Top Five DeNiro and Pacino Performances

In honor of the pairing of Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in Righteous Kill, I thought I’d include the Top 5 roles for DeNiro and Pacino.

Top 5 DeNiro performances:

5. Mean Streets (1973)
DeNiro busts onto the scene as the small time hood/loose cannon Johnny Boy. Though they had worked previously, this powerful film is what started the now legendary careers of both DeNiro and Scorcese.

4. Midnight Run (1988)
Perhaps an unusual choice for this top 5, but in this highly entertaining film, DeNiro proves he can play comedy, while still being believable as a tough as nails bounty hunter.

3. Raging Bull (1980)
Perhaps DeNiro’s most famous role. However, perhaps too much focus is given to the 60 pound weight gain DeNiro underwent to play Jake Lamotta as a washed up club owner later in life. Still, a great performance.

2. Godfather II (1974)
DeNiro takes on the almost impossible task of playing the young Vito Corleone and makes the role his own. It is hard to imagine any other actor following in Brando’s footsteps so succesfully.

1. Taxi Driver (1976)
One of the most powerful and frightening performances in film history. No film or performance has dredged deeper into the destructive toll that loneliness and the inability to socially connect with people can have on the male psyche, both on others as well as on the victim. Note: Taxi Driver did not create John David Hinkley; it predicted him.

Top 5 Pacino Performances

5.Glengarry Glenn Ross (1992) Pacino is brilliant as the smooth talking real estate salesman Ricky Roma. Watches as he almost seduces a client into overpaying for some Florida vacation property. The man could sell ice water to a fish.

4. Donnie Brasco (1997)
In an almost startling reversal from his role Michael Corleone, Pacino plays small time hood Lefty Ruggiero who is trying to make a name for himself with the local boss, yet fatefully trusts the wrong man. He is heartbreaking in his final scene.

3. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Few actors could have pulled off such a role, as a confused, bisexual bank robber, without going dangerously over the top, yet Pacino is dangerous, funny and even sympathetic in the role.

2. Godfather II (1974)
Pacino effortlessly continues his brilliant performance from the first film. He loses what morality he feel he has left and destroys his family while thinking he is saving it.

1. The Godfather (1972)
Some film critics and historians argue that the greatest performance in the Godfather is not Brando’s, but Pacino’s. He grows colder and colder throughout the film as his role in running the family business increases. One of the most amazing acting moments ever on film: simply watch Pacino’s face when he comes out of the bathroom in the Italian restaurant, knowing that he is about to forever seal his fate.

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