Scarecrow (1973) - Francis Lionel 'Lion' Delbuchi

Scarecrow is a road movie with story revolves around odd pair Francis Lionel "Lion" Delbuchi (Al Pacino) and Max Millan (Gene Hackman) who meet on the road in California, and start their relationship during their long trip to Reno, Denver, Detroit, and decide to become business partners to open a car wash once they reach Pittsburgh.

Lionel and Max have slightly different background and character. Lionel was a child-like ex-sailor who's returning home to the midwest to see his child who was born while he was at sea, and Max is a brawling, short-tempered homeless ex-convict who has been saving money to open a car wash in Pittsburgh.

Scarecrow is Al Pacino's fourth screen appearance after The Godfather (1972), and his second work with director Jerry Schatzberg after The Panic in Needle Park (1971). Schatzberg was chosen to direct the movie after the original director was fired. Despite the film was a box office failure, Scarecrow won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.

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Bobby Deerfield (1977) - Bobby

Despite released during Pacino's best years in 1970s, Bobby Deerfield (1977) probably the most underrated and forgotten Al Pacino's film throughout his career. For the first time the film was released on DVD on 2008, and the soundtrack has been unavailable for years. The story panned by critics as an over-the-top melodrama with a plodding storyline.

Bobby Deerfield based on the novel Heaven Has No Favorites ("Der Himmel kennt keine Günstlinge") by Erich Maria Remarque. The film is about American Formula One racer Bobby Deerfield (Al Pacino) on the European circuits, who falls in love with Lillian Morelli (Marthe Keller), a beautiful young woman who racing against her time and lives in death's shadow because of her acute illness. Lillian changes Bobby's life and giving him spirit by teach him about life's possibilities - as the film tagline say: He had to meet her - to find himself!

Bobby Deerfield produced and directed by Sydney Pollack, and the story written by Alvin Sargent. Non-action scenes filmed in Paris Studios Cinéma, Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France. For race scenes, the film features actual footage of the South African GP Formula One in 1976, and features actual Formula One racers, including Brazilian racer José Carlos Pace, Mario Andretti, and James Hunt. The car used by Al Pacino in the movie is a Brabham Alfa Romeo BT-45, which belonged to José Carlos Pace, who actually drove it during the race scenes.

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...And Justice for All (1979) - Arthur Kirkland

...And Justice For All, the last four words of the Pledge of Allegiance, were taken as the title for this courtroom drama movie. It directed by Norman Jewison and the screenplay written by Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson. ...And Justice For All received two Academy Award nominations for the Best Actor in a Leading role (Pacino) and Best Original Screenplay.

Al Pacino plays as Arthur Kirkland, an idealistic defense attorney in Baltimore, forced to defend Henry T. Fleming, a judge who ever has had problems with him in the past. The judge has been accused of rape on a young woman. Kirkland past problem with Judge Fleming including one incident where he is on a charge of contempt of court for having thrown a punch at him when the judge wrongly sentenced his client Jeff McCullaugh because of a technicality. Now Kirkland faces a moral and legal dilemma ..

...And Justice For All stars Al Pacino as defense attorney Arthur Kirkland, John Forsythe as Judge Henry T. Fleming, Jack Warden Judge Francis Rayford, Lee Strasberg as his Grandfather Sam Kirkland, Craig T. Nelson, and Thomas G. Waites as Kirkland's client Jeff McCullaugh. In this film Al Pacino for the second time (after The Godfather Part II) was acted alongside his legendary acting teacher, Lee Strasberg.


Cast:

Al Pacino ... Arthur Kirkland
John Forsythe ... Judge Henry T. Fleming
Lee Strasberg ... Sam Kirkland
Jack Warden ... Judge Francis Rayford
Christine Lahti ... Gail Packer
Jeffrey Tambor ... Jay Porter
Dominic Chianese ... Carl Travers
Craig T. Nelson ... Frank Bowers

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The Panic in Needle Park (1971) - Bobby

The Panic in Needle Park is Al Pacino's second film appearance. The film is a portrayal of heroin addicts life who hang out in "Needle Park" in New York City. The story was adapted from James Mills' series of articles in Life. A tale of love story between Bobby (Al Pacino), a young heroin addict and small-time hustler, and Helen (Kitty Winn), a restless woman who finds Bobby charismatic.

