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.

Al Pacino - Scent of a Woman

My latest in my series of Best Actor Winners

Year: 1992
Actor: Al Pacino
Film: Scent of a Woman
Director: Martin Brest
Role: Lt Col. Frank Slade

Other Nominees:
Robert Downey Jr. - Chaplin
Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven
Stephen Rea - The Crying Game
Denzel Washington - Malcolm X



Al Pacino one of the most beloved actor's of the 70's and 90's entered the 90's with out an Oscar to his name.  Other icons of the era Gene Hackman and Jack Nicholson had won their Oscars, while his Godfather co-stars Robert Duvall and Robert DeNiro has as well.  Pacino entered Oscar night nominated for two roles, as a blind lieutenant colonel in Scent of a Woman, and for his superior work in Glengarry Glen Ross.  In recent years his win for Scent of a Woman has been seen as one of the more egregious wins, and despite this not being one of his greatest roles the film has been unfairly maligned.  Yes, Pacino resorted to his now trademark screaming and Hoo-ha!

Yet, despite this somewhat strained performance the character actually works within the context of the movie.  Pacino plays him as more than a simple one-note character and the audience invests in his journey.  At first the character is seen simply as a jackass, but as the story continues he becomes far more understandable.  While some scenes are contrived (tango, car ride, the ending), Pacino gives enough energy into these scenes to buy it within the given context.  Other scenes such as the Thanksgiving dinner work very well with Pacino leading the way.  The Academy could have easily awarded this to Denzel Washington, Stephen Rea or Clint Eastwood (all gave better performances), but considering this is hardly the performance of a hack I can't totally be disappointed.

Other Wins:
Best Actor: Golden Globe Drama