If there’s one thing that can be said about – and agreed upon – regarding Al Pacino, it’s that the guy’s got some serious range. He can play morally uncertain characters, unlikely heroes, and all-out villains, and though he often goes over the top with the sorts of performances he gives, he is also capable of playing a wide range of characters in a more methodical or quietly intense fashion.
To focus on just one kind of character he plays, though, here’s a rundown of most of the villains Pacino has portrayed on screen, ranked roughly by how memorable they are. The following ranking does not include Gigli, and neither does it include Heat, as a big part of that movie is breaking down the barrier between the usual hero (a detective) and the typical villain (a bank robber), and one looks like the villain from the point of view of the other. Also, no Carlito’s Way, since that one is about a former criminal trying – and struggling – to reform, and it’s hard to call his journey throughout that film a villainous one.
10
‘Righteous Kill’ (2008)
Appears as Detective David “Rooster” Fisk
Sorry to spoil Righteous Kill, but Al Pacino ends up being the villain here. Given he and Robert De Niro initially play detectives here, that might sound like a movie-ruining thing to give away, but Righteous Kill ruins itself because of its mere existence. It’s such a waste of two legendary actors, and so thunderously boring as far as movies about tracking down a killer at large go.
By the time it’s revealed that Pacino’s character isn’t such a good guy, you will have stopped caring, and probably won’t have been caring for at least the last hour or so. There aren’t many movies that this pair starred in together, but the other three are classics, in one way or another, and should certainly be watched, all the while Righteous Kill should be entirely ignored.
Righteous Kill
- Release Date
-
September 11, 2008
- Runtime
-
101 minutes
9
‘Phil Spector’ (2013)
Appears as Phil Spector
One more not-great movie featuring an Al Pacino villain worth mentioning is Phil Spector. This one is a bit of a mess, as far as biographical movies go, but at the very least, it’s not as much of a disaster as Righteous Kill. It’s all about the infamous titular music producer/convicted murderer, with Al Pacino being a bold choice to play Spector… and it kind of almost works, every now and then. Sort of. Maybe.
But hey, Phil Spector of Phil Spector is a villain, and no amount of perfectly produced pop music from the 1960s can change that. This TV movie isn’t afraid to paint Phil Spector the way it should, highlighting the absurdities of his life and exploring when he was put on trial for the terrible crime he committed. He was a real person, and real people are often complex, but he can still count as a villain for present purposes.
Phil Spector
- Release Date
-
March 24, 2013
- Runtime
-
92 Minutes
8
‘The Merchant of Venice’ (2004)
Appears as Shylock
The Merchant of Venice is a film adaptation of the Shakespearean play of the same name, and probably stands as one of the more underrated Shakespeare films, overall. The best way to summarize it is to say that it’s a romantic drama set in the titular Venice, and it revolves around people wanting and loaning money. That stuff makes the world turn around today, and it did the same thing back in the late 1500s, so it seems.
Al Pacino plays the character of Shylock with a little more complexity than one might expect. He’s traditionally the antagonist of the play, and while things stay relatively true to the original text, Pacino’s Shylock is a bit more human. So, it’s not one of his biggest or flashiest villains, but it is a film that has Pacino doing something interesting with a role that has been considered villainous in the past.
The Merchant of Venice
- Release Date
-
December 3, 2004
- Runtime
-
132 minutes
7
‘Ocean’s Thirteen’ (2007)
Appears as Willy Bank
The main appeal of Ocean’s Eleven was its cast of heroes, or maybe antiheroes, and watching them – all played by massive stars – prepare and then pull off an ambitious heist. The same thing can be said about the two sequels Ocean’s Eleven received, though things weren’t quite as gripping… well, Ocean’s Thirteen probably has the best villain of the trilogy, given he’s played by Al Pacino.
His character’s name is Willy Bank, so how could you not want to see someone steal from him? Also, he gets on the wrong side of the main characters, and that makes their planned heist against him kind of personal. It raises the stakes, and puts just enough of a twist on Ocean’s Thirteen to make it a solid sequel (and, arguably, a better one overall than Ocean’s Twelve).
6
‘Donnie Brasco’ (1997)
Appears as Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero
Things are a little complex, morally speaking, in Donnie Brasco, perhaps in a similar kind of way to Heat, in that the narrative here focuses on two men on either side of the law, but showcases their surprising similarities. The protagonist is Johnny Depp’s character, an FBI undercover agent who infiltrates the mob to get insight into the life of Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero, who’s played by Al Pacino.
