Al Pacino in "Kramer vs. Kramer"—a role that Pacino had declined. During the 1970s, Pacino had four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, for his performances in "Serpico", "The Godfather Part II", "Dog Day Afternoon", and "...And Justice for All". Pacino's career slumped in the early 1980s; his appearances in the controversial "Cruising", a film that provoked protests from New York's gay community, and the comedy-drama "Author! Author!", were critically panned. However, his performance in "Scarface" (1983), directed by Brian De Palma, proved to be a career highlight and a defining role. Upon its initial release, the film was critically panned due to
Al Pacino gone back to the stage was that my movie career was waning! That's been the kind of ethos, the way in which theater's perceived, unfortunately." Pacino returned to film in 1989's "Sea of Love", when he portrayed a detective hunting a serial killer who finds victims through the singles column in a newspaper. The film earned solid reviews. Pacino received an Academy Award nomination for playing Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit "Dick Tracy" in 1990, of which critic Roger Ebert described Pacino as "the scene-stealer". Later in the year he followed this up in a return to