De Niro or Pacino

**BohsPartisan** · 30/03/2007, 8:05 AM

Who's better?
Saw this thread on another forum. I say De Niro by a country mile. Pacino is a good actor but he has a limited range. Dog Day Afternoon was arguably his most unusual role. Don't get me wrong, he's been in some great movies - Godfather 1&2, Dog Day, Serpico, Scarface, Carlito's Way etc. but when you consider some of De Niro's roles, Goodfellas, Meanstreets, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Casino, Once Upon a Time in America, Raging Bull, Godfather Part 2, Brazil, Cape Fear, Frankenstein, Casino, Heat etc. I think he comes out the clear winner.

**Bluebeard** · 30/03/2007, 8:45 AM

De Niro, not because he's better, but because Pacino tends to do the same thing in his films - if you look at his career, he has had three phases: Violent Pacino; Shouty Pacino; Tired Pacino. Potentially, I think he could be better and has a better range if he bothers, but he hasn't.

So essentially, this is a protest vote to get Pacino to cop on to himself - I'm sure he reads the site, though I don't know if he'd bother with the off-topic section.

**dahamsta** · 30/03/2007, 8:46 AM

De Niro is generally a better actor, but Pacino can play his particular niche - I guess you'd call it "the baddy", although that isn't entirely accurate; let's call it menacing - better than De Niro. IMHO.

adam

**Dodge** · 30/03/2007, 8:57 AM

Poll added.

De Niro for me. Just

Love Pacino going OTT, love De Niro doing understated.

Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

but when you consider some of De Niro's roles, Goodfellas, Meanstreets, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Casino, Once Upon a Time in America, Raging Bull, Godfather Part 2, Brazil, Cape Fear, Frankenstein, Casino, Heat etc. I think he comes out the clear winner.

You left out Midnight Run, one of the best comedies of all time

**drinkfeckarse** · 30/03/2007, 9:49 AM

De Niro all the way.

**The Good Son** · 30/03/2007, 9:49 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

You left out Midnight Run, one of the best comedies of all time

Also left out, The King Of Comedy. In my opinion even better than Midnight Run.

**stann** · 30/03/2007, 10:01 AM

De Niro edges it for me for the extra string of his comedy acting. As well as all those films mentioned above, don't forget he was p!ss funny in Meet The Parents. Midnight Run was brilliant too!

**the 12 th man** · 30/03/2007, 10:11 AM

Impossible to split these two.Both together in "Heat"

**Risteard** · 30/03/2007, 10:18 AM

He was great in Glengarry Glenross too.

Why choose?

**Dodge** · 30/03/2007, 10:28 AM

Originally Posted by The Good Son

Also left out, The King Of Comedy. In my opinion even better than Midnight Run.

Better film, yeah but not a comedy IMO.

**holidaysong** · 30/03/2007, 1:57 PM

De Niro for me. My favourite actor.

**osarusan** · 30/03/2007, 2:51 PM

Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

Pacino is a good actor but he has a limited range.

Originally Posted by Bluebeard

Pacino tends to do the same thing in his films
.

To be honest, De Niro does the same thing all the time too. Even in his comedies, like Analyze This, Meet the Parents, he still plays the threatening guy.

Originally Posted by dahamsta

De Niro is generally a better actor, but Pacino can play his particular niche - I guess you'd call it "the baddy", although that isn't entirely accurate; let's call it menacing - better than De Niro. IMHO.

adam

I dont think anybody is more menacing than De Niro, except maybe Robert Mitchum.

But still de Niro.