Product Details

• Actors: Al Pacino
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: June 19, 2007
• Run Time: 321 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000A9QK50
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,464 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Pacino: An Actor's Vision (Chinese Coffee / Looking for Richard / The Local Stigmatic)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

AL PACINO COLLECTION BOX SET - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here Some Information In case your interested, September 13, 2005

By 

iLLMATiC81 "BK-BASS-81" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pacino: An Actor's Vision (Chinese Coffee / Looking for Richard / The Local Stigmatic) (DVD)

THIS IS BASICALLY A COLLECTION OF THREE FILMS DIRECTED
BY AL PACINO IN WHICH HE ALSO STARS:
THE FOLLOWING IS THE LIST OF THE 3 FILMS INCLUDED AND SOME
PLOT INFORMATION.
A COLLECTION OF PACINOS BEST FILMS? ABSOLUTELY NOT
JUST A COLLECTION OF FILMS HE HAS DIRECTED

4-DVD set includes bonus disc with featurettes and other special features.


Three films directed by and starring one of the most adventurous talents of the modern screen era. Includes The Local Stigmatic (1990, 56 mins.), a disturbing drama about a pair of working-class Brits who administer a senseless beating to a famous film star. The Chinese Coffee (2000, 99 mins.) stars Pacino and the late Jerry Orbach in a drama about a frustrated middle-aged writer who nervously uses his close friend as a sounding board. Finally, Looking for Richard (1996, 109 mins.) is a light-hearted documentary on the staging of Shakespeare's Richard III. The film captures rehearsals, backstage conversations, and more to offer an eye-opening view of the theatre.

Looking for Richard:

PLOT DESCRIPTION
A workshop of William Shakespeare's Richard III inspires actor-director Al Pacino's breezy documentary, which aims to make the playwright accessible to contemporary American audiences. Though a noteworthy cast of stage actors and Hollywood stars (including Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, and Alec Baldwin) gathers to work on the play, Looking for Richard does not present a straightforward filmed version of the scheming, deformed king's rise and fall. Instead, Pacino turns the cameras on the rehearsal process and his own exploration of Shakespeare's history and meaning. Scenes in full costume alternate with readings in street clothes, while interviews gather the opinions on the Bard of everyone from renowned scholars and Shakespearean actors to random New Yorkers. A trip to England allows brief visits to Shakespeare's birthplace and the Globe Theater, but Pacino's focus remains on the United States and his desire to prove that American actors can act the plays without mimicking their British counterparts. Clearly a labor of love for Pacino, the film benefits from his passionate persona and direct, no-nonsense attitude; while the performances may vary in quality, the film manifests a refreshingly casual, unpretentious, and enthusiastic approach to Shakespeare. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide


Chinese Coffee

PLOT DESCRIPTION
Al Pacino made a rare return to the stage in 1994 when he starred in a Broadway production of Ira Lewis's play Chinese Coffee. In this film adaptation of the drama, Pacino recreates his performance and also directs. Harry Levine (Pacino) is a writer in his early fifties who has published two novels, but never enjoyed enough literary success to leave his job as a doorman. Harry has just finished a third book, and is waiting for his close friend Jake Manheim (Jerry Orbach) to read the manuscript and give him his opinion. Harry is already edgy as he awaits Jake's verdict, since his longtime girlfriend, artist Joanna (Susan Floyd), has just called an end to their relationship. Jake, on the other hand, broke up with his wife Mavis (Ellen McElduff) when he decided to abandon his 30-year career as a photographer in pursuit of a (thus far unsuccessful) career as an actor. At first Jake tells Harry he hasn't yet read his new book, but in time he confesses that he has and that, from a literary standpoint, he thinks Harry simply doesn't have the talent to be a success; he also feels hurt and betrayed as a friend that Harry used sensitive moments from Jake's private life as plot points in his novel. Chinese Coffee was Al Pacino's second effort as a film director, following Looking for Richard, his semi-documentary look at staging William Shakespeare's Richard III. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide


THIS IS BASICALLY THE ONLY INFO I COULD FIND ABOUT THE LOCAL STIGMATIC:

The Local Stigmatic

The Local Stigmatic was a short film made by Al Pacino in the 1980s. It has never been released although the very few people alive who managed to see it one way or another have claimed it to be very good. Pacino's next directorial effort, Looking for Richard in 1996, would be released theatrically.

