32 Years Ago, Al Pacino Won His First Oscar After 8 Nominations — But It Wasn't for His Best Performance That Year (2025)

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32 Years Ago, Al Pacino Won His First Oscar After 8 Nominations — But It Wasn't for His Best Performance That Year (1)

By Thomas Butt

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32 Years Ago, Al Pacino Won His First Oscar After 8 Nominations — But It Wasn't for His Best Performance That Year (2)

For Oscars followers, the term "makeup Oscar," not to be confused with the actual award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, is a phenomenon that affects the best actors around. Whether it's John Wayne for True Grit or Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant, beloved stars tend to win for an inferior performance after years of appalling snubs. The most egregious case of a makeup Oscar lies with Al Pacino's Best Actor Oscar for playing the hot-tempered blind army officer, Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman. Not only is this performance nowhere near Pacino's best, it wasn't even his best Oscar-nominated performance in 1992, as that honor belongs to Glengarry Glen Ross.

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'Scent of a Woman' Represents the Worst of Al Pacino

32 Years Ago, Al Pacino Won His First Oscar After 8 Nominations — But It Wasn't for His Best Performance That Year (3)

Al Pacino giving four of the best performances of the 1970s, including The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon, apparently wasn't good enough for the Academy. They were more moved by him playing a cartoonishly broad and over-the-top man yelling "hoo-ah!" in Scent of a Woman 20 years later. Pacino's Oscar for the Martin Brest drama remains controversial, especially since he defeated Denzel Washington in Malcolm X, one of the best screen performances in history. Unfortunately, because the Academy snubbed Pacino far too many times, his win was inevitable. However, if Pacino was destined to win an award, it ought to have been for his supporting turn as the hotshot real estate agent Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross, James Foley's screen adaptation of the David Mamet play. The film — featuring a rich ensemble cast including Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, and Alec Baldwin — follows a group of desperate salespeople going to any cutthroat means to make deals and keep their jobs.

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In a rare feat of an actor receiving two nominations in the same year (recently seen with Scarlett Johansson in 2019), Pacino's nomination was overshadowed by his win for Best Actor in 1992, but his work in Glengarry remains a superior application of his talent. To opposite effects, this film and Scent of a Woman are quintessential Pacino performances. In Brest's film, the actor is all bombast, and he can't help but remain ham-fisted even in its quiet moments of pathos. This performance paved the way for Pacino's signature brand of over-the-top performances seen in Heat and The Devil's Advocate. While those are captivating, this style sells his versatile abilities short. Because Scent of a Woman represents the apex of treacly '90s Oscar bait, the film demands the viewer — despite Pacino's cantankerous and grating personality — to embrace Frank Slade as a heart of gold, who eventually appreciates the meaning of life after spending time with an earnest prep school student, Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell).

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'Glengarry Glen Ross' Demonstrates Al Pacino's Versatility as a Charmer and Menace

In the world of merciless real estate, there is no room for maudlin sentimentality, especially in a story penned by David Mamet. As Ricky Roma, the agent at the top of the sales leaderboard at Mitch & Murray in Glengarry Glen Ross, Pacino has Frank Slade's fierceness without the hokey writing. Never has film dialogue been so punchy, rhythmic, and utterly engrossing as it is in Glengarry, and Pacino chews up every syllable of Mamet's writing. Where most actors would be tempted to lean into the inherent sleaziness of Roma, who preys upon vulnerable people and lures them with the prospect of property ownership, Pacino plays him with class, something Roma's colleagues, Levene (Lemmon) and Moss (Harris), are woefully lacking. Roma, as if selling real estate is a perverse form of love-making, eloquently pitches a property to a client, Lingk (Jonathan Pryce), feeding into any man's lustful desires, only to trap him into signing a contract the next day at the office with the ferocity of a shark.

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Related

This Al Pacino Courtroom Drama Is an Intense Masterpiece Waiting To Be Rediscovered

Pacino delivers a masterful examination of how justice works in America.

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Like any worthwhile Al Pacino performance during the '90s, Roma doesn't shy away from hostile explosions. However, where most Pacino blow-ups during this era feel gratuitous, Roma barking back at a disgruntled Moss or laying into Williamson (Kevin Spacey) for blowing the Lingk deal are earned, as the pressure-cooker environment of the real estate trade causes everyone to blow a gasket. The stage-like setting of Glengarry restrains Pacino's unbridled fervor, and the deep-seated insecurity of lowly real estate agents permeates even through the top of the heap in Roma, which gives Pacino an underdog status that made him thrive in The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon. In short, Glengarry Glen Ross is one of Pacino's best performances and is not just the greatest hits of his tropes seen in Scent of a Woman.

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Glengarry Glen Ross is available to watch on Netflix in the U.S.

Watch on Netflix

32 Years Ago, Al Pacino Won His First Oscar After 8 Nominations — But It Wasn't for His Best Performance That Year (5)

Glengarry Glen Ross

Crime

Drama

Mystery

Glengarry Glen Ross is a drama directed by James Foley, adapted from David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The film stars Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, and Kevin Spacey, and centers on a group of real estate salesmen whose jobs are on the line as they compete in a high-stakes sales contest. The intense narrative unfolds as desperation and unethical tactics come to the forefront in the battle for survival.

Release Date
October 2, 1992
Director
James Foley
Cast
Al Pacino , Jack Lemmon , Alec Baldwin , Alan Arkin , Ed Harris

Runtime
100 Minutes
32 Years Ago, Al Pacino Won His First Oscar After 8 Nominations — But It Wasn't for His Best Performance That Year (2025)
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