Al Pacino: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. Tony Montana - Scarface

Tony Montana has become one of the most influential gangster characters in modern cinema and Pacino's take on it, at a stage in his career when he was just beginning to suffer his first run of poor form following the trio of misfires Bobby Deerfield, Cruising and Author! Author!, briefly threw him back into the spotlight. It could be argued that this is where the crazy, shouting persona began to grow in Pacino that has since become his stereotype, but here it is a thing of manic beauty. Montana is almost like the bastard flipside on Michael Corleone. Montana, a Cuban assassin, is first seen being interviewed by faceless Miami border officials. He is relaxed and confident, their questions can't faze him. As he begins to move up the ladder of power, however, taking down Robert Loggia's Frank Lopez and stealing his girlfriend, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tony gets drunk on power and makes the biggest mistake of all by ignoring the first rule of drug-dealing, 'don't get high on your own supply'. In his drug-addled state he crosses drug overlord Alejandro Sosa and pays the ultimate price in a violent stand-off in his mansion. The film plays like a piece of bloody, high opera and, to that extent, manages to let the viewer accept the manic energy and ridiculousness of it all. Pacino is a whirling dervish at the centre though. All moments pass through his masterful performance. Yes. Tony is over-the-top but that's the point of the film, that excess will destroy you. You get sucked into Tony's word so much that you are genuinely surprised he has some morals when he refuses to allow and mother and child to be assassinated. From his Cuban accent and eighties clothes to his brilliant restaurant speech ('say hello to the bad guy') this is Pacino at his most excessive and brilliant.