It’s not the most explosive of gangster movies, but the way it explores the lives of its two main characters (and their eventual bond) is what makes it engaging. To call Pacino’s character in Donnie Brasco a villain in the traditional sense might be a stretch, but that’s kind of what the movie is about; what the movie wants to challenge. Just as Depp’s character falls under Ruggiero’s spell, so too might the audience.
Donnie Brasco
- Release Date
-
February 28, 1997
- Runtime
-
127 minutes
5
‘The Devil’s Advocate’ (1997)
Appears as John Milton
Here’s another film where calling Al Pacino’s character a villain might be a spoiler of sorts, but unlike the brief discussion about Righteous Kill before, details will be kept vague for The Devil’s Advocate. There is something initially funny about Pacino’s character, the boss at a prestigious New York law firm, but it takes a while for the entire truth about John Milton to get revealed.
So, The Devil’s Advocate is a bit of a slow burn for a while, but it’s a slow burn that eventually explodes, and Al Pacino does get to go very over the top eventually. The film is an overall strange one, and perhaps a little forgotten, given it’s too good to be a trashy cult classic, but not good enough to be a full-on classic… but it’s definitely going for something, and Pacino’s scenery-chewing does so much of the heavy-lifting.
4
‘Dick Tracy’ (1990)
Appears as Big Boy Caprice
It feels a little strange to say it, but yes, Al Pacino did star in a comic book movie, and he might well have been one of the best things about it. The movie in question was the odd but endearingly distinctive Dick Tracy, and Pacino was featured here as the comically villainous Big Boy Caprice, who runs a large group of criminals the titular character wants to bring down.
If Pacino’s surprisingly Oscar-nominated performance isn’t enough, then Dick Tracy is worth watching for the boldness of its visuals, and the ridiculously stacked nature of its cast. Besides Pacino as the villain and Warren Beatty as the hero, Dick Tracy also stars the likes of Madonna, Mandy Patinkin, Dustin Hoffman, Dick Van Dyke, Paul Sorvino, and James Caan, to name just a few.
3
‘Angels in America’ (2003)
Appears as Roy Cohn
Roy Cohn was recently played by Jeremy Strong in The Apprentice, and was also played by Al Pacino in the (admittedly super cinematic) miniseries Angels in America. Its story plays out during the AIDS crisis, focusing on a number of people in New York City who were all impacted by it in one way or another, Cohn included.
He’s not painted here in a positive light, coming across as villainous because of his personality traits and some of the things he does… but there is a certain tragic nature to him, at least through the way he’s presented here, and played by Al Pacino. Pacino gets to do a great deal here and makes Roy Cohn convincing as a monster, victim, and human being simultaneously, which is an impressive feat of acting… but hey, it’s no secret by now that Pacino’s one of the greats.
2
‘Scarface’ (1983)
Appears as Tony Montana
If you want to see Al Pacino go evil and over-the-top at the same time, there’s no better movie to watch than Scarface. Pacino’s character here, Tony Montana, is almost cartoonish in the way he talks, acts, and aspires to things he’ll never be able to hold onto, but Pacino makes it work. Of course, the flashiness of the movie around him helps a good deal, too.
Scarface is all about excess and bombast, and it’s about as unsubtle as a modern tragedy can get. But it makes all that a feature rather than a bug, with the level of violence being as extreme as some of the ridiculous – and ridiculously quotable – lines of dialogue. Scarface is a beautiful, extravagant, and explosive film, and Pacino’s Tony Montana is one of the most legendary characters in the history of the gangster genre for good reason.
1
‘The Godfather Part II’ (1974)
Appears as Michael Corleone
Yet for as great as Scarface is, the best villainous performance Al Pacino ever gave was in a much more restrained crime film: The Godfather Part II. Michael Corleone is at his most cutthroat here, as Michael, in the first film, is more morally gray and adopts some proper villainous traits towards the film’s end, while in The Godfather Part III, Michael is, for the most part, just focused on seeking redemption for his misdeeds.
So it’s the middle chapter of the trilogy that really drives home Michael Corleone’s moral downfall, and Pacino is terrifyingly intense, even in the moments when he says very little. It’s a performance all about the little details, and the restraint makes the moments when Michael loses his cool immensely startling. Michael Corleone, across the trilogy, is a complex character who shifts morally, but in The Godfather II, he is at his worst, and at least within this movie, can be considered an all-time great villain.
The Godfather Part II
- Release Date
-
December 20, 1974
- Runtime
-
202minutes
