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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Pacino and DeNiro - Washed Up?

From today's LA Times by Patrick Goldstein:

I thought Francis Ford Coppola was being cranky last fall when he badmouthed Al Pacino and Robert De Niro -- the stars of Coppola's immortal "Godfather" films -- for taking parts for the money and losing their passion for doing great work. "I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come," Coppola told GQ magazine. "Now Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money; he just puts it in his mattress. . . . They all live off the fat of the land."

Coppola was right on the money. The two icons of '70s New Hollywood, heroes to a generation of young actors and filmmakers, have become parodies of themselves, making payday movies and turning in performances that are hollow echoes of the electrically charged work they did in such films as "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon," "Mean Streets" and "Taxi Driver."


Click here for the whole article...

So what do you Wavers think? Agree? Disagree? What's your favorite film for each actor?




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8 comments:

This Space Blank said...

In lots of ways the article makes a point--you could say the same about Jack Nicholson (he pretty much plays "Jack"), both DeNiro and Pacino are certainly cashing in on their reps as "actor's actors." They've earned that right, I think. And they're certainly now making movies which mirror one another (and have)...

Fav films?

Pacino: Bobby Deerfield & Sea of Love

DeNiro: This Boy's Life & Mad Dog and Glory

Two other films: Stanley & Iris and Frankie & Johnny

PJ McIlvaine said...

I wouldn't say they are washed up, but are so iconic that we don't see their characters, but them. Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson are also in this category. Funny how Meryl Streep has avoided this.

Christina said...

Personally, I'm glad Deniro has taken some commercial roles. For every stinker he's done, there's a gem. He was hilarious in Meet the Parents and in the hardly seen LA film Mistress. Eh.

Coppola is one to talk. Have you seen his latest? He was trying to make something outside the box, but instead ended up with something that's totally incoherent. Some nice moments, but eh.

I'll listen to Coppola bash his peers when he makes another Godfather.

scottycwilliam said...

Coppola is one to talk. What kind of movie was 'Jack'?

His filmography would be filled with "money jobs" if he didn't have his lucrative vineyard.

mxz said...

not so much washed up as don't really care. both can still act if they wanted to. just think they don't

donny brasco prob last time pacino cared and he was pretty good in it.

btw how many good movies serpico/godfather caliber are there? who has done amzing stuff except for daniel day who does like one movie every 5 yrs.

even ed norton who I think is good is the hulk and robert downey be iron man!

Anonymous said...

Washed up is a complement. It means you are no longer a champion.

Pacino:
Movie - Scarface
Acting - Scent of A Woman

De Niro:
Movie - The Deer Hunter
Acting - Raging Bull

Anonymous said...

I know of very few people who havent been changed by success. This is an important lesson not to discount the hardships we go through in life; because our experiences actually make us what we are.

I think our best work, our life defining achievements are made when our backs are against the wall, when we are broke, tired, working two jobs, when the odds are stacked against us.

It is in those moments that we have everything to gain and nothing to lose in devoting our best energies and efforts to our lifes passions.

DeNiro & Pacino are still great actors but they just have more to lose now.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's at all confined to Coppola, DeNiro and Pacino. The entire "Golden Age" generation seems to have just worn out. Dustin Hoffman's recent output isn't much better than those other three guys, Warren Beatty has pretty much disappeared, just about anyone who was great in the 70s is either making crap or not making much of anything.

I can't imagine what it would be like for someone like Pacino to try to find parts like the ones that made him famous, though. I think it would just require too many leaps of faith on the parts of the powers-that-be to make another Serpico.

No one likes getting old. It's a shame that that generation's jerky march into old age is being broadcast all over the world on 20-foot high screens.