Pacino In Real Time

Scarecrow (1973). Yeah, I'm lazy. But here's a review, ok?

2008-09-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

Hi all! No posts in a while? Yeah, I'm lazy. Can someone look into that shit for me? Thanks! It doesn't matter anyway, it's not like anyone reads this blog anyhow *sobs*.

Anyslacker, I'm going to enlighten you peeples about the little-discussed gem of the 70s and Mr. Pachinko at his finest: Scarecrow. Also starring a dude called Gene Hackman. ("Name rings a bell... Can't place him.")

I just saw this movie and my jaw hung open the entire time. Shut up! I know what you're thinking! You're sick! What I mean is that I was completely engrossed the whole time. Yes, it was that good. Pacino was that good.

Basically Gene Hackman (his name in the movie, duh) is a weirdo drifter who runs into good-natured Lion at the side of some desolate California highway. Max/Hackman was in jail 'n' stuff, and Al/Lion was on some ship with a bunch of ~~gay~~ dudes for 5 years running from "Mouth" from Dog Day Afternoon (Penny Allen) and their baby. Now, I will incise.

Here's our first piece of evidence:

That's Lion laughing at some ~~dumb ass shit~~ humorous anecdote that Max has just related over dinner.

Here's Max at dinner. In all his grace...

Yeah, he's yucky! (Yeah, that's the only picture I have of Gene Hackman! So shoot me! Go to a Hackman website if it's that important to you! This isn't one! etc.)

Max is basically eating dinner drunkily and acting like a jackass. He puts the moves on Frenchy, a girl who looks like kinda pretty but is super floozyish and who I'm too lazy to get a picture of. Lion is a cutiepootietootatlootie and speaks respectfully to Max's sister while all of this funnybusiness is occuring. Vis:

This scene in particular serves to highlight how different ~~Al and Gene~~ Lion and Max are.

I won't draw it out for you, but it is a pivotal point in the film, to me.

So, Lion and Max go around the country with one another, gradually becoming the only person the other one trusts, blah, blah, blah...

****

Eventually, they arrive in Detroit, where Lion must confront his baby moms, Whatsername (Penny Allen). This stupid hobag, and this is a spoiler, tells Lion their baby is dead.

Here is the baby listening. Said baby is alive and well after all! Notice the freaking Twilight Zone resemblance to Al:

(For those of you who need captions, the below picture is of Al Pacino *coughs*; his character, Lion, is getting the news about the 'baby' [Hitchcock style!])

So, of course, Lion takes this, um, hard. I won't ruin it for you, but I will say this: The ending of this film is one of the most haunting, beautiful endings of all endings out there in movie-movie land. Hackman (dare I say it?) is wonderful, and Al is simply -- beautifully -- at his best here. You see a hardened, shell of a man become... well, something of beauty. It's an incredible film... infinitely re-watchable, and a beautiful performance from the greatest actor alive. Okay, enough with the mushiness. *coughs*

Basically, IF you refuse to watch this movie, you might as well go watch an episode of "The Hills" or something, because you obviously have no taste and string noodles for brains. Ithankyou.

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This movie gets a solid 9.995 out of 10! Yet another early masterpiece of our ~~god~~ boy, Al.

The breakdown of the scores (No, they don't average out! AND?):

Al's hotness: 9.997

Story: 9.901

Other Actors Not Sucking: 9

Is Richard Bright in this Movie? NO??? : :(

pacinoinrealtime pacino in real time pacino in real time pacinoinrealtime

The Panic in Needle Park (1971)

2008-08-12T05:54:00.001-07:00

Well shove me sideways, I've just seen the best movie EVAH.

It's the first movie of my real-time Pacino adventures. The Panic in Needle Park. WOW.

The Panic in Needle Park, for the uninitiated, is a 1971 movie about druggies 'n' stuff.

It stars our boy Al in the lead as Bobby, a sweet minor thug turned junkie with the best wardrobe ever.

Kitty Wynn costars as the sweet young thang Bobby helps move past Marco's pot brownies.

Vis:

That, my friend, is the not-dated-at-all trailer from the original release.

A bit of trivia: Footage of Pacino's performance in this, his first starring role, is what Francis Ford Coppola used to convince reluctant studio heads to give an unknown Al a chance. So, eventually, finally, they relented and let Coppola cast him in the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather. (God forbid they didn't get to cast Robert Redford! The horror! What a bunch of dumbheads. What were they thinking? A blonde-haired Michael. Yeeeaaaah. Okay. Riiiiiiight.)

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In all seriousness, this movie gets a 9.9 out of 10! A masterpiece of young Pacino if there ever was one.

The breakdown of the scores:

Al's hotness: 10

Story: 9.85

Other Actors Not Sucking: 10

Is Richard Bright in this Movie? YES?: 10

Now For Some REAL Fun.

2008-08-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

Now, our inaugural post... Pacino, in the beginning.

(Well, post-The Panic in Needle Park, but pre-Godfather.)

Here's the situation:

I am a Sopranos fan. BIG. And, would you believe, I finally got finished watching the series about 2 months ago? Yeah, I sat and watched it nearly straight through for a month or so. It's true, I have no life; I really should look into that shit.

But, anyway. I was done with Sopranos and needed another mobfix. What was the logical choice? No, not Living Lohan. DUH! NO, NOT Casino (Ca-seen-it!). Yes, that's right -- The Godfather. I and II.

I rented it from my friendly local Blockbuster video, and, well, my li'l life changed forever. Was anyone in that movie besides Al Pacino? Iforget.

SO, that brings us to the creation of this blog, Pacino in Real Time.

I've always wanted to blog about something; god knows I've got enough to babbleonia about.

I decided I'd write my reviews, observations, and general swoonery of Pac-man's movies (terrible pun. who writes this shit?) IN REAL TIME -- Yes, that's right. As I watch them.

Since I've never seen any of em before. With me? K.

Without enough ado, I gibs you:

THE FREAKING SCREENTEST THAT THEY PUT MY POOOOOR AL THROUGH, EVEN THO HE'S GOD OR SOMETHING DUH:

Al Pacino in Real Time

2008-08-06T05:41:00.000-07:00

Screenings.

Reviews.

Madcap fun!

AND More!