The Look Up

The Scene. The Scene that had been talked about and waited on for almost 3 decades. The Scene that allowed legions of film geeks the opportunity for a sigh of relief. The Scene that finally allowed two of the greatest film actors to share dialogue. The Scene that finally brought together Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.  

                

Following the Second World War, Hollywood began to change dramatically (pun, intended). With the decline of the studio system and the rise of television media, Hollywood was forced to alter its methods of storytelling in order to grasp what was the new wave of theatric audiences. Traditional classic hollywood cinema was replaced with films that were more experimental and surreal in nature. This marked the end of the Golden Age of cinema. Now when we think of post-Golden Age modern cinema, many names come in mind. We’ve got Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, to name a few. However, two actors that really had a definitive effect on me personally, were Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. In my eyes, they were a brand of actors that stood above the rest, not solely based on talent, but based on the iconic and cultural effect that they’ve had on a generation of actors and film enthusiasts.  

The similarities between the two’s careers are astonishing. Born 3 years apart, both are of Italian-American descent and raised in New York City. Entering the industry around the same time, both got their big breaks playing role(s) in Frank Coppola’s infamous trilogy (although some people prefer “dualogy”) The Godfather. Both are most famous for playing mobsters, and both are often credited as the pioneers of method acting, a technique that is still widely used by today’s actors. Both led post-Godfather careers of superstardom, playing some of the most iconic roles to date and garnering numerous Oscar nominations (and win(s)) in the process). So, when you’ve got two of the biggest leading men in post-Golden Age Hollywood, acting in their primes during the same era, you have to wonder, how come they’ve never ever shared a scene together? The only movie they’ve ever coincided credits in was The Godfather Part II, but even then, they did not share a scene together (De Niro played a young Vito Corleone in flashbacks, while Pacino played his son in the present). When superstars are defined, they are often compared. And with career similarities of this caliber, it is hard not to compare the two. So for the decades that followed Godfather II, many were left asking, who was the greater actor between the two? This question became increasingly irritating to answer as the years passed by, as the only reference available were the separate movies they made, and through character comparison, not scene analysis. 

I think if I lived through the 70s and 80s (and I wish I did), I would’ve pondered the same thing. “What if De Niro and Pacino actually shared a scene together? What would happen? Could Pacino’s outspoken personality overshadow De Niro? Or could De Niro’s smooth calm persona out duel his counterpart? What would happen if you put Travis Bickle and Scarface in the same room?” You can easily spawn hundreds of questions about what would happen if the two legends shared screen. So not until Pacino finally got his Oscar (for a role that wouldn’t crack his top 5 performances, it was more of a “sorry it took so long” award rather than a “you were great in that film, the best of the year” award, but that’s another discussion) in ‘92, did the thought of producing a film starring the two actually exist.

So here we are: Heat. Almost 30 years later, they’re finally going to star in a movie again. The 1995 Michael Mann crime thriller saw Al Pacino as a LAPD robbery-homicide lieutenant chasing the footsteps of a Robert De Niro-led group of career criminals. So there we have it, Pacino plays the good guy, De Niro the bad guy. What followed was a 3 hour spectacle of well orchestrated action sequences, trademark cinematography, beautiful direction of the greater Los Angeles, lots of guns, lots of yelling from Pacino, and lots of badass glares from De Niro (or “badassery”, going to coin the term). Sounds like a recipe for a great movie! What followed, however, had audiences possibly confused for a good duration of the film. Not until 85th minute of the film (nowadays, some films don’t even make it that far into the reel), did Pacino finally “Pacino-walk” his way up to De Niro’s car and ask “How’re you doin’? What do you say I buy you a cup of coffee?”

              

“Really? It took one and a half freaking hours for the two to FINALLY share a scene together? Are they PURPOSELY trying to titillate us? You knew what we came to see, but did you really need to build it up for HALF the freaking movie?! ARGH!!!!”

Although probably not to the exact degree of dramatic effect, the above is likely what most people felt when viewing the film for the first time - which is fair, however, we must look deeper. Was this done purposefully? When you read the synopsis of this film, its hard not to imagine Pacino and De Niro consistently dueling it out interrogative style in some kind of high-profile negotiation type setting. Wouldn’t that satisfy everyone’s need to see the two in action? Wouldn’t that be what everybody wants? Instead, Heat gives us just one single, 5 minute coffee shop scene to indulge in the interaction between two of the greatest actors living. During the end of the scene, we have conversation that goes something like this:

“You know we’re sittin’ here, you an I, like a couple of regular fellas, I mean you do what you do and I do what I gotta do. And now that we’ve been face to face. If I’m there and I got to put you away, I won’t like it. But I’ll tell you - if it’s between you, and some poor bastard whose wife you’re going to turn into a widow, brother, you are going down.”

“There’s a flipside to that coin. What if you do got me boxed in, and I gotta put you down? Cuz no matter what, you will not get in my way. We’ve been face to face yea. But I will not hesitate, not for a second.”

“Maybe that’s the way it’ll be. Or, who knows.”

“Or maybe we’ll never see each other again.”

There it is. Now I’ve seen Heat about three times now, and I’ve interpreted this scene in many ways. My take is, that Pacino and De Niro purposely did this. They purposely decided, that after 30 years of public anticipation, that they’re going to do a 3 hour film together, but yet only have one measly five minute coffee shop scene together. Why? - to illustrate the importance of what they’re about to say. Now you can interpret this scene as a conversation about the life and co-dependence of cops and criminals, or, you can look under the words a little bit more, and see the subject of their careers come up. What Pacino and De Niro said about putting each other down if they happen to meet up again, I see, as a conversation about their barring future as co-stars. If either is to meet up again on the screen, then one is expected to outshine the other. This is Pacino and De Niro stating what the public wants, what they’ve been wanting for the past 30 years, what they wanted for Heat, and what they will be wanting for their future films - which is more movies in which the two duel it out in an effort to judge who is the better actor. That’s what the public wants and have always wanted - they want to compare the two, they have to. Yes, now we’re getting somewhere…

“Or maybe, we’ll never see each other again.” There it is - one line that explains it all. The two have never wanted to be compared. Why compare two such respectable careers? So one comes out as a loser and one a winner? No, they’ve never wanted to be compared to each other. And they’ve told us by doing this movie. If they wanted to battle it out, then they would’ve, like I mentioned earlier, “dueled it out interrogative style in some kind of high-profile negotiation type setting.” But they didn’t. They took a 3 hour movie, and set a single 5 minute scene for each other to share. They’re basically saying, if you want to compare us, then compare us in this freaking coffee shop, you have 5 minutes. A kind of harmless eff-you to the critics. And wouldn’t you know it, they never shared a scene afterward (*SPOILER ALERT: well, until the last scene, an one on one gun battle to settle the score, which was in my opinion done for plot closure. It contained no dialogue). Well, until this of course:

                            

But I’m going to pretend the above didn’t exist :). (And I wish it hadn’t). Now this is just my take, it is my personalinterpretation. It’s how I like to see the purpose of the film and the scene, and how I like to believe what happened. I could be completely wrong, or I could be right. Guess I won’t know till Mr. Pacino or Mr. De Niro writes me back telling me how much of an idiot I am. But until then, this is what The Scene means to me.