Let’s Cut Al Pacino Some Slack For His Oscars Gaffe

The Oscars can mean many things to many people — a celebration of movies, a sport, a trigger, a communal experience. Beyond all those things, it is a increasingly uneasy mash-up of classic and new Hollywood with the latter winning out more often than not, most likely in pursuit of greater relevancy with younger viewers. As such, we see Lifetime Achievement awards get shuffled off to the Governor’s Awards (depriving audiences of seeing a loving tribute and speech to Mel Brooks) and In Memoriam segments that get botched in ever new and depressing ways.

One continuing way the ceremony does honor cinema lore is with its presenters and the four acting awards; esteemed actors across the generational spectrum (but more in the 90s and 2000s relevant class than the 70s and 80s) offering testimonials about this year’s honorees. There’s also the Best Picture category, where traditionally one or multiple legends give out the biggest award of the night. This despite Warren Beaty presiding over the most epic whoopsy daisy in awards show history when he announced the wrong winner that one time.

This year, Al Pacino got the honor, and while he didn’t give the award to the wrong film, he did stray from the norm of reading the nominees, rolling into the main event of the main event with little of the expected buildup and breathlessness that might be expected of such a moment. Anticlimactic? Yeah. A little weird? Sure, and it pissed some people off, as well. But, and I say this with all due respect to the Oscars, that category, those nominees, and all offended: who cares?

First, it’s not like the nominees weren’t a running theme of the night. Hearing them read again would have been nice, but I don’t think anyone was unaware of which films were in the mix and pretty much nobody expected a different result (going into the show and certainly as the night went on and Oppenheimer showed clear signs of momentum).

Also, it’s Al Pacino. Let’s define that. This is an actor whose expressive on-screen nature and swagger helped to further the cause of using nervous energy, human explosivity, and confidence to propel certain roles (for him, Dog Day Afternoon, Scarface, And Justice For All). This is also someone who could brood and built tension through quiet when the moment called for it (The Godfather, Heat, Insomnia). To a lot of the people in that room last night, Pacino is a foundational figure.

And sure, to a lot of people, in general, he’s a bit of a caricature of himself (something he has had fun with, as in the Jack And Jill Dunkacino bit) with the unmistakable vibe of an old man who used to be the young dude that everyone wanted to be or be with. Add it all together and he is a true character, so of course he was going to make the assignment his own and, maybe a little weird. This is a good thing. Everyone takes the Oscars so seriously, expecting narrative and execution perfection.

The best parts from last night – The Godzilla Minus One team having to juggle Godzilla action figures and trophies, Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” performance, the nude John Cena “costumes…” bit, Mulaney on Field Of Dreams, and amazing speeches from Cord Jefferson, Emma Stone, Mstyslav Chernov, and others – were all, to varying degrees, fresh and unexpected. I’d add Pacino being either unaware or indifferent to the details of his assignment to that list. Besides, based on Pacino’s own account of his first time at the Oscars in the ’70s, when he thought the show was an hour long and popped valium like candy, things could have been worse. Or better, depending on your appetite for chaos.

Again, in that the Oscars has moved further and further away from celebrating cinema’s past in all but surface ways, we should embrace what little we get and the potential for something interesting to happen. Al Pacino is a singular talent who won’t always be around to remind us of that. If you honor him with this task and then try to put him in a little box and expect him to be a prop, then you’re not really honoring him or fans who come to the Oscars for the spectacle and history as much as for the glam or the results. At least that’s what my eyes see.