The Local Stigmatic based on a stageplay by Heathcote Williams

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bought it for "Richard" but enjoyed the added material, October 10, 2010

By 

T. Gilchrist - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pacino: An Actor's Vision (Chinese Coffee / Looking for Richard / The Local Stigmatic) (DVD)

I was never a big Pacino fan until I stumbled on the documentary "Looking for Richard" in its limited theatrical release back in 1996. I'd read the play in school and it had affected me enough that I wanted another way to penetrate it, but doubted I'd ever really be able to, not without standing up to my English Major friends, some of whom are now teachers, and admitting "I don't entirely get this". So, walking alone past a small theater, seeing Al Pacino of all people on a poster in contemporary clothing, presuming to offer up a way into this material made me say "why not?"

Lo and behold, everything I'd felt about the story of King Richard, and all the doubts about penetrating Shakespeare's dramas turned out to be exactly what this movie is about. If you've had that same attraction to Shakespeare but always felt somewhat at arm's length, then perhaps you'll feel as I did upon seeing Looking for Richard: "Wow...Al Pacino made this movie for me." The opening sequence says it very clearly...Pacino approaches the footlights about to start the play and finds only one person in the audience, William Shakespeare, staring him down with a look that says "You??? You're gonna examine my play?" Pacino's self effacing reaction transfers directly to the viewer..."Yes, me. I'm gonna try. Why not me?"

After that, I was along for the ride as Pacino went to great lengths to visit seemingly dozens of actors, many well known and undoubtedly some of your favorites, to talk about their early and often uneasy first experiences with Shakespeare, and through their coming to terms with this one great play, acting out parts of it out informally, sometimes just out on the street with nothing but their common sense of purpose holding it together, Pacino and friends (along with the viewer) begin to get at the root of it in a powerful, personal way. The encounters with academics serve only to help understand the context of the play, a means to understand the complexities of the royal houses and politics, and, that done, are immediately sent to the rear of the class to make way for a more human approach, that of the actors. The music by Howard Shore along with the great pacing and editing brings about the end of this study all too soon, and it's become one of those movies I put on again and again, and I am caught up and moved by it each time. With this release I can now turn over my VHS copy to some of my actor friends and keep the DVD safely in my collection forever.

The box set is presented with interstitial conversations between Pacino and one of his Actor's Studio friends, and seems shot all at once for all of the films in this collection. Even so, it holds interest. The film Chinese Coffee with Jerry Orbach was surprisingly layered and very entertaining, deserving of its own review which someone else will have to write. The Local Stigmatic is a bit harder to absorb, but I've only viewed it once to date and it bears further viewing. Babbelonia is a long-form edition of the one-on-one conversations at the Actor's studio, and if you enjoy discussions like these about the actor's craft, you'll find it worthy. Had this release only been "Richard" I'd have rated it as highly and paid as much for it alone.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Al Pacino's Lovers, June 24, 2008

By 

Sherin Farouk Gad "LoveuAl" (Cairo, Egypt) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pacino: An Actor's Vision (Chinese Coffee / Looking for Richard / The Local Stigmatic) (DVD)

This set contains three works for Al Pacino that serve as an excellent insight into Al Pacino's art: Chinese Coffee, Looking Richard and Local Stigmatic. It is a proof how this man can be considered a real and superb artist. The commentary made by Al himself is a very usful one. I enjoyed it so much.

The fourth DVD is an inteview with Al. He talks about everything related to the art of acting, his background and his works.

If you love this living legend, you have to watch this set that tells you how great an artist he is.

I am very I own this set.