The problem for DeNiro, and Pacino, and...though he hasn't worked in ten years and may never again, Nicholson ..is that fewer great movies are being made, and if/when they are, these guys are now too old and lesser-known for the leads.
I think you'll find with all three of those guys that they had "great periods" (say the 70's into the early 80's) and that's all they needed to coast along for decades as "prestige superstars"
DeNiro
Bang the Drum Slowly
Mean Streets
Godfather II
Taxi Driver
The Deer Hunter
Raging Bull
Nicholson
Easy Rider
Five Easy Pieces
Carnal Knowledge
The Last Detail
Chinatown
Cuckoo's Nest
Pacino
Panic in Needle Park
The Godfather
Scarecrow
Serpico
Godfather II
Dog Day Afternoon
And Justice for All
Scarface
....
Those were the "big runs" for those three guys, and then they cashed in ever after. Pacino took most of the 80's off before coming back in '89 with Sea of Love, and then got an Oscar for Scent of a Woman(Hoo-ah!) but somehow those didn't feel like great ones, though Glengarry Glen Ross and Carlito's Way DID.
Nicholson, after completing his "70's greatness phase"(with Cuckoo's Nest and an Oscar) kept going away and coming back, landing in blockbusters like Terms of Endearment, Batman, A Few Good Men, and As Good as It Gets and keeping his star shined pretty much for all time. But they weren't like that "prestige 70's group."
I recall with DeNiro that he seemed to be an "art house movie" guy for the longest time, and then he slowly started to appear in "entertainment": The Untouchables(a cameo as Al Capone.) Midnight Run(a buddy cop/crook movie with Charles Grodin.) By the time he did a small part as a father-figure arson cop in "Backdraft"(1991) I saw it: DeNiro would now be capable of getting big bucks for lesser parts.
And: despite his having that 70's-80s run as his classic period, he perhaps became more popular than ever teamed with Scorsese and Pesci for GoodFellas and Casino. Which allowed him to anchor Heat with fellow coasting prestige superstar Pacino.
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ecarle (14979)
5 years ago
I think DeNiro was spectