# What is the greatest Al Pacino role of all time?

> From quiet, calculating masterminds to explosive, scene-stealing forces of nature, his range spans decades of American cinema's most complex anti-heroes and tragic figures. Cast your vote!

*By YPB Team · Published April 11, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-greatest-al-pacino-role-of-all-time*

---

## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **The Godfather (1972)**
   Pacino plays Michael Corleone, a war hero who reluctantly joins his Mafia family and transforms into a ruthless crime boss.
2. **Scarface (1983)**
   Pacino plays Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who claws his way to the top of Miami's cocaine empire in this operatic crime epic.
3. **Dog Day Afternoon (1975)**
   Pacino plays Sonny Wortzik, a desperate man who holds up a Brooklyn bank to fund his partner's surgery in this tense true-story thriller.
4. **Serpico (1973)**
   Pacino plays Frank Serpico, the real-life NYPD officer who blew the whistle on widespread corruption at great personal risk.
5. **Scent of a Woman (1992)**
   His Oscar-winning performance as the blind, cantankerous Lt. Col. Frank Slade, who takes a young prep-schooler on a wild New York weekend.
6. **Heat (1995)**
   Pacino plays LAPD detective Vincent Hanna, obsessively pursuing Robert De Niro's career criminal in Michael Mann's crime masterpiece.
7. **Carlito's Way (1993)**
   Pacino plays Carlito Brigante, a reformed Puerto Rican gangster trying to go straight in 1970s New York but unable to escape his past.
8. **The Godfather Part II (1974)**
   Pacino reprises Michael Corleone, now the ruthless patriarch consolidating power while flashbacks trace his father Vito's rise.
9. **The Devil's Advocate (1997)**
   Pacino plays John Milton, the charismatic and supernatural head of a Manhattan law firm with a secret demonic agenda.
10. **Donnie Brasco (1997)**
   Pacino plays aging mobster Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero, who unknowingly befriends an undercover FBI agent in this melancholy crime drama.
11. **...And Justice for All (1979)**
   Pacino plays a principled attorney pushed to the breaking point by a corrupt legal system in this courtroom drama.
12. **The Irishman (2019)**
   Pacino plays Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa in Scorsese's sweeping mob epic, delivering a magnetic and commanding performance.
13. **Any Given Sunday (1999)**
   Pacino plays a besieged football coach fighting to hold his team together in Oliver Stone's frenzied look at professional sports.
14. **Insomnia (2002)**
   Pacino plays a guilt-ridden LA detective whose moral compromise during a murder investigation haunts him in Christopher Nolan's thriller.

Tags: movies, actors, performances, al pacino