If there’s one word to describe Al Pacino’s 54-year acting career, it’s “crime.” The 80-year-old actor has thrived playing both mob bosses and police detectives with an explosive flair.
After a stage career beginning in 1967, Pacino won his first starring movie role as a heroin addict in the 1971 film “The Panic in Needle Park.” From that role to his portrayal of Jimmy Hoffa in Michael Scorcese’s “The Irishman” in 2019, Pacino’s film career has highlighted complicated men and their struggles with crime and conscience. Here are movie roles that launched Hollywood’s biggest stars.
Click here to see Al Pacino’s best movies
The ranking is based on an index of IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings. IMdb is an online movie database owned by Amazon. Rotten Tomatoes is an online movie and TV review aggregator. Only the roughly 5,000 feature films with 25,000 reviews or more on IMDb were considered for this analysis. Each movie’s domestic box office was obtained from The Numbers, an online movie database owned by consulting firm Nash Information Services.
In early March, Pacino started filming “House of Gucci,” co-starring Lady Gaga and directed by Ridley Scott, in Italy. Pacino plays the role of Aldo Gucci, head of the Gucci empire from 1953 to 1986, when he was sentenced to prison briefly for tax evasion.
Based on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings, 24/7 Tempo assembled a list of the best movies starring Al Pacino. Among these are three directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and two each by directors Sidney Lumet, Brian De Palma, and Michael Mann. (See who won the Oscar for best director the year you were born.)
18. The Godfather: Part III (1990)
> Fellow leads: Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Talia Shire
> Director: Francis Ford Coppola
> Domestic box office: $66.67 million
Returning as one of his most famous characters, Pacino plays Michael Corleone, an aging mob boss who seeks a change in his family’s business model.
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17. Sea of Love (1989)
> Fellow leads: Ellen Barkin, John Goodman, Michael Rooker
> Director: Harold Becker
> Domestic box office: $58.57 million
In this neo-noir film, Pacino plays Frank Keller, a struggling detective who becomes romantically entangled with a potential suspect while attempting to track down a serial killer.
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16. The Merchant of Venice (2004)
> Fellow leads: Joseph Fiennes, Lynn Collins, Jeremy Irons
> Director: Michael Radford
> Domestic box office: $3.77 million
In this Shakespearean drama, Pacino plays Shylock, a Jewish moneylender who has become hardened by the constant prejudice he faces in the Christian city of Venice.
15. The Devil’s Advocate (1997)
> Fellow leads: Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones
> Director: Taylor Hackford
> Domestic box office: $61.01 million
In this supernatural horror film, Pacino plays John Milton, the head of a law firm who also happens to be Satan himself.
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14. Danny Collins (2015)
> Fellow leads: Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner, Bobby Cannavale
> Director: Dan Fogelman
> Domestic box office: $5.64 million
Pacino stars in this comedy/drama as an aging musician who engages with his life anew after discovering an unopened letter written to him by John Lennon 40 years earlier.
13. And Justice for All (1979)
> Fellow leads: Jack Warden, John Forsythe, Lee Strasberg
> Director: Norman Jewison
> Domestic box office: $NA million
Pacino stars in this neo-noir film as Arthur Kirkland, a lawyer struggling with the justice system as he defends a judge who is guilty of rape.
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12. Insomnia (2002)
> Fellow leads: Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan
> Director: Christopher Nolan
> Domestic box office: $67.26 million
In this psychological thriller, Pacino plays Will Dormer, an LA homicide detective who suffers from insomnia and delusions while in Alaska investigating a murder.
11. Carlito’s Way (1993)
> Fellow leads: Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Leguizamo
> Director: Brian De Palma
> Domestic box office: $36.95 million
Pacino stars in this crime drama as Carlito Brigante, a Puerto Rican criminal in New York City who attempts to clean up his act.
10. Donnie Brasco (1997)
> Fellow leads: Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby
> Director: Mike Newell
> Domestic box office: $41.96 million
In yet another crime drama, Pacino plays Lefty Ruggiero, an aging gangster who unwittingly takes a young undercover FBI agent under his wing.
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9. Serpico (1973)
> Fellow leads: John Randolph, Jack Kehoe, Biff McGuire
> Director: Sidney Lumet
> Domestic box office: $27.27 million
Pacino stars in this biographical crime drama as Frank Serpico, a police officer and whistleblower who risks his safety and his career to report corruption in the NYPD.
8. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
> Fellow leads: Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin
> Director: James Foley
> Domestic box office: $10.73 million
In this adaptation of a play by David Mamet, Pacino plays Ricky Roma, a manipulative real estate salesman with a dirty mouth.
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7. Scarface (1983)
> Fellow leads: Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
> Director: Brian De Palma
> Domestic box office: $44.94 million
In this crime drama, Pacino stars as Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee in 1980s Miami who rises through the ranks to become a hitman and drug lord.
6. Scent of a Woman (1992)
> Fellow leads: Chris O’Donnell, James Rebhorn, Gabrielle Anwar
> Director: Martin Brest
> Domestic box office: $63.90 million
In a role that finally won him his first — and thus far only — Oscar, Pacino plays Frank Slade, an ornery, blind, retired army colonel who lives life to its fullest.
5. The Insider (1999)
> Fellow leads: Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora
> Director: Michael Mann
> Domestic box office: $28.97 million
In this fictionalized account of real events, Pacino plays Lowell Bergman, a CBS producer who takes on his network and the tobacco industry as he fights to air the story of a former tobacco company executive turned whistleblower.
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4. Heat (1995)
> Fellow leads: Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight
> Director: Michael Mann
> Domestic box office: $67.44 million
In this crime drama, Pacino plays good cop Vincent Hanna, an LAPD Lieutenant who investigates a professional theft ring.
3. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
> Fellow leads: John Cazale, Penelope Allen, Sully Boyar
> Director: Sidney Lumet
> Domestic box office: $50.00 million
Pacino portrays bank robber Sonny Wortzik, as he takes hostages and refuses to give himself up over a trivial sum of money.
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2. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
> Fellow leads: Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
> Director: Francis Ford Coppola
> Domestic box office: $57.30 million
In the sequel to “The Godfather,” Pacino returns as Michael Corleone, son of a Sicilian immigrant, who juggles family life and the business of organized crime.
1. The Godfather (1972)
> Fellow leads: Marlon Brando, James Caan, Diane Keaton
> Director: Francis Ford Coppola
> Domestic box office: $134.97 million
In what is considered his breakout role, Pacino plays Michael Corleone, youngest son of a mob boss. The actor received his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal.
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