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The Essentials: 16 Great Robert De Niro Performances

null“Raging Bull” (1980)
“I coulda been a contender”—those words, famously spoken by Marlon Brando’s Terry Malloy in Elia Kazan’s immortal “On the Waterfront,” are resurrected as bookends in “Raging Bull”—a harrowing, blunt-force melodrama that uses the act of boxing as a metaphor for the crippling emotional and sexual jealousy that certain men can harbor. But Martin Scorsese’s 1980 picture—the one that many say “resurrected” his career—is no grandstanding act of macho wish fulfillment a la Antoine Fuqua’s “Southpaw.” This is devastating human drama that dissects the flimsy male id into flailing bits and pieces. And in a career full of big, monumental turns, De Niro’s performance here may just be his very best. His Jake LaMotta, a middleweight fighter from a mob-controlled part of the Bronx, N.Y., is part schoolyard bully and part classic coward—a guy who thinks nothing of brutally slapping his wife around, who also buries his feelings in food and can’t even bear to hear his beloved describe a rival fighter as “good-looking.” De Niro’s dramatic weight gain for the film’s second half has been well-documented, but it should not overshadow the subtleties and nuance that go into his unsparing portrayal elsewhere: this is a towering, fearless turn that (pun intended) pulls no punches.

null“The King of Comedy” (1982) 
In Martin Scorsese’s most misunderstood and underappreciated film, De Niro plays an aspiring comic and television hopeful named Rupert Pupkin. Living in his mother’s basement and seemingly without gainful employment, Rupert dreams of life on the small screen, and of writing jokes for his idol, talk-show legend Jerry Langford (a curdled, bitter Jerry Lewis). The problem is, not only is Rupert not the least bit funny, he’s also a case study in antisocial behavior—which is another way of saying he’s needy, delusional and, ultimately, very, very dangerous. Many balked at the strange, off-tempo rhythms of Scorsese and De Niro’s fifth screen collaboration, which seemed an especially head-scratching creative decision following the knockout success of “Raging Bull”, but “The King of Comedy’s” stature has grown over time, and the film now stands as one of the legendary actor’s most effectively skin-crawling performances, a spiritual precursor of sorts to everything from Seth Rogen’s psychotic mall cop in “Observe and Report” and Jake Gyllenhaal‘s reptilian Lou Bloom in last year’s “Nightcrawler.” Whereas other De Niro characters might fly off the handle at something insignificant, Rupert is more terrifying for what he doesn’t say or do, his volatility tamped down beneath ghastly faux-friendliness. He’s quiet, but big, scary plans are constantly coagulating in his head; the performance is a masterclass in passive-aggressive resentment and threats made with a smile. De Niro’s performance crown glitters with many jewels, but this turn has perhaps the darkest, oiliest sheen of all.

READ MORE: Tribeca: Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese & Jerry Lewis Reflect On ‘The King Of Comedy,’ Improv, Deleted Scenes & More

Once Upon A Time In America Robert De Niro“Once Upon A Time In America” (1984)  
10 years in the making, and with the likes of Richard Dreyfuss, Tom Berenger, and Gerard Depardieu passing through as candidates for the lead roles, Sergio Leone’s final epic ended up getting made with Robert De Niro and James Woods. Much like most every project De Niro was involved with in the 70s and 80s, “Once Upon A Time In America” would have been a completely different film had he not canonized his character, Noodles, into one of his signature performances, turning out —with all due respect to another one of his mainstay gangster roles coming up on this list—one of the most rounded and complex portraits of a haunted mobster in cinema. Similar to Vito Corleone’s calm and collected exterior, De Niro’s Noodles isn’t flashy—no, the source of his magnetism derives from something much more internal, somewhere from within the depths of his relationships with the two people who matter to him the most: his best friend Max (Woods, also incredible) and the love of his life Deborah (Elizabeth McGovern, magnificent). In every scene with them the film’s themes of friendship, betrayal and love are projected tenfold through De Niro’s meticulously-timed delivery. His final smile is enough to cause a lump the size of a football in the throat, and it reminds us of his knack for relaying volumes of emotion without uttering a single syllable.

untouchables-robert-De-niro“The Untouchables” (1987)
You know “The Untouchables” is Brian De Palma‘s film the second its first scene fades in; an overhead angle shot of a moment in a barber’s shop, all actors positioned as if posing for a painting. When the camera slithers downwards, however, and towards the man at the centre of attention, no one would fault you for having second thoughts; is this, actually, Robert De Niro’s film? Of course, from then on, the story mostly focuses on Eliot Ness’ (Kevin Costner) side of the law, as his team of ‘Untouchables’ (memorably led by Sean Connery’s Malone) go after Al Capone (De Niro) in prohibition-era Chicago. So to call it De Niro’s film would feel more than a little imbalanced, but the fact that it’s a legitimate consideration is reason why it’s on the list. He doesn’t appear all that much in the picture, he’s actually everywhere: in the horrific tragedy that follows the barber-shop scene, in Ness’ busted raids, and in everyone’s growing desire to stop a master-criminal. De Niro makes such a lasting impression in every scene he’s in that it’s impossible to forget him when he’s off-screen. A violently entertaining role for which he put on 30 lbs, his Al Capone is a perfect mix (for this film’s tone) of hammy caricature and humorless capriciousness, evidenced most memorably when he brings a baseball bat to a dinner and shows everyone what happens to people who suck at teamwork.    

Midnight Run“Midnight Run” (1988) 
After a slew of dramatic turns that started to pigeon-hole him as an ultra-serious actor who always goes an extra mile to bring authenticity to his roles, De Niro actively pursued something different. After failing to get the lead role in “Big” (can you imagine what that would’ve looked like with him and not Tom Hanks?!), he landed on lighter ground with Martin Brest‘s “Midnight Run.” It follows cantankerous bounty hunter Jack Wallace (De Niro) who gets enlisted to bring an accountant (Charles Grodin) back to L.A. because he embezzled money from gangster Serrano (the late, great, Dennis Farina). The story’s narrative tackles the classic “odd-couple” comedy shtick in familiar beats and rhythms, but the buddy chemistry between an amusingly sarcastic and cynical De Niro and the hilarious Grodin is everything here. Memorable turns by Farina and Yaphet Kotto as FBI Agent Alonzo Moseley add timeless entertainment to George Gallo‘s crackling screenplay, but it’s really De Niro and Grodin’s show. Placed in context, “Midnight Run” is the first time the world got to see Robert De Niro have whimsical fun in a role that wasn’t suspended by any thematic gravitas or big-name directors. And then he goes and ends up creating one of his most memorable, and definitely his funniest, character in the process—it’s undoubtedly his best comedy and one of his most criminally overlooked films when people talk about his greatest performances.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. a truly amazing body of work. i would add one hundred and one nights to this list, just to note that he has even worked with another legendary filmmaker agnes varda.

  2. Again, a brilliant performance, his best, missed again. DeNiro\’s most nuanced and best performance was in the now-forgotten "True Confessions", in which he learned a liturgy in Latin (!) and played a smug, calculating career priest to perfection. Easily DeNiro\’s most mature and nuanced performance. How is "True Confessions" so forgotten? It may not be "Chinatown", but it\’s close.

  3. Indeed, his performance in CASINO is certainly one of his essentials – perhaps in his top 10 for me, personally. His portrayal of Ace Rothstein is, in my opinion, one of the more fascinating and inspired performances of the gangster genre in the past 20 years.

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