August 17 is the 80th birthday of one of Hollywood’s legendary actors, Robert De Niro, who best portrays obsessive heroes on the verge of psychopathy.
Robert De Niro is a Hollywood star who has appeared in 100 films and has become an iconic figure of the 20th century. Director Martin Scorsese constantly filmed the crime scene, and De Niro became an aggressively obsessed star in the films “Taxi Driver”, “Cape Fear”, “Casino”. If Scorsese took up the sport, then it turned out that he was not as aggressive as “Raging Bull” with a psychotic boxer Robert. De Palma’s “The Untouchables” and Tarantino De Niro’s “Jackie Brown” – in the same hypostasis. But there is one incredible exception – the film by the American Great Grosbard, starring Robert De Niro … a married architect who falls in love. For this role he received a prestigious award in Spain and his partner Meryl Streep in Italy.
Focus presents the 5 best roles of Robert De Niro, including the most lyrical.
“Taxi Driver” / Taxi Driver
- USA, 1976, thriller, drama
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Peter Boyle
After Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973), in which De Niro plays a gangster, he got a much more difficult role in Taxi Driver. Travis Bickle, 26, is a Vietnam War veteran who suffers from PTSD and loneliness. He wanders around porn theaters during the day and works as a taxi driver at night due to chronic insomnia. A meeting with 12-year-old prostitute Iris leads her to a showdown with a pimp and brothel workers.
The image of a war veteran with a mohawk on his head and a pistol in hand is something like a modern-day Don Quixote, but much bloodier. As in the case of Don Quixote, who came to the rescue of many of the characters in Cervantes’ novel, Iris did not ask Bickle to “rescue” her, but Travis was convinced that she needed to be removed from the nest of depravity. breaks it into pieces.
De Niro for the first time perfectly portrayed his hallmark “obsession” here: when his hero decides on something and goes somewhere, it’s no use stopping. Although his noble impulses are more reminiscent of psychopathic seizures, his actions as a warrior are brought to automatism. A blood bath was provided.
Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” wins the Palme d’Or at Cannes. De Niro has an Oscar nomination.
Driving ominously across the expanse of the metropolis, the yellow cab has become a symbol of revenge, and De Niro, like an Old Testament Judge, administers justice in his own extremely violent ways.
De Niro’s main trait is born: his protagonist pretends to be semi-normal for a long time until he shows he’s a complete psychopath – and that’s really impressive. The antics by the mirror and the carnage in a brothel are organically combined in Scorsese’s iconic tape.
“Angry Bull” / Raging Bull
- USA, Biographical, Drama, Sports
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci
The story of the rise and fall of American boxer Jake LaMotta, nicknamed Raging Bull: from the fight for the world heavyweight title to a difficult relationship with his coach brother and wife. The series is based on the memoirs of the boxer.
A subtle and elegant work directed by Scorsese that shows how the beast and the child coexist in the same person. “I have little fists like a girl,” LaMotta said.
The hero tries to indirectly show his touching qualities, but only understands that the beast leads him to victory. And the beast is taking over his soul more and more, displacing the boy. And he is already a beast everywhere – both in the ring and at home.
Until the end of the movie where there is some enlightenment.
Known fact: De Niro gained 27 kilograms for the role.
In 2007, the tape was ranked 4th among the 100 greatest films of all time by the American Film Institute. De Niro was awarded the Oscar for Best Actor.
“Nose of Fear” / Nose of Fear
- USA, 1991, thriller, drama, detective
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Nick Nolte, Juliet Lewis
Offender Max Cady is released from prison after serving 14 years for rape. All these years he lived with the idea of taking revenge on his victim-sympathetic lawyer, Sam Bowden, who did nothing to shorten his client’s time. It can be said that he deliberately withheld some information.
The criminal found Bowden and began terrorizing his family.
De Niro as Max is the perfect vehicle for revenge: a bloody shark.
The scene in which De Niro rides with the lawyer holding on to the bottom of his car has been parodied and memed many times.
In general, however, his hero’s “psychopathy” reaches exorbitant proportions here.
casino / casino
- USA, France, 1995, thriller, drama, detective
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods
Sam “Ace” Rothstein is a professional gambler and lottery master who is the brilliant manager of a Las Vegas casino entrusted to him by mob bosses.
The local police chief asked him to arrange a job at the casino for a relative’s grain position. But it turned out to be stupid: the casino did not lose much. Rothstein pushes him away from perfectionism. The police asked him to forgive his relative, but Sam puts the principle first. And a number of problems rolled around. It all comes to an end with an FBI investigation and the most brutal crime war in its brutality.
“Lovers” / Falling in Love
- USA, 1984, melodrama, romance
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Harvey Keitel
The promised “atypical” movie with De Niro.
Molly, a beautiful housewife, lives outside of New York with her doctor husband. While shopping for Christmas, she accidentally mixes shopping bags in a Manhattan bookstore with those of an attractive architect named Frank—she is married and has two children. They then take the same subway train to New York and meet again.
Emotions flare up between the characters. None of them are looking for a side relationship. But they keep on bumping into each other, talking longer and longer each time… falling more and more in love.
Honestly, I expected the De Niro-played architect to act out the heart with a drawing board. But no, everything went without incident.
A beautifully shot lyric film.
This subtle story was not noted in America, but the Old World appreciated it. Meryl Streep received the Italian David di Donatello Award for “Best Foreign Actress of 1985” for her role. And in the category “Best Foreign Actor of 1985” the Spanish St. George snatched the De Niro award. Believe me, he deserved it.
Even better, the movie is good. And Robert is quite peaceful there, which rarely happens to him.
Source: Focus
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