Al Pacino has one of the most impressive careers of any actor in the history of Hollywood. For over half a century, he has bellowed, screamed, and "hoo-ahhed" his way into the cinematic history books. Throughout Pacino's prolific and varied career, there's one type of film he's associated with the most: the gangster movie.

Al Pacino's portrayal of Michael Corleone in the instant classic The Godfather secured his place among the best actors to ever bring the violence and debauchery of crime-related gang activities to life on the big screen. His subsequent performances in films such as Scarface, Carlito's Way, and, more recently, The Irishman have only further ratified what many of his fans have known for so long. No one brings the same intensity, duplicity, and manic energy to the rough-and-tumble world of gangster movies as Al Pacino.

10 Dick Tracy Sees Pacino Put on his Big Boy Pants

Based on the 1930s comic book strip of the same name, Dick Tracy was one of Hollywood's earliest attempts to crack the comic-book formula. Produced, starring, and directed by Warren Beatty, the film followed the titular private dick as he tracks down the nasty crime boss Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice, played by none other than Al Pacino.

Al Pacino garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his larger-than-life role in Dick Tracy. Although the role is certainly far from one of his best performances, Pacino successfully walks the thin line between humorous and menacing, providing the perfect counterbalance to Beatty's ultra-serious Dick Tracy.

9 Ocean's Thirteen Made a Safe Bet Casting Al Pacino

For the final entry in his Ocean's trilogy, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh cleverly tapped into Al Pacino's storied history in the crime genre. The legendary actor was cast as Willy Bank, a wealthy casino owner in Las Vegas who becomes Danny Ocean and his crew's final mark after double-crossing the gang's longtime associate, Reuben Tishkoff.

Pacino's performance as Willy Bank is surprisingly subtle (at least by his typical scenery-chewing standards) while maintaining all the necessary menace. As a result, Ocean's Thirteen is generally considered a far superior film to its previous entry, Ocean's Twelve. Whether or not that's true is up for debate, but regardless, Pacino was menacing enough to find himself nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Best Villain.

8 Donnie Brasco Offers Pacino a More Nuanced Take on His Typical Gangster Role

In the late 1990s, Al Pacino was at the top of his career. That year alone, he starred in The Devil's Advocate and the crime drama Donnie Brasco. The latter followed the true story of an undercover FBI agent, played by Johnny Depp, infiltrating a dangerous New York City crime family with the help of Pacino's Lefty Ruggiero, an aging hitman who takes Brasco under his wing.

What set Donnie Brasco apart from other Pacino crime and gangster movies was that it allowed him to portray an aging character grappling with complex emotions and interests. Outside of Michael Corleone, most of Pacino's other gangster characters have mainly remained one-dimensional. Torn between his allegiance to the mob and his developing friendship with Brasco, Lefty's struggle ropes the film's viewers in and doesn't let go.

7 The Irishman Offered Pacino the Chance to Play a Notorious Real Life Gangster

It took Al Pacino an awfully long time to finally team up with Martin Scorsese, and when he did, he appeared alongside Robert De Niro in 2019's The Irishman. As one might expect, with three of the most prolific crime-related storytellers of the modern era teaming up for one film, this nearly four-hour film was a gangster movie of epic proportions.

Pacino starred as Jimmy Hoffa, the powerful and charismatic union leader who got mixed up in a web of organized crime and politics, leading to his mysterious death. Atypically understated throughout, Pacino's performance has just the right amount of magnetic charm and fiery temper, proving once and for all that few filmmakers know which buttons to press better in gangster pictures than Martin Scorsese.

6 The Godfather Part III Was an Offer Pacino Couldn't Refuse

The final entry in Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy has always had a complicated legacy. Underwhelming to many and underrated to some, The Godfather Part III provided the conclusion to Michael Corleone's story arc, with Pacino once again returning as his most infamous character.

As Michael Corleone attempts to legitimize the family business, he faces challenges from outside forces and within his family. Al Pacino does a masterful job of expressing Michael's regret, frustration, and anguish throughout all the twists and turns. While The Godfather Part III might be flawed compared to its two previous entries, it's still an exciting and worthwhile entry into one of cinema's most storied franchises. Pacino is the biggest reason why.

5 Carlito's Way has Been Criminally Overshadowed

Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way has always been unjustly compared to the movie Al Pacino and the legendary filmmaker made a few years prior: Scarface. The similarities are certainly there for anyone interested in checking them out, but where the two films wildly differ is in tone. Scarface is a hyper-energized study of masculinity, whereas Carlito's Way takes a far subtler approach to a similar subject.

Al Pacino stars as Carlito Brigante, a Puerto Rican gangster looking to go straight after being released from prison who keeps getting pulled back into his old way of life. Softer and more understated than most of his other gangster-related performances, in Carlito's Way, Pacino harnesses a sense of tragic inevitability that permeates the entire film.

4 The Godfather Was A Legendary Movie with an Equally Legendary Performance

The Godfather is widely recognized as one of the best films of all time, and it provided Al Pacino with his breakthrough role in the film industry as Michael Corleone, the heir to the Corleone crime family. While Michael initially remains hesitant to join the family enterprise, he's slowly drawn into the mafioso world after an attempt on his father's life, Vito (played by the acting legend Marlon Brando).

Al Pacino masterfully brings Michael Corleone's character arc from a heroic World War II veteran to a morally compromised mobster to life. Unlike many of his future performances, the pleasure comes in watching Pacino slowly morph from a decent human into a deceitful and vengeful man. The Godfather sits in rarefied air as one of the very best in the genre, and any other actor would be hard-pressed to top it.

3 Scarface Created One of Pacino's Most Unforgettable Characters

Outside of Michael Corleone, no Al Pacino character is more instantly recognizable than Scarface's Tony Montana. Endlessly quoted and infamously duplicated, Pacino's willingness to engage in excess was never more successful than it was here, turning this extreme drug-dealing maniac into a legitimate pop culture icon.

Scarface blurs the line between a harrowing tale of addiction and the pleasures of thrill-seeking, providing a bit of a mixed message. That being said, Al Pacino is absolutely undeniable as the volatile Tony Montana. Simply put, the audience can't take their eyes off of him. There's a reason this film is still such a gigantic part of popular culture, and much of it is due to the incredible intensity Pacino brings to the screen. Tony Montana might not be likable, but he's utterly unforgettable.

2 Heat Sees an Unhinged Pacino Try to Bring a Gangster to Justice

Heat is an outlier on this list because Al Pacino isn't playing the gangster in this film; that's Robert De Niro's job. Instead, Pacino assumes the Los Angeles Detective Vincent Hanna role, who must bring De Niro's Neil McCauley to justice. The problem is that both men seem to have more in common than they don't.

Much of the film's success hinges on Al Pacino's vulnerability as Vincent Hanna, which steadily escalates until the actor's intensity takes a hard right and becomes one of his most over-the-top performances ever. Considering this is Pacino, that's saying something, but the actor didn't make this choice in a vacuum. Earlier drafts of the film included a storyline in which Hana was a cocaine user, and director Michael Mann encouraged Pacino to continue delivering his lines as if the plotline hadn't been dropped. As for Heat's upcoming sequel, Pacino knows precisely who should portray a young Vincent Hanna.