I once took a picture of Al Pacino into a hair salon and told the stylist that I wanted to look like that. She said, "I'm a stylist, not a freaking magician." I just meant the haircut, lady. Anyway, if I were an actor, I'd ask to have a signature line of dialogue like Al Pacino. Nobody overdoes it better.
Pacino had a memorable line in 1979's And Justice for All. "You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole trial is out of order!" Everybody got to break that one out well into the '80s, lawyer or not. Norman Jewison directed the courtroom caper, which comes off like Perry Mason on steroids.
And look at the supporting cast: Jack Warden, John Forsythe, Jeffrey Tambor, Craig T. Nelson, Lee Strasberg. Hey, was Strasberg Forsythe's acting coach for Bachelor Father? Thomas Waites was in it, I have all his albums. Oh, wait. Waites. Not Waits. Sorry, I got carried away there. I was out of order. The whole article is out of order!
Justice Wines of Napa Valley will do nicely here. Their Jurisprudence Cabernet has a name so long that it's broken up by a hyphen on the label. If you're planning on buying Justice for all, be forewarned that it runs about $200 a bottle. And that's before any billable hours get tacked on.
Sidney Lumet directed Pacino in Serpico in 1973. Apparently, no one associated with casting this movie ever said "That shrimp never gets the part!" Even critics who panned the film overall thought that people should plunk down their $1.76 to see it just for Pacino's performance. The cost of a movie ticket in 1973 was $1.76. Adjusted for inflation, that's more than ten bucks in today's money. Have you paid to see a movie lately? Forget corrupt cops. It's the corrupt concession stands we need to investigate.
In Blake Edwards’ S.O.B., a cop comes to the door to bust up a party. He ends up pitching a story idea to a producer, because he's got some great stories from being a cop. "And none of that Serpico crap, either." I’ll take some of that Serpico crap any day. "We do not wash our own laundry. It just gets dirtier."
Feudi di San Gregorio has a single vineyard Aglianico wine called Serpico. That suits me just fine. Get out $70 and party like it's 1973.
Serpico worked so well, Lumet decided to do it again in 1975, when he helmed Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon. This was the film version of the 1972 attempted bank robbery in Brooklyn. If you think art imitates life, you are correct. Dog Day Afternoon was taken from a Life magazine story about the botched robbery.
Pacino's big line from Dog Day is "Attica! Attica!" The line was reportedly improvised by Pacino. A journalist who covered the heist remarked that the script presented Pacino's character as being more rational than he really was.
The crime was a drawn-out drama on a hot August afternoon, one that had decent intentions behind it. Some of the loot was supposed to go to a sex change operation. But dumb criminals are high on every cop's wish list. Sometimes you're not arrested for the crime, just for being dumb enough to get caught doing it.
Pheasant Run Wine is in Oregon, but they make some of their wines with grapes from Walla Walla, Washington. Bank Robber Red is what they call a criminally good blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. If it's a blazing hot late summer day, try their Heist Sauvignon Blanc while you lay low waiting for the heat to blow over.
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