Dick Tracy is a 1990 Walt Disney film directed by and starring Warren Beatty based on Chester Gould's 1930s comic strip about a detective fighting crime in a city inhabited by oddly deformed gangsters. [more inside]
posted by hippybear on May 9, 2012 - 98 comments

Glengarry Glen Ross endures mainly as a spectacular display of verbal warfare and alpha-male gamesmanship. There’s a musical quality to it, with a great composer and a great chorus hitting the complicated runs of broken dialogue and solos that weave into profane poetry and nuggets of philosophical wisdom. Perhaps the greatest sign of the movie’s success, owed equally to Mamet’s script and this cast, is that it does a great sales job in itself, convincing us that there’s nobility to men who lie for a living — a bill of goods we’re all too happy to buy. [more inside]
posted by Trurl on Sep 29, 2011 - 67 comments

Frank Serpico testified before the Knapp Commission in October 1971, becoming the first police officer in the United States to voluntarily give evidence against a fellow policeman. You probably have seen the movie. Frank Serpico returns. “I still have nightmares,” he said. “I open a door a little bit and it just explodes in my face. Or I’m in a jam and I call the police, and guess who shows up? My old cop buddies who hated me.”
posted by Xurando on Jan 22, 2010 - 41 comments

De Niro non disputandis est or, in English, don't fuck with Bobby De Niro. Which is what the English have been doing recently, naming Al Pacino as the greatest movie star of all time. Askmen.com is a little more appreciative but also brackets Pacino with De Niro. The American Film Institute [pdf format] will be giving De Niro their 31st Lifetime Achievement Award on June 12 but - there they go again - he's merely described as "widely regarded as one of the most skillful actors of the last three decades". Is nothing sacred anymore? Who's the man [read "of a certain age, experience and cojones"], after all? I mean, after Jack Nicholson, of course. Now I'm all confused!
posted by Carlos Quevedo on May 8, 2003 - 31 comments

"Dog Day Afternoon" Is one of my favorite movies. In it, Al Pacino plays a born loser who attempts to rob a bank in order to pay for his lover's sex-change operation. It's based on a true story, and you can read the original article that inspired the movie here. Strangely, the real-life robber was able to pay for the sex-change operation with money he got from the proceeds of the film. Also of interest is this French documentary about the crime.
posted by grumblebee on Sep 1, 2002 - 17 comments