Flickographics
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino career comparison infographic

The Method Men

So here’s the idea – isn’t De Niro past it? Doesn’t he just make bad films now? I thought I might look at the good vs the bad of his flicks through the IMDB user ratings they received. But it turned out there weren’t actually that many truly bad films – just quite a few average ones. So rather than forcing the negative this is about plotting where those good ones are (or were).

And while we’re at it, lets compare Al Pacino. The two big method actors of their generation are usually talked about in the same breath (especially with their big breaks in the Godfather films). And he too seems to have been going through something similar in his career – where have the classic films been in the last few years?

For the data I’ve plotted all the films on their resume’s with an IMDB ratings over 7. Because if it’s over 7, it’s a pretty good film (over 8 and it’s great). The vertical bars are really what you’re comparing from one to the other. The markers are an extra bit of information showing the actual rating – where I’ve labelled their highest scores. Both of them had a year in their careers featuring two classics on the same rating, which I’ve marked on there too.

The outcome? De Niro’s has done more films overall (about twice as many) and more good films (28 – 17), basically non-stop from the 70s to mid-90s, before a slump between ‘98 and ‘07. But now he’s even having a bit of a revival with the recent peak being Silver Linings Playbook. Other than Scarface, Pacino actually had a bit of a barren 80s and is having a very empty last 10 years, without a critical hit since 2002’s Insomnia.

Published on

4 November 2013