The actor made the comments in New York last night

It's a debate that has been played out across dinner tables, in bars and amongst friends and film lovers for decades: which is the best 'Godfather' film?

It's safe to say that the toss-up is between 'Part 1' and 'Part 2', but now the man who features in both, Al Pacino, has had his say.

The 82-year-old acting legend took part in a public interview in New York last night, when he revealed that he is writing a memoir and discussed the highlights of his lengthy career.

Of his memoir, he said "You get to that age, you start to do things like that. I stayed away from it, but I think I’ve got to sort of talk about certain things. It’s fine, I have kids and all, it’d be a good idea, and I’m working on it."

He said that he had watched Paramount+ series 'The Offer', the mini-series which follows the development and production of Francis Ford Coppola's iconic 1972 film. "I watched it and about half of it was true. Really, that’s a shock," Pacino said, adding that after the first day of shooting on the film, "Diane Keaton and I got drunk and thought, ‘This is it, our careers are over. This is a mess.'"

When he was asked for his own two cents on whether he thought 'The Godfather Part II' is better than its predecessor, he answered decisively.

“No, I don’t," he said. "I really think it’s more - what would you call it -artistic or something, I don’t know. I don’t mean to play it down and be overly modest because I star in it with Bob de Niro, but at the same time, it’s a different film."

He added: "You see, 'The Godfather' is more entertaining. 'Godfather II' is this study, this personal thing for Francis [Ford Coppola]. 'Godfather I', I saw it recently; it’s always got two or three things going on in a scene. You’re always in the story, you’re going. You don’t know what’s going to happen next, it’s storytelling, it’s really storytelling at its best. 'Godfather II' sort of linearises, and [it’s] kind of different, sombre, moves slowly. But it’s a great movie, I have to say."

Pacino also revealed that he had turned down a role in 'Star Wars', saying "So I was there and all of a sudden they gave me a script that was called 'Star Wars'. I said, ‘I got the script, they offered me so much money, but I don’t understand it'." `

He jokingly added: "I gave Harrison Ford a career, which he has never thanked me for!"