When director Francis Ford Coppola's film masterpiece The Godfather was released in 1972, Al Pacino galvanized filmgoers with his brooding, dark good looks and masterfully controlled performance as a Mafia leader. Pacino, already an award-winning stage actor, virtually established a new level of screen intensity, winning an Oscar nomination and launching an international career as a major film star. The film depicts a significant passing of power when the ailing Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) makes his son Michael (Pacino) the new "godfather." Since both Brando (a film icon) and Pacino (relatively unknown in films) were considered "Method" actors, many critics and filmgoers saw a parallel symbolic passing of influence from one generation of actors to another. For box-office reasons Brando was designated "the star" but Pacino, with his aura of low-key sensuality, compelling screen presence, and underlying explosiveness not only held his ground onscreen with...