Robert De Niro ’s ninth Oscar nominating address as an player , forKillers of the Flower Moon , is only the latest of the triumphs and accolades that have been shower upon this celebrated actor over the course of his career .
Long - condition collaborations with several of the groovy directors of the retiring 50 geezerhood have led to a transition into producing and an blameless industry legend status . Here are the seven greatest Robert De Niro motion-picture show , grade from the very estimable to the very best .
7.Wag the Dog (1997)
An dead prescient tale of “ faux news ” made at the nativity of the 24 - hour media bicycle , film director Barry Levinson’sWag the Doggives De Niro the classical strong - but - silent grapheme he does so well .
De Niro ’s political consultant Conrad Brean is charged with create , through metier handling , a fake warfare in Albania to distract the world from a presidential gender scandal . As with so many other classic De Niro graphic symbol , he ’s part of a report in contrasts , and perfectly pair with Dustin Hoffman ’s off - the - bulwark Hollywood producer , called in to story - edit the conflict .
6. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
The highlight of De Niro ’s famously uneven twenty-first century filmography , David O. Russell ’s romantic dramedy proved the then - near - septuagenarian De Niro could deem his own with young guns likeJennifer Lawrenceand Bradley Cooper , off whom he act attractively .
Genuinely well - written comedic function have come De Niro ’s style precious small , and this one is a bang , as he play an older man set in his ways whose superstitions and paranoia have come to be so much a part of his life that they have infect his family at declamatory .
5. Taxi Driver (1976)
De Niro drove a New York City cab for weeks as preparedness for his breakout role as psychopathic aspirant assassin Travis Bickle .
The manic facets of De Niro ’s performance are legion , but less discussed are those constituent of Bickle that are authentically tender – if pathetic – include his wooing of political operative Betsy ( Cybill Shepherd ) . In these scenes , the impossibility of Bickle , a Vietnam vet , ever successfully reintegrating into society becomes clear .
4. Heat (1995)
InThe Godfather Part II , De Niro and Al Pacino played fictitious character in different timelines , dancing around one another , but by definition unable to interact . The promise of that film came to its realization two 10 later with Michael Mann ’s copper - and - robbers masterworkHeat . In the movie , De Niro ’s Neil McCauley ( base on a actual crook of the same name ) cunningly evades Pacino ’s dogged cop , Vincent Hanna .
The scene inHeatwhen McCauley and Hanna finally meet display Mann ’s groovy understanding of the audience ’s reading actors ’ substantial - life dynamics into their characters . The succession , advert to in cinema circle but as “ the diner scene , ” is foreshadowed and teased with last care until it finally unfolds in an as - promised clash of dramatic heavyweight .
3. Goodfellas (1990)
It ’s nearly impossible not to loveGoodfellas , Martin Scorsese ’s drift mob panorama , and De Niro ’s plunk for carrying out is a bighearted reason why .
As Jimmy Conway , wise man to Ray Liotta ’s Henry Hill , De Niro is the wizardly but baneful Cosa Nostra operative who always has things under ascendance – until he does n’t . His coy smiling and raspy laugh give manner to bursts of violence when he ca n’t have what he wants .
2. Raging Bull (1980)
In his second Academy Award - gain performance afterThe Godfather Part II , De Niro pitch a master class in animalism . As bagger Jake LaMotta , his quintessential equipment characteristic is his brutishness , but that quality takes on different sheens over the flick ’s timeline , as he goes from agile , determined furiousness as a young man to an older humans drowning in his own flesh and the memories of his past .
Throughout , De Niro ’s LaMotta is a humanity inescapably press down by his own torso , with its lusts and capacities , simultaneously his best friend and worst enemy .
1. The Godfather Part II (1974)
Francis Ford Coppola ’s heroic poem , a sweeping view of the immigrant experience in America that warrant the oft - used cliché “ every frame a painting , ” is anchor , yes , by the continuation of Al Pacino ’s masterly three - moving-picture show spark as maffia boss Michael Corleone . But as the new edition of his founding father , Vito , De Niro contextualizes Marlon Brando ’s superb performance in the same role in the old photographic film , making Vito into a hand-build viper topped with pomade , with the cruelty of his retiring manifesting as check rage .
The Godfather Part IIremains one of the only films to have made really effective use of De Niro ’s famed muteness and backlog – Vito run his cards close to the undershirt is what gives him his superpower , just as De Niro ’s subtlety is what gives him his .
