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CibbuanoRobert De Niro: A Guide to his Film Roles (Part 4 - the 1990s cont'd)
April 7th 2007 04:38
Well, this is Part 4 of a five part guide to De Niro films I've seen. This part deals with Bobby boy's films from 1995 to 1998. De Niro pretty much did his last good work as an actor in this period, he collaborated with Martin Scorcese for the last time (on 'Casino') and did one or two more interesting things before pretty much going on autopilot for the rest of his acting career so far. I'm afraid the mid-90s were the beginning of the end for De Niro, he also started taking more and more supporting roles, perhaps sensing easier money... but oh well, we soldier on!
Sam Rothstein (Casino)
Casino (1995) Directed by Martin Scorcese
Sam 'Ace' Rothstein: Scorcese's epic Vegas flick needs little said to reccomend it, but nevertheless, our man De Niro brings his A-game to this biopic of real-life mafia associate Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal. A highly entertaining rollercoaster ride incorporating gambling lords, gangsters, and the low-life hangers-on they attract. All three leads - De Niro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone - do great work here, and the film exists as a kind of thematic sequal to 'Goodfellas', with both films being similar in tone and style, as well as both being based on true crime books by Nicholas Pileggi. De Niro gives a towering performance as the broken-hearted obsessive survivor who runs one of Vegas's biggest and dirtiest casinos, and he also provides some entertaining voice-over narration (alongside Pesci). One of De Niro's two last great films.
Neil McAuley (Heat)
Heat (1995) Directed by Michael Mann
Neil McAuley: De Niro lends his considerable screen weight to this elegant cops-and-robbers epic as career thief Neil McAuley, the professional leader of a no-nonsense crew looking to pull off a big job. 'Heat' helped bolster Michael Mann's reputation as the classiest of America's home-grown action directors, and is a slick and impressive all-star action thriller for people who don't mind a bit of storyline with their shooting and killing. Probably best remembered as the only film in which De Niro and Al Pacino both appear on the screen at the same time (they both previously starred in 'The Godfather Part II' but never actually shared any scenes). Mann wisely keeps their storylines in 'Heat' seperate for the bulk of the film... De Niro and Pacino only have one scene together, but this just seems to make it all the more special. Most people tend to agree that this is De Niro's last truly great movie.
Gil Renard (The Fan)
The Fan (1996) Directed by Tony Scott
Gil Renard:This isn't really a bad film, or even that bad a performance, but what it is is something we've all seen before. De Niro gives a recycled psycho-stalker performance that calls to mind his superior work in 'Taxi Driver' and 'The King of Comedy'. The fact that he even had someone stand in for him in scenes that called for him to pitch a baseball shows how little he put into his performance here... this is a man who once prided himself on his methodical dedication to his craft, and he's even played a baseballer before ('Bang the Drum Slowly'). Little colour or originality is injected into Bob's role, and by the film's end he is firmly painted as the villain of the piece, so there is little sympathy or interest to be aroused in the viewer for him. More a film for Wesley Snipes fans, and that aint so cool...
Father Bobby (Sleepers)
Sleepers (1996) Directed by Barry Levinson
Father Bobby: It's been a very long time since I saw this film so I won't say too much. De Niro plays the small but important role of the local community's priest in this all-star drama about revenge and abuse. In this role he gives a very warm and sympathetic performance, probably one of the few emotionally-normal roles he's played in his long career. It's a decent film, and De Niro does more than enough with the supporting character he plays.
Moe Tilden (Cop Land)
Cop Land (1997) Directed by James Mangold
Moe Tilden: De Niro plays a supporting role in this film as the arrogant senior cop looking to root out police corruption. It's a cool role and De Niro makes good use of his screen presence, though the film itself isn't one of my favourites. Worth seeing for the great cast (Harvey Keital, Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick and Janeane Garofalo all feature) and Sylvester Stallone's own astonishing against-type performance, and it's also fun to watch De Niro throw his weight around in scenes with all these actors too. A flawed but interesting film.
Conrad Brean (Wag the Dog)
Wag the Dog (1997) Directed by Barry Levinson
Conrad Brean: This is a great satire on American political spin-doctoring and is notable for it's clever pairing of De Niro and Dustin Hoffman (though the two have and would appear with each other in other films). De Niro gives a wisely restrained and offbeat performance as the shifty, shady spin doctor with a glint in his eye. Hoffman pretty much steals the show as Stanley Motss, a movie producer clearly based directly on legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans, but De Niro still holds his own. Unfortunately it's one of De Niro's last interesting performances of note.
Louis Gara (Jackie Brown)
Jackie Brown (1997) Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Louis Gara: Above I mentioned that 'Wag the Dog' contains one of De Niro's last interesting performances... well, his work here in 'Jackie Brown' is probably the last interesting De Niro role to date. Wonderboy director Quentin Tarantino excels at resurrecting careers and casting well-known actors against type, and here he works his magic on De Niro - it's just a shame that 'Jackie Brown' is probably the director's least flashy film, as after this De Niro pretty much just stuck to doing crap films. Anyway, Bob gives an uncharacteristic performance in an uncharacteristic role here, he plays a very laid back and clued out stoner ex-con - the sort of guy who just drifts through life and let's other people point him in the right (or wrong) direction. He isn't very smart either, and it's great to see De Niro playing a real dumbarse, he has a lot of fun with it but keeps it fairly subtle too. I love Tarantino's films but I have to admit that this is easily my least favourite by a long shot, whenever I watch it I'm pretty much just watching it for De Niro's bits.
Arthur Lustig (Great Expectations)
Great Expectations (1998) Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
Arthur Lustig: This modern re-telling of Charles Dickens' classic sees De Niro take on the Magwitch role. It's an interesting take on the story, the modernisation works to a certain degree, and what it lacks in Dickensian feel it makes up for with director Alfonso Cuaron's trademark knack for spooky atmosphere. De Niro's role is a small one that tops and tails the film and he does intimidating or kindly whenever the script calls for it, but nothing more.
Sam (Ronin)
Ronin (1998) Directed by John Frankenheimer
Sam: De Niro goes all action-man in this classy European crime thriller from veteran director John Frankenheimer. De Niro plays the 'hero' of the film, a mysterious American with intelligence and surveillance experience, and he does well enough - though the script doesn't really call for him to do anything exceptional in terms of acting or characterisation. 'Ronin' is a decent film with a great international cast and some great car chases, definitely worth seeing if you're a fan of spy or action films. De Niro got paid about 12 million to star in this film, which was the biggest pay packet he had recieved so far in his career at the time. From here on in his choice of film roles would be dominated by big money such as this, and the quality of his films went down accordingly.
Stay tuned for the last part of this guide...
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Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
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Gosh. Part 4 has just made me realise how many of his films I missed!
Ronin and Heat are the only two I caught. Great, now I have titles to go to the video store with, thanks.
Lilla ...