The Panic in Needle Park seem more documentary than fictious story. No music was used in the film to set the atmosphere of "real life". Additionally, the entire film shot with unfocused techniques and photographed in moving cinéma vérité-style. The Panic in Needle Park is believed to have been the first mainstream film to show actual drug injection. As a result, the film refused a certificate in the UK for four years because of its graphic depiction of drug-taking.

The Panic in Needle Park was directed by Jerry Schatzberg, and the screenplay was written by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne. Francis Ford Coppola showed this movie to Paramount executives in order to convince them that Al Pacino was suitable for the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972). Kitty Winn won the Best Actress Award at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of Helen.

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The Godfather Part II (1974) - Don Michael Corleone

The Godfather Part II is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather (1972) by presents two parallel storylines: the first storyline chronicling the story of the Corleone family under their new chief Don Michael Corleone in their new home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the second storyline a flashback depicting the rise to power of Vito Corleone, from his childhood in Sicily to his founding of the powerful Corleone family in New York City.

The Godfather Part II stars Al Pacino as Don Michael Corleone, Robert Duvall as the family consiglieri Tom Hagen, Diane Keaton as Kay Adams, Robert De Niro as Young Vito Corleone, John Cazale as Fredo Corleone, Talia Shire as Connie Corleone, Michael V. Gazzo as Frank "the five angels" Pentangeli, and Lee Strasberg as jewish gangster Hyman Roth.

The Godfather Part II was filmed in 104 days, shot between October 1, 1973 and June 19, 1974. This was the first major motion picture sequel to use "Part II" in the title, and the first American film to use the roman numeral "II" to indicate a sequel. The film widely credited as the film that began the Hollywood tradition of numbered sequels for film franchises. It was also the last major American motion picture to be filmed in Technicolor.

Like the first film, The Godfather Part II is widely considered as one of the greatest films of all time. It ranks among the most critically and artistically successful film sequels in movie history, praised as equal, or even superior, to its predecessor. The Godfather Part II was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro for his performance as young Vito.

This was the first film sequel to receive five Academy Award Nominations for acting: Al Pacino (Best Actor), Talia Shire (Best Actress In A Suporting Role), Lee Strasberg (Best Actor In A Supporting Role), Michael V. Gazzo (Best Actor In A Supporting Role), and Robert De Niro (Best Actor In A Supporting Role).

Al Pacino's performance as Michael have praised and considered as one of the best performances of all time by any actor. His performance has become legendary. The Academy Awards criticized by many movie critics for not awarding Pacino the Academy Award for Best Actor (instead, the Oscar finally goes to Art Carney for his performance in Harry and Tonto).

The Godfather Part II has been selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry.

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Serpico (1973) - Frank Serpico

Serpico is a crime film based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico. The film directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay was written by Waldo Salt, Norman Wexler, and Sidney Kingsley, as an adaptation from a biographical book by author Peter Maas. The film stars Al Pacino as Officer Frank Serpico, John Randolph as Chief Sidney Green, Cornelia Sharpe as Leslie Lane, and Tony Roberts as Bob Blair.

Frank Serpico was an eccentric but idealistic New York City police officer in a time when police corruption was rampant. Despite eccentric, Serpico cannot be bought and certainly cannot be had by anyone. He often frustrated by internal politics, and eventually went undercover to expose the corruption of his fellow officers. He starts giving his testimony to the Knapp Commission in 1970. For his bravery to expose the corruption in the New York Police Department, Serpico receives a detective's gold shield and disability pension and leaving the NYPD and the USA in 1972 for Switzerland.

As the storyline showing the progression of Serpico's beard and hair length, the film was shot in reverse order. Al Pacino began with long hair and a beard, then for each scene, his hair and beard were trimmed bit by bit until he became clean-cut. The film shot on 104 different locations in every borough of New York City except Staten Island.

