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With Al Pacino opening this weekend in one of the worst movies of his career — it’s a serial killer thriller called _88 Minutes_ and it seems 88 hours longer — the time is ripe to honor
Pacino the ranter. In _88 Minutes_, he screams, shouts and spits directly in the killer’s face, but it’s too little and too late. The movie sucks. Pacino rants best when the movie deserves
his anger. In an addictive new book of movie lists, _10 Bad Dates with De Niro_, editor Richard T. Kelly includes a provoking critical essay by Tim Robey entitled: _The Mighty Apoplexies of
Pacino — Ten Scenes Where ‘Shouty Al’ Shows Up_. Robey gives pride of place to _The Devil’s Advocate_, in which demon Al, in a slice of Parma-grade Pacino ham, rants about his Almighty
enemy: “He’s laughing his sick, fucking ass off. He’s a tight-ass! He’s a sadist! He’s an Absentee landlord! Worship that? Never!” Pretty good, I admit. My favorite Shouty Al — I never went
with all the _Scent of a Woman_ hoo-ha! — comes from 1992’s _Glengarry Glen Ross_, James Foley’s terrific film version of David Mamet’s liveliest play. It’s the way Pacino decimates Kevin
Spacey, playing Williamson the office manager of a shady real estate firm. As Robey writes, “Spacey has never before or since been so entirely dealt with, dismantled.” Give a listen to
Shouty Al as he takes the piss out of Spacey: TRENDING STORIES “You never open your mouth until you know what the shot is. You fucking child. Who ever told you that you could work with men?
Where did you learn your trade, you stupid fucking cunt, you idiot? Oh, I’m gonna have your job, shithead. You know your business, I know mine. Your business is being an asshole.” Primo
stuff especially the way he hisses “you fucking child.” And there’s much more: _Dog Day Afternoon_ gave us “Attica! Attica!” _The Godfather IIi_ provides, “Just when I thought I was out,
they pull me back in.” And say hello to my leetle friend _Scarface_, where Shouty Al condemns the Diaz brothers: “Fuck ’em all. I bury those cock-a-roaches.” But I’m sticking with _Glengarry
Glen Ross_ as No. 1 Shouty Al. That’s my choice. What’s yours?