Al Pacino's Drunken Night at the 1974 Oscar Telecast

If there was one decade of cinema I would have liked to have experienced other than the silent age of the 1920's, it would be the 1970's.  A decade dominated by some of the greatest actor and boldest filmmakers churning out great film after great film.  Each year saw a field of highly deserving nominees in most categories.  It was also the time when Al Pacino was at his peak.  With that, somehow I missed this little news nugget last week (Pacino-Serpico).

I found this little golden piece of new while researching Save the Tiger, for which Jack Lemmon won his second Oscar.  I don't find this particular piece of news all that revelatory, but it amused me nonetheless.  Pacino only 23 at the time, was now enjoying immense fame after following up his breakthrough in The Godfather, with in what is my opinion his second greatest role in Serpico.  Given his youth and now immense popularity, how can you blame him for getting ripped that night?   As an aside, how great was that field of 73 nominees? I'll dive a bit deeper into when I do my write up on Jack Lemmon's performance later this week, but also nominated were Marlon Brando in the classic Last Tango in Paris, Jack Nicholson in the The Last Detail and despite my reservations about the film one of Robert Redford's finest performances in The Sting.

Today it seems most people try to play it safe at these awards shows, though I'm sure Mickey Rourke was drunk at last year's Oscars.  Who knows maybe more attendees and nominees are more stoned than what is known.  Occasionaly we still get some random moments, Adrien Brody's impromptu kiss of Halle Berry seven years ago comes to mind, but other than that these moments are rare.  Al Pacino did win that Oscar as discussed in Scent of a Woman, but was too sober to make it a memorable acceptance speech.

Now if we can persuade Jeff Bridges to show up as The Dude on Sunday night.