Friday, August 13, 2004

Overactor's delight

A head-to-head comparison of two of the GREATEST OVER ACTORS OF ALL TIME

AL PACINO: Born in the South Bronx in 1940. Has made over 35 motion pictures.

His GREATEST MOMENT IN FILM was in a film he wasn't even in:

Saturday Night Fever:
John Travolta stands in front of an Al Pacino poster in his underwear.

He then utters the following line:

"AL PACINO! Attica, Attica, Attica!"

I wanted to stretch out 'AL' in that quote to stress the first name like 'ALLLLLLLLL.' But, that could have been pronounced 'All Pacino,' which may be a great amount of Pacino, but it is not the line in the film.

"AL PACINO! Attica, Attica, Attica!"

Quite a bizarre moment in film history. To have Travolta shouting Pacino's name as he stood in his underwear. Priceless.

Pacino is also mentioned in the very funny film Plump Fiction. Sandra Bernhard says that loves cappuccino so much that she wants to change her name to Al Pacino because it sounds so much like cappuccino.

Pacino is mentioned in one of the most BIZZARE academy awards speeches ever. This was Dustin Hoffman at the 52 Academy Awards.
I'm up here with mixed feelings. I've been critical of the Academy...and for reason. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to be able to work. I refuse to believe I beat Jack Lemmon, that I beat Al Pacino, that I beat Peter Sellers. I refuse to believe that Robert Duvall lost. We are a part of an artistic family. There are sixty thousand actors in this academy-- excuse me, in the Screen Actors Guild, and probably a hundred thousand in Equity. And most actors don't work, and a few of us are so lucky to have a chance to work with writing and to work with directing. Because when you're a broke actor, you can't write, you can't paint, you have to practice accents while you're driving a taxicab.

Uh huh. So he refuses to believe that he won, and seems to be only thankful that he doesn't have to practice accents while driving a taxicab. Oddly enough, I assumed those were the cabbies REAL accents. Maybe they aren't foreigners at all, just good actors!

Dustin Hoffman may or may not have OUT acted Al Pacino, but he could not OVERact like Pacino.
But one man can!

Charlton Heston: Born in Illinois in 1924 and started making films almost 30 YEARS before Pacino.
Charlton has retired from acting and was president of the National Rifle Association. As President of the NRA he said the phrase "From my cold, dead hands" so much people started thinking he was an animatronic figure from Walt Disney's The Haunted Mansion.

The phrase was used as part of his speeches. He would say:

"The only way you can take my gun is to pry it from my cold dead hands."

Or, you could toss a basketball at him. He would probably set the gun down to catch it. Then you could grab his gun. Of course, Heston could probably beat you silly with the basketball so I wouldn't try it.

Heston also has several movie titles that sound like dirty movies, but they aren't:
Original Sin (1989)
President's Lady, The (1953)
Mountain Men, The (1980)
Fun of Your Life, The (1975)
Gray Lady Down (1978)
Last Hard Men, The (1976)
Agony and the Ecstasy, The (1965)
Oil Town (1962)
Naked Jungle, The (1954)

Yet, what is most interesting about Heston and Pacino, is their overacting.

Al started his career in 1969 but did not begin overacting until 1979's And Justice For All this was the film with the famous line "I'm out of order, your out of order, hey, the dirty sounding Heston films are out of order!"

Heston started overacting sooner in his career, but didn't hit his stride until he made The Ten Commandments. Playing Moses, it would be hard to UNDERACT.

Here are their best overacting performances:

AL PACINO:

Gigli (2003)
I must admit I have not seen this one, but it's a safe bet he overacts in this.

S1m0ne (2002)
Al Plays Victor in this film, about a man who creates a digital lady.

Devil's Advocate, The (1997)
John Minton (AKA SATAN) is one of the greatest parts ever put on screen. Al's overacting highlight comes during the death of Eddie Barzoon.

Scent of a Woman (1992)
Easily the pinnacle of Pacino's overacting. In this film he ends EVERY SENTENCE WITH 'Hoo-Ahhh!'

Scarface (1983)
Say hello to a little overacting!

CHARLTON HESTON


Crossed Swords (1978)
In one of his many 'regal' roles he plays King Henry VIII.

Antony and Cleopatra (1972)
Julius Caesar (1970)
He played Mark Antony in both of these films. Double your acting double your role.

Planet of the Apes (1968)
Get your stinkin paw off my cold dead hand!

Agony and the Ecstasy, The (1965)
As Michelangelo

El Cid (1961) .... Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar
Touch of Evil (1958) .... Ramon Miguel 'Mike' Vargas
A pair of films where Heston was MEXICAN!


Buccaneer, The (1958)
President's Lady, The (1953)
Here he played Andrew Jackson 2 times! Once as President, once as a General. Generally he was overacting.


Clearly, thus far, Heston is the victor. Heston's body of work holds soooooo much overacting, can Pacino overtake him? Only time will tell.

Both actors starred together in the 1999 film Any Given Sunday I am stunned that the camera did not EXPLODE due to excessive overacting!

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