i am feathermaye...

Although Al Pacino is an excellent actor in his own right, he has yet to obtain the range of characters which Robert De Niro has so marvelously given us.

Time after time, we see Al simply playing Al, albeit forceful Al, blind Al, crazy Al, he is still, and has always been a big, overbearing image all to himself in every roll he has ever starred in; from the son of a gangster, to an immigrant Cuban, an angry con on a Dog Day Afternoon, to a blind and brash, larger than life retired Army general, to the devil himself.

Look closely and listen to him run his lines; you'll hear the same inflections, the same modulations. From screams to intellectual conversation, Al is quite similar in every roll his takes on.

Range of character must then be the priority when we look to rate the differences in actors. Look through their body of work. How different are they from role to role?

Sure, Robert De Niro has played a number of similar roles; the man has an excellent take on being a hood, Italian or Irish (no way Al, you just ain't Irish by a long stretch), yet he goes beyond this, surprising us with rolls such as Leonard Lowe in "Awakenings".

Let's face it folks, Al has yet to allow his Leonard to show, much less gain and lose sixty pounds during principle filming in order to keep himself in complete character. Those are purely De Niro's techniques.

Al Pacino is a great actor, a legend in his own right, but he ain't no De Niro!

Contributed to films with feathermaye & friends by S. Bond Herndon.

If you have a film review or commentary you would like featured at films with feathermaye & friends, please let us know!