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Round 1: "Serpico" (1973) vs. "Mean Streets" (1973)

Young, feral and hungry, Pacino and De Niro put their first-hand knowledge of the Big Apple to good use in this double shot of Gotham nitty-grittiness. As the only NYPD cop who apparently isn't on the take, Pacino's Frank Serpico... more gives the real-life white knight a nice rough edge; he also offers viewers an impressive, ever-changing feathered-locks and facial-hair fashion show. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, De Niro's Johnny Boy is the type of neighborhood guy who Serpico would probably bust in a New York minute, a young punk who gives his partners in crime no end of grief. His dynamic take on Little Italy's resident screwup offers a nice sneak peek of future De Niro tough guys and was the start of a beautiful friendship between the actor and director Martin Scorsese. But this one goes to Pacino, who turns the law-enforcement martyr into a complex, often-contradictory character waging a quixotic battle against corruption. And he only loses his temper twice, which for Al is some sort of record.

Winner: Pacino, by a hair(do)

(Everett Collection)