James Caan and Pacino both miscast
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Hutch — 5 years ago(September 29, 2020 12:08 AM)
Movies rarely get what you're talking about right. Though I never questioned the casting of Caan or Pacino. At least they gave good performances.
I would say that Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton matched up well in Ordinary People. -
telegonus2 — 7 months ago(August 08, 2025 06:31 AM)
I thought that James Caan was fine and wholly credible playing an Italian-American in
The Godfather
. Nationalities tend to very as to looks and body type, especially among people of European ancestry. In
The Godfather
the Corleones were Sicilian, and people from Sicily and Southern Italy in general tend to be shorter and darker than than those from the north. When I was a kid I went to a school that had a large Italian population, mostly, but not all, from the south. There were tall guys with reddish hair, short blonde guys, tall blonde girls, little kids, big ones, with many who just didn't look stereotypically Italian, sometimes due to having a parent of another nationality, but that was usually just a bit different than usual.
Al Pacino fit the bill for me in
The Godfather
as to his looks and stature, as he indeed of Italian ancestry. He did strike me as too short to play such a tough guy, but then his character wasn't known as a scrapper, and he'd attended an Ivy League university. I found Pacino more of a stretch as someone with that kind of education. He didn't come across as highly educated, as at least some of his tough, city and ethnic background ought to have attenuated due to his education and military background. Overall, I found his performance to be effective in spite of all that.
Overall, the movie works for me, although some of the veteran players who ought to have been good fits for their roles gave at best journeyman performances; and their familiarity took them out of the movie somewhat, but that's me. I think of Richard Conte as Barzini, and capable enough, but I couldn't forget who the actor was. It was the same with Sterling Hayden as the tough Irish cop. Again, it was Sterling Hayden in a movie. I couldn't suspend disbelief, although I like Hayden as an actor. Another actor who struck me as off was Robert Duvall. His voice was wrong for a big city east coast lawyer, and his mannerisms were distracting. -
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P.Error — 5 years ago(September 29, 2020 12:39 AM)
My brothers and I are shorter than my dad. We are 6’2 and he’s 6’4.
My cousin is shorter, he’s about 5’8 while his dad is 6’6. In face it was his sister who took the dad’s genes - she’s 5’11.
Never lose your desire. -
vicky_lc2001 — 1 year ago(May 15, 2024 01:36 PM)
My father is 3 inches smaller than his father and his mom was tall too. My father was born after ww2 when my grandfather's family lost everything during the war and they were poor. There are plenty of reasons why children turn out shorter than the parents, it could be because of genes, skipping a generation or poor nutrition or something else.
And no way can Pacino be replaced, the role was tailor made for him. He fit the description in the book and no one can do a better job than he did. -
Brand New User — 5 years ago(April 22, 2020 08:21 AM)
What did you enjoy about their performances? I found Caan to be out of place in that family because of his look and his sound. He played the role like he was a Bronx hoodlum not the son of a mafia boss. Pacino just seemed too short and it was jarring.
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