The word master is often used very frivolously these days and every TDH is coined as a master of his/her trade. But if there is one gentleman from the world of cinema who fits the term to the T, it’s the unbelievably gifted, Al Pacino. Over the years audiences the world over have been enthralled with performances from great actors, past and present. Performances, which stay with us for the rest of our lives. Some, which immediately come to the mind, are:-
· Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind
· Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca
· Julie Andrews in Sound of Music
· Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia
· Marlon Brando in A street Car named desire, The Godfather and On the waterfront
· Charlton Heston in BenHur and The Ten commandments
· Jack Nicholson in One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest
· Robert de Niro in The Godfather II, Taxi Driver and the brilliant, Raging Bull
· Pacino himself in the Godfather trilogy, Dogday Afternoon
· Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and the Terminal
· Kamal Hasan in most of his films, especially the mind-blowing, Nayagan
Comparing actors and performances is an exercise in futility and devoid of any logic as you never know how X would have performed in the same role as Y has. But if I have to choose one performance which completely blew me away unlike anything else in the past, its Pacino’s turn as the blind, cantankerous, retired colonel in The Scent of a Woman. It’s a performance as powerful as any you would ever see and one you definitely feel only Pacino, with his typical Italian mannerisms, capable of delivering. His depiction of a sulking American war hero who is hell bent on taking his own life is a master class in the genre of performing arts if there ever was any. Watch how he portrays the rage, the helplessness, the vulnerability and the brazen confidence of the character with a finesse hardly ever seen before.
· Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind
· Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca
· Julie Andrews in Sound of Music
· Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia
· Marlon Brando in A street Car named desire, The Godfather and On the waterfront
· Charlton Heston in BenHur and The Ten commandments
· Jack Nicholson in One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest
· Robert de Niro in The Godfather II, Taxi Driver and the brilliant, Raging Bull
· Pacino himself in the Godfather trilogy, Dogday Afternoon
· Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and the Terminal
· Kamal Hasan in most of his films, especially the mind-blowing, Nayagan
Comparing actors and performances is an exercise in futility and devoid of any logic as you never know how X would have performed in the same role as Y has. But if I have to choose one performance which completely blew me away unlike anything else in the past, its Pacino’s turn as the blind, cantankerous, retired colonel in The Scent of a Woman. It’s a performance as powerful as any you would ever see and one you definitely feel only Pacino, with his typical Italian mannerisms, capable of delivering. His depiction of a sulking American war hero who is hell bent on taking his own life is a master class in the genre of performing arts if there ever was any. Watch how he portrays the rage, the helplessness, the vulnerability and the brazen confidence of the character with a finesse hardly ever seen before.
Take a bow Mr. Pacino and may you continue to amaze and enthrall us for a hundred more years.
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