Luke
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CibbuanoRobert De Niro: A Guide to his Film Roles (Part 3 - the 1990s)
April 3rd 2007 20:40
This blog follows on from Parts 1 and 2 of my guide to Robert De Niro films I've seen. In the 1990s De Niro's film career sort of mutated a bit, he kicked it into overdrive and switched from carefully picked major roles in uncompromising films to more supporting roles and bigger movies. As a result, he made a LOT more films per year... whereas previously he usually only did one film a year, he was now making anywhere up to three or four films a year. So for the 1990s and 2000s part of this guide I've had to split it across three parts, as there are a lot more films to talk about (and De Niro's more recent output is also a lot easier to find than his earlier films, so I've seen more of them). This section deals with 1990 to 1994.
And here we go...
Jimmy Conway (Goodfellas)
Goodfellas (1990) Directed by Martin Scorcese
Jimmy Conway: After seven years apart, De Niro and Scorcese got back together again for this incredibly influential modern gangster epic. This time De Niro took on a supporting role, playing mentor to Ray Liotta's mafia-wannabe, and agreed to appear in the film mainly to help Scorcese sell it to film financiers. De Niro's work here isn't really anything new, but it's still good nonetheless. His later scenes as the older, more paranoid Jimmy Conway are fun to watch.
Leonard Lowe (Awakenings)
Awakenings (1990) Directed by Penny Marshall
Leonard Lowe: Some critical quarters were quick to give De Niro a bad wrap for his involvement in 'Awakenings', though I suspect it's more to do with the fact that this film is such an un-De Niro film and some people had become so attached to the stereotypical De Niro role (such as the one above in 'Goodfellas') that they had trouble accepting him doing anything wildly different. Suffice to say, De Niro got his fourth Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Leonard Lowe in this movie. Lowe is one of many patients who have become vegetables thanks to encephalitis, in this film a doctor named Malcolm Sayer (played by Robin Williams in restrained, serious actor mode) discovers a way to rouse these patients from their coma-like existence. I believe De Niro's work here as Lowe is amongst his best, and demonstrates how far his range could've gone had he not been pigeonholed in 'tough guy' roles for the majority of his career, his transformation from vegetable state to rejuvenated force of life is uplifting and moving. Lowe has been in this state since childhood, so we get a serious and affecting performance of a child in an adult's body, valiantly trying to adjust, and tragically altered by the devastating side effects of Sayer's treatments. One of De Niro's most emotional roles.
David Merrill (Guilty by Suspicion)
Guilty by Suspicion (1991) Directed by Irwin Winkler
David Merrill:This forgotten film features De Niro as a 1950s Hollywood director brought under suspicion by HUAC (the House of Un-American Activities) during Hollywood's infamous era of black-listing and 'naming names'. It's a fairly average film about a fascinating subject. It could've been a great and controversial film but the director changed De Niro's character from an actual communist to just being someone who opposes HUAC... it's this kind of gutless watering down that makes this film so mediocre, and De Niro's character is fairly unexpressive for the bulk of the movie. De Niro only really comes alive in the film's final scenes that take place at the HUAC hearing... these scenes are great, but it just reminded me what a shame it was that the rest of this film was so unmemorable. Also worth watching for some early scenes featuring Martin Scorcese acting alongside De Niro as a fellow director.
Donald Rimgale (Backdraft)
Backdraft (1991) Directed by Ron Howard
Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale: Ron Howard's all-star tribute to firefighters features De Niro in a supporting role as fire expert Donald Rimgale. De Niro's character here is kind of like the Van Helsing of fires, he studies fires and even has a Hannibal Lector-like pyromaniac arch-nemesis (played by Donald Sutherland), and also sports some gruesome burns across his back. Still clinging to his method roots, De Niro apparently studied various real life fire scenes alongside the real-life fire expert his character was based on, and unlike later films where he plays similar kind of characters you can tell De Niro is still putting in some effort here.
