Few people have a stronger claim to being the greatest actor of all time than New York native Robert De Niro. A double Academy Award winner, De Niro's CV cannot be described as anything other than brilliant. Indeed for nearly two decades, from the 1970s to the early 1990s, he hardly put a foot wrong.
Forging a great working relationship with the legendary Martin Scorsese, De Niro's performances in New Hollywood-era productions such as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull have gone on to become the stuff of cinematic legend. Such was his huge committment to nailing any role he was asked to fulfill, De Niro put on seventy pounds in four months so as to accurately portray the state of Jake "The Raging Bull" La Motta in his post-boxing years.
It wasn't just his output with Scorsese which was incredible. When you consider his performances in The Godfather: Part II (my all time favourite) and The Deer Hunter (where clothing obsessives will notice his stunning Sierra Designs parka) you begin to realise that De Niro is quite simply cut from a different cloth.
Able to pull off the swaggering upstart (Mean Streets), the 'family' man (The Godfather Part II), the loner (Taxi Driver) and the unfulfilled talent (Raging Bull) with equal conviction, De Niro has also dabbled with musicals (New York, New York) and darkly comic masterpieces (The King of Comedy).
While his most recent output hasn't been of the same standard there is no doubt that De Niro is an icon of the big screen. With a burgeoning career as a director and another Scorsese lined up for the near future we certainly haven't seen the last of this man.
Selected Filmography
Hi, Mom! (1970)
Mean Streets (1973)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Last Tycoon (1976)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Raging Bull (1980)
The King of Comedy (1983)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Brazil (1985)
The Untouchables (1987)
Goodfellas (1990)
Cape Fear (1991)
A Bronx Tale (1992)
Casino (1995)
Heat (1995)
Jackie Brown (1997)
No comments:
Post a Comment