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Text Box:   Al Pacino's Life A dark, volatile, stage-trained actor, Al Pacino played his first feature lead as a drug addict in "Panic in Needle Park" (1971). He gained screen prominence, however, for his finely calibrated performance as war-hero-turned-mob-heir Michael Corleone in the landmark revisionist gangster saga, "The Godfather" (1972). With his sad, sunken eyes and flair for volcanic tirades, Pacino went on to become a major star of the 1970s, playing a series of brooding, anti-authoritarian, streetwise figures, which seemed to reflect the cynical mood of the times. His tightly-wound undercover cop in "Serpico" (1973), a reprise of Michael Corleone, now occupying one of the drama's center stages, for the strikingly bifurcated sequel "The Godfather, Part II" (1974) and one of his most fascinating and courageous characterizations, the fiery bisexual bank robber, by turns tragic and unwittingly comical as he gains media attention while trying to finance his male lover's sex change operation in "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975) are three examples. Inevitably, Pacino had to make a false step; the first role to trade merely on his star status was "Bobby Deerfield" (1977). "...And Justice for All" (1979) seemed like a move back to terra firma, but its mix of sadness and satire didn't come off, and Pacino displayed lots of angry flash but little complexity or soul. "Cruising" (1980), meanwhile, was greeted with either scorn or outrage by audiences and critics, with its ridiculous, simplistic and hateful story of a cop who goes undercover into New York's gay scene to find a killer and ends up being "corrupted". "Author! Author!" (1982), Pacino's first outright comedy, was a mildly enjoyable attempt to channel his intensity and energy in a new direction, and his performance in the remake of "Scarface" (1983) was, like the film, over-the-top but undeniably potent. The slight gains he made with these two films, though, were scuttled by the incredible miscasting which placed him in the dull, superficial saga of 1776, "Revolution" (1985). After four years away from films, Pacino made a successful comeback with the enjoyable hit "Sea of Love" (1989) and the less popular but worthy "Frankie and Johnny" (1991). He amusingly parodied his previous gangster roles with an appropriately outlandish turn as Big Boy Caprice in "Dick Tracy" (1990), dusted off Michael Corleone for "The Godfather, Part III" (1990) and showed actorly grace in another fine supporting role in the adaptation of David Mamet's blistering "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992). After many nominations, Pacino finally copped an Oscar with the uneven, unabashed star showcase of "Scent of a Woman" (1992), as a blind veteran cutting loose on the town. Similarly, his prison-sprung drug lord in "Carlito's Way" (1993) showed that his way with gutter-tough poetry and his talent for various ethnic characterizations could be as riveting as ever. "Heat" (1995) starred him opposite fellow master thespian Robert De Niro as a driven high-strung police detective on the trail of a cool professional thief. The film marked the first time that these two legendary actors were paired onscreen in a film. (Both were featured in the 1974 sequel, "The Godfather, Part II", but had no scenes together.) Each received high marks from reviewers, but the lion's share of the praise went to writer-director Michael Mann. Pacino aged himself for a key supporting role in "Two Bits" (also 1995), playing a grandfather with a memorable legacy for his grandson. He followed with a turn as the mayor of New York City embroiled in a corruption scandal in "City Hall" (1996) and added to his gallery of characters with a turn as a low level gangster in Mike Newell's "Donnie Brascoe" and offered a scenery-chewing portrayal of a lawyer who happens to be Satan in "The Devil's Advocate" (both 1997).                                                                                                                                       e-mail