Assessment 2

After watching this clip several times, I feel that Al Pacino’s portrayal of the character “Frank,” is really solidified once he briefly insinuates that he spent time in the war… I have not seen the full movie, but in the clip used for this assignment, I sense that this is the earliest point at which such a distinction can be made. In regards to the speech itself, I feel that the true character of the speech is a warning about the nature of leadership, and that the “Baird School” should question what kind of values they are instilling in their students, and what kind of leaders they are producing. Franks character is shown in the way he will not sit down, even when asked to, because he is not a man who bends to the image of authority.

I felt that Frank’s speech relied on inductive logic to lend a sense of “fact” to his speech, i.e., in the way Frank described his personal assessment of Charlie’s character. Franks statement, “when the shit hits the fan, some guys run, and some guys stay…” is a logical statement about the character of a man, and that upstanding men and leaders do not “run” when things get hard. When Frank mentions that Charlie chose not to be “bought-out,” this was a truthful statement used as evidence of Charlie’s character…  that he would not yield to the level of being a snitch.

I felt that anecdotes like, “when the bow breaks, the cradle will fall,” or the narrative, “there is nothing like an amputated spirit,” are moving emotional appeals, and show Franks competence of elocution. I also felt that Frank’s statement about having “… been to the crossroads,” is moving testimony, and reveals an element of his true character.

Al Pacino used a lot of non-verbal displays in his portrayal of “Frank.” For example, grabbing his fold-up cane and using it to gesticulate or hit the table for effect, yelling during phrases like “… if I was the man I was five years ago, I’d take a flame thrower to this place!” or lowering his voice when speaking about there being no prosthetic for an “amputated spirit.” These were persuasively effective in a visual and auditory way, and I feel helped Al Pacino’s portrayal of being outraged at the “rot on the top.”