by Roger Grant

Created on: August 09, 2008   Last Updated: January 03, 2010

I wish I did not have to choose betweeen my wife and my daughter because I love them both just as I love these two actors. But putting me on the spot like this you leave me no choice but to vote Pacino.

Robert De Niro has mesmerised me many times over, but by playing the same type of character over and over. The master criminal who is an authoritarian leader with a short temper in (Heat, Goodfellas, Ronin, and Casino) or the pscopatic eccentric killer with a short temper in (Taxi, Deer Hunter, Cape Fear, Godfather 2, and The Fan) or just brilliant with a short temper in Raging Bull. De Niro"s foray into comedic acting such as in "Meet the Fockers" is noteworthy but it is when he plays strong willed criminal genius is when he is at the peak of his powers.

When the two actors worked in the brilliant crime drama "Heat" it was made even more evident how type cast an actor De Niro was in comparison to Pacino. In the movie Pacino played a top cop trying to take down De Niro's gang, a squad of professional bank robbers. The role played by Bobby was probably his third or fourth within the same vein but was Pacinos first of a sort among his wide ranging repretoire. As actors Bobby De Niro is akin to a brilliant baritone but Pacino a two octave range singer using a musical anology if I may.

Al Pacino inhabits his characters in a way that you cannot recognise Pacino. He combines his appearance ,wardrobe and dialogue for each role in such a way that makes each charcter unique. His nuances. facial expressions, vocal accent and language accent makes one character distinct from another. There is no similarity with Carlito Brigante (Carlito's Way), with Tony Mantano (Scarface) with Micheal Corleone (Godfather) or with the guy in Heat, Dog Day Afternoon, Panic In Needle Park, Glen Gary Glen Ross, Danny Brasco or Serpico not to mention The Devil's Advocate.

De Niro makes for a very intimidating presense on the screen as if meeting him personally you would want to watch what you say around him. His chracters always seem to be dark and intense but in contrast even when Pacino plays a bad guy he dispalys a certain kind of likability. Pacino fleshes out the other side that is always lurking behind the tough exterior. There is always an injection of vulnerability and a display of the complexities of the human failings which makes you see where we are heading and how in our vanity we can self-destruct ie, Scarface and Carlito's Way.

Both actors are masters in their own right but De Niro is a brilliant one dimensional actor and Pacino is just simply brilliant in any role that he takes on.

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