Speeches by Al Pacino

Al Pacino.. what a great actor. He features among the top actors of all times. What poise, what delivery! He gets below the skin of the character and delivers the dialogue as it is very natural.

This post is not about Al Pacino or his acting. It is about few dialogues he delivered in few movies I like. You may not agree with me about attributing the success of these dialogues to Al Pacino since it is the person who wrote the screenplay came up with the dialogue. But what stands out is the way in which it was delivered. Be it Inch by Inch inspirational speech in 'Any Given Sunday' or his saving Charlie speech in 'Scent of a Woman', the way these dialogues were delivered, I cant think of anyone who could have done justice to them as done by Al Pacino.

Its been a long time since I saw them and heard them, but even to this day I remember them, The inch by ince one, word by word. The inch by inch one featured on the introduction section of the sports notice board in our college. Thats the power of the dialogue, but to make sense of it one has to see the clip, there is no shorter way to it. You can look at the clip and read it as well here. The piece is an inspirational one , not just to the team playing but to any one. It is more of someone sharing his life's learning than inspiring people to play and give their best in the game. The parallel drawn between the life and the game is truly exceptional. I think it pumps the adrenaline in anyone who reads it.

The scent of a woman stands in a totally different light altogether. It is more of someone holding on to a value and standing by it. Here also the life's experience comes into play, when he talks about the fork in the road. With well crafted examples he clearly defines whts integrity, whts courage. It is a revolt against the way the system is. It is not just about saving someone from a bad judgement or a not so good circumstance but it is about preventing the people from making a mistake, a mistake which is going to cost a great deal, about killing the soul of a young lad, about changing the way people look at things, giving prominence to certain terms which is used frequently but never understood - integrity, leadership, courage, spirit, soul. The speech and the video can be seen here.

Both the speeches shows the power of one. The one individual who had the experience, who learnt few lessons in his lifetime and helping the younger lot learn from his experience than the hard way, or the way he did. It is about conveying the experience in a manner and a circumstance where the people can relate to it easily and are in a position to appreciate and inculcate amongst themselves.