What is the best Al Pacino film?

By IQ Score on TV Intelligentsia, The Godfather (180), The Godfather Part II (176), and Dog Day Afternoon (167) anchor the catalog. Glengarry Glen Ross, Serpico, Heat, and The Irishman round out the canonical entries.

How many Oscars has Pacino won?

One — Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992). He'd been nominated seven prior times before winning.

Which Pacino performance is most underrated?

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) are consistently underrated relative to The Godfather and Scarface. Glengarry Glen Ross in particular is canonical-ensemble work that demonstrates Pacino in extended-monologue mode at register the Mamet adaptation required.

Al Pacino · Filmography Ranked

Best Al Pacino Films, Ranked by IQ Score

Five decades of one of cinema's most-canonical leading men. Every Pacino film, ranked by IQ Score.

Al Pacino's filmography is the most-canonical 1970s New-Hollywood-emerging leading-man catalog. Eight Oscar nominations — finally won Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992) after seven prior misses.

Anchor picks: The Godfather (1972) — Michael Corleone, the definitive Pacino role. The Godfather Part II (1974). Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Serpico (1973), Heat (1995), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992).

9 titles · ranked by IQ Score

1

The Godfather

Masterclass crime, drama

Vito and Michael Corleone run a crime family that is organized, bureaucratic, and ruthless. The film's cognitive achievement is depicting organized crime as a rational business with moral costs. Educational about how cri…

180/200
2

The Godfather Part II

Masterclass crime, drama

A parallel narrative of Vito's rise and Michael's consolidation of power. The film's cognitive complexity increases from the parallel timelines and the contrast between their approaches. Educational about the transformat…

176/200
3

The Irishman

Masterclass crime, drama, biography

2019 Best Picture nominee. Scorsese's three-and-a-half-hour chronicle of organized crime and the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Exceptional cognitive demands from the decades-spanning narrative and the moral weight that a…

174/200
4

Glengarry Glen Ross

Masterclass drama

James Foley's 1992 David Mamet adaptation anchored by Al Pacino (Oscar-nominated), Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin. The structural commitment to letting Mamet's hyperverbal real-estate-offi…

168/200
5

Dog Day Afternoon

Masterclass drama, crime

Sidney Lumet's 1975 true-crime film about a bank robbery in Brooklyn that turns into a 14-hour hostage standoff — Al Pacino (Oscar-nominated) and John Cazale anchor. The structural commitment to letting the protagonist's…

167/200
6

Serpico

Masterclass drama, crime, biography

Sidney Lumet's 1973 Frank Serpico biographical film anchored by Al Pacino (Oscar-nominated). The structural commitment to letting the NYPD-corruption institutional cognitive material be the actual subject — and Pacino's…

166/200
7

Heat

Masterclass crime, drama, thriller

A detective and a career criminal in a city cat-and-mouse game. Educational about Los Angeles crime. Cognitive engagement from the parallel lives and the famous shootout. Entertainment from the crime epic.

161/200
8

Scent of a Woman

Stimulating drama

Martin Brest's 1992 Bo Goldman screenplay anchored by Al Pacino's Best Actor Oscar-winning performance as a blind retired Army lieutenant colonel. The structural commitment to letting Pacino's late-career bigger-than-lif…

157/200
9

Scarface

Stimulating crime, drama

Brian De Palma's 1983 Cuban-immigrant Tony Montana film anchored by Al Pacino. The structural commitment to letting Oliver Stone's screenplay render the 1980s Miami-cocaine-economy at canonical-excess register — and the…

157/200

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