Al Pacino's 8 Most Underrated Movies. The Godfathers Can Sit This One Out.

Everyone has seen Michael Corleone. Fewer people have seen Pacino rob a bank, go undercover, or lose sleep next to Robin Williams. That changes today.

Number one cost a fortune, grossed under a million, and beats Heat.

1. 8
   Scarface (1983)8.3

   Underrated by critics only, and they're half right.

   Metacritic 65 while audiences beat 98% of movies. Over a million IMDb votes, so you've seen it. Guru's Take 6.9: louder than it is good.
2. 7
   Scent of a Woman (1992)8.0

   Critics were too cold, audiences were too warm.

   Audiences beat 97% of movies, critics just 51%. Metacritic 57. Guru's Take 7.2 lands in between: Pacino at full volume carries a soft script.
3. 6
   Heat (1995)8.6

   Too famous for this list, too underpaid at the box office.

   $67.4M domestic on a reported $60M budget for the best cop-versus-crook movie around. An A minus CinemaScore. Guru's Take 9.0 beats its movie.guru score of 8.6.
4. 5
   Insomnia (2002)7.2

   The Nolan movie nobody puts on their Nolan list.

   92% on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic 78, and Robin Williams playing it ice cold. Audiences beat only 59% of movies. Pacino looking exhausted is the whole point.
5. 4
   Donnie Brasco (1997)8.1

   Pacino's saddest gangster is his best quiet performance.

   Movie.guru score 8.1, 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, $41.9M domestic. He plays a small-time guy who knows he's small time, and Johnny Depp sells every quiet glance.
6. 3
   Carlito's Way (1993)7.9

   The better De Palma gangster movie. Sorry, Scarface.

   Movie.guru score 7.9 with critics and audiences agreeing, yet just 251,988 IMDb votes, about a quarter of Scarface's. Same director, less shouting, more heartbreak.
7. 2
   Dog Day Afternoon (1975)9.4

   Pacino's best performance. Yes, Godfathers included.

   Movie.guru score 9.4 on a reported $3.8M budget, $50M domestic. Under 300,000 IMDb votes versus 2.2 million for The Godfather. A bank robbery that turns into a circus.
8. 1
   The Irishman (2019)9.3

   Better than Heat. Fight me in the comments.

   Movie.guru score 9.3 to Heat's 8.6, Metacritic 94. Reported budget $159M to $250M, worldwide gross $968,853. Pacino and De Niro finally share a whole movie, not one scene.

$259 says the first angry comment about The Irishman comes from someone who never finished it.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it