alchillect

It has been exactly 60 years since Al Pacino was arrested for possession of a concealed weapon.

Here is the story behind this mugshot:

It happened on the night of January 7, 1961 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, when Pacino was only 20 years old. He was just a young actor at the time, and along with two actor friends, Vincent J. Calcagni and Bruce Cohen, was apparently on the way to an acting job when he was detained by several police officers.

The cops had gotten suspicious when the vehicle that the three actors were traveling in circled the block multiple times. When the officers approached the car, they found the three men inside wearing black masks and gloves. Upon further inspection, the cops also found a loaded .38 caliber pistol in the backseat.

Al Pacino photographed by Martha Swope in a scene from the Broadway revival of the play "Richard III."

Al Pacino in a scene fr. the New York Shakespeare Festival production of the play "Julius Caesar".

📸:Martha Swope

"Pacino, as Mark Antony, gives the evening’s most bewildering and idiosyncratic performance. The actor has a magnetic physical presence, and it’s impossible not to watch him when he is on stage. His Antony moves like a feral, street-wise gang leader who belongs more in the Bronx than in ancient Rome. So does his accent.

To compensate for his blue-collar patois, Pacino speaks in a slow, deliberate cadence. He spits out each word carefully as if he were afraid of mispronunciation. What’s left is language devoid of any feeling or emotion."

O gözler benim olur...

photo and song of the day.

18.10.2020 03.55

During filming, Al Pacino frequently adlibbed and improvised. Al like to do this because he was slow learning lines as well as to be spontaneous. This however can interfere with another actor's performance. Reportedly, Al's mentor, Lee Strasberg, said "Al, learn your lines, dollink!". Al years later recognized that this was good advice.

On and off the set, Al was seen frequently being "in character" due to his method acting, something to which he had been a student of under co-actor Lee Strasberg. At meal breaks, Al would be known to call Strasberg by his character name of Grandpa and once when asked about a contract by someone working on the film, Al started to assess it for him legally even though Al is an actor not a lawyer.

"If I say you're a friend of mine, that means you're connected. If I say you're a friend of ours, that means you're a made guy. If I introduce you, I'm responsible for you. Anything wrong with you, I go down."