Max Cady (Cape Fear)
Cape Fear (1991) Directed by Martin Scorcese
Max Cady: This is probably one of De Niro's most notorious roles, and when most people think of De Niro acting all scary and stuff this film probably comes to their mind first. Martin Scorcese's amped up remake of the 60s thriller sees De Niro take his sociopath mimicry to near-comical levels. It's worth remembering that Bob was nearly 50 when he made this film, which is pretty impressive when you consider how buff he got for it. And yes, De Niro is full-on in this movie... he researched sex crimes and sexual predators, had his teeth professional damaged, got tattooed with vegetable dye and got his body fat down to about 3%, all to play one of the most horrible villains to ever be put on the screen. De Niro's Cady is a loutish menace and an unstoppable force of nature, and he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for the fifth time. To date, it is the last time he was nominated for an Academy Award.
Wayne Dobie (Mad Dog and Glory)
Mad Dog and Glory (1993) Directed by John McNaughton
Wayne 'Mad Dog' Dobie: This rather uneven comedy sees De Niro team up with Bill Murray, and the big gag is - Murray plays the tough guy! This film isn't really all that funny and De Niro plays the somewhat ironically named 'Mad Dog', a shy police photographer who gets mixed up with a gangster (Murray) who wants to be a comedian. De Niro is okay in this, but he isn't really given much to do, I guess he's funnier when he plays along with his tough guy stereotype ala 'Midnight Run' and 'Meet the Parents' rather than against it. He has oddly coloured hair in this film too, it seems to be a lighter brown than usual. Not really worth watching.
Dwight Hansen (This Boy's Life)
This Boy's Life (1993) Directed by Michael Caton-Jones
Dwight Hansen: De Niro takes an important supporting role in this partial biopic based on the formative years of writer Tobias Wolff's childhood. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Tobias, the son of a single mother (Ellen Barkin) who shacks up with Dwight, De Niro's character. Dwight initially appears to be a nice guy but as the film progresses it becomes apparent that this man considers his house to be a castle in which he is the unchallengable tyrant. De Niro is great in this, bringing to the fore all the petty meanness and abuse that colours the lives of so many broken homes. He also affects a more regional accent, dropping his normal New York twang. I'm not sure what accent it is as I'm not American, I think it might be a more north-western kind of accent or something. Anyway, this is a good film and Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Barkin are good in it too. One of De Niro's more underrated roles.
Lorenzo Anello (A Bronx Tale)
A Bronx Tale (1993) Directed by Robert De Niro
Lorenzo Anello: De Niro's directorial debut is a great coming-of-age film based on a play by actor Chazz Palminetri. If you enjoy films like 'Stand By Me' and 'Goodfellas' and ever had a hankering to see a film that combines the two genres these films represent then you couldn't really go past this engaging and entertaining movie. De Niro takes a supporting role as the father of the progatonist, a young boy torn between leading an honest life and following in the footsteps of the local head gangster (Chazz Palminetri). De Niro plays the flipside of the gangster role he's more often associated with, he plays a very moral and upstanding busdriver who always tries to do the right thing. It's nice to see De Niro play such a warm, fatherly figure (especially in light of the monster he plays in the previous film mentioned in this guide, 'This Boy's Life'). Another good movie that doesn't really get the kudos it deserves.
The Creature (Frankenstein)
Frankenstein (1994) Directed by Kenneth Branagh
The Creature: De Niro didn't get favourable reviews for his portrayal of the misbegotten creature created by Dr. Frankenstein. I think what I said in my paragraph for 'Awakenings' kind of applies for this role here too... a lot of people weren't willing to accept De Niro playing a sympathetic monster in a film based on a classic horror novel, and I think this is a shame because this is some of his most underrated and touching work. That he copped so much flack over something like this that he probably put a lot of work into, well, it's no wonder he seemed to stop caring in the late 90s and just signed on to any old drivel. Anyway, soapbox aside, I really like De Niro's performance here... he plays against expectations and gives some of his most sensitive acting as the deformed and unfortunate monster, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the creature in almost every scene he appeared. Also worth seeing for De Niro's early pre-monster scenes as the petty criminal the creature is primarily made from, where he affects a coarse British accent.
There are only two other De Niro films from this period that I haven't seen, these are 'Mistress', in which I understand De Niro has an extended cameo role as a film producer, and 'Night and the City', an apparently mediocre remake of a 50s noir film starring Richard Widmark. You can probably understand why I haven't rushed out to track these two particular films down.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Where is Heat??? Easily his best next to Goodfellas from the decade. "Clean up, go home"
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
From these years, I loved Awakenings and Backdraft...
...looking forward to the rest of the series...
Happy Easter to you
Lilla ...
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior