comic work by Pacino, but I haven't seen as many of his movies...