For his role as Serpico, Pacino was Oscar nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but lost to Jack Lemmon for his performance in Save the Tiger. However, he won his first Golden Globe award for Best Actor in 1974 for his performance in the film.


Cast:

Al Pacino ... Officer Frank Serpico
John Randolph ... Chief Sidney Green
Biff McGuire ... Capt. Insp. McClain
Cornelia Sharpe ... Leslie Lane
Jack Kehoe ... Tom Keough
Tony Roberts ... Bob Blair
Allan Rich ... Dist. Atty. Herman Tauber

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Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Sonny Wortzik

Dog Day Afternoon was inspired by true story of the robbery of a Chase Manhattan Bank branch in 450 Avenue P, at the cross street of East 3rd Street, in Gravesend Brooklyn, New York by John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile on August 22, 1972, was published as an article entitled "The Boys in the Bank" by P.F. Kluge in Life Magazine in 1972. The film directed by Sidney Lumet based on screenplay written by Frank Pierson.

Dog Day Afternoon tells a story about Sonny Wortzik and his friend Sal Naturile's attempt to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for the operation for Sonny's transsexual wife Leon Shermer. But all the robbery plan goes wrong, and Sonny discovers that only $1,100.00 in cash remains in the bank after the daily cash pickup. His attempt to compensate the small cash by takes a number of traveler's checks and burning the bank's register to prevent the checks from being traced only led them to bigger mess.

Dog Day Afternoon stars Al Pacino as Sonny Wortzik, John Cazale as Sonny's partner in robbery Salvatore "Sal" Naturile, Charles Durning as Detective Sgt. Eugene Moretti, and Chris Sarandon as Leon Shermer, Sonny's preoperative transsexual wife.

The film was nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Sidney Lumet), and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Al Pacino) as well as several Golden Globe awards nomination, and finally won one Academy Award for Writing - Original Screenplay (Frank Pierson).

Al Pacino fails to won Oscar for his leading role in the film. However, his performance as Sonny Wortzik received highly acclaimed critics. It is ranked #4 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). He also won the British Academy Award for Best Actor, and Pacino's quote, "Attica! Attica!" (in reference to the Attica Prison riots) placed at #86 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. Roger Ebert called Sonny Wortzik "one of the most interesting modern movie characters" and gave Dog Day Afternoon three-and-a-half stars out of four. In 2009, Dog Day Afternoon was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and will be preserved for all time.


Cast:

Al Pacino ... Sonny Wortzik
John Cazale ... Sal Naturile
Chris Sarandon ... Leon Shermer
Charles Durning ... Det. Sgt. Eugene Moretti
James Broderick ... Sheldon
Penelope Allen ... Sylvia
Carol Kane ... Jenny

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The Godfather (1972) - Michael Corleone

The Godfather is based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In the film Al Pacino play Michael Corleone, the youngest son of head of the Corleone family, Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), and later became the next Don.

Alongside with Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), Michael is the only college-educated member of the family. Michael initially wants nothing to do with the underworld, so the other mafia families consider him a "civilian" uninvolved in mob business. But a second murder attempt to his father at the hospital arranged by Bruno Tattaglia and Tattaglia family's associate Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), and helped by corrupt Irish American police Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden) lead his evolution from doe-eyed outsider to ruthless new mafia boss following his father death.

Al Pacino was not a well known actor at the time, and Paramount originally wanted Ryan O'Neal or Robert Redford to play Michael Corleone. Warren Beaty, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, and Martin Sheen also auditioned for the role. Coppola insist to use Pacino, and threatened to quit the production if Pacino wasn't given the role. Paramount were opposed to casting Pacino, who did poorly in screen tests (and in part because of his height), until they saw his excellent performance in The Panic in Needle Park (1971).

However, Paramount executive still don't like him. When they only saw the early scenes of Michael at the wedding, they were exclaiming, "When is he going to do something?" and Pacino nearly got fired midway through filming. But when they finally saw the scene where Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey, they changed their minds and Pacino got to keep his job.

Al Pacino received $35,000 for his work on The Godfather. For his role as Michael Corleone, Pacino had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The Godfather then received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

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