[CondoleezzaProtege]

Pacino’s legacy as Michael Corleone also makes it hard to miss the similarities between the third scene of Merchant [of Venice] with the opening scene of The Godfather…Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning screenplay even echoes Shakespeare’s rhetorical structure:

from “The Godfather”:

DON CORLEONE: You were afraid to be in my debt […] You had a good trade, made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law. And you didn’t need a friend of me. But, uh, now you come to me and you say, “Don Corleone, give me justice.” But you don’t ask with respect. You don’t offer friendship. You don’t even think to call me Godfather.

from “The Merchant of Venice”:

SHYLOCK: You call me misbeliever, cutthroat dog, And spet upon my Jewish gaberdine, And all for use of that which is mine own. Well then, it now appears you need my help. Go to, then. You come to me and you say “Shylock, we would have moneys”—you say so, You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur Over your threshold.

[BenLurkin]

Saw his Shakespeare.

Not his cup of tea, I would say.

[CaptainK]

Word on the street was not to get a seat too near the stage because Richard III Al let the saliva fly.

[Psalm 73]

William Shatner would say: “Al Pacino, now THAT guy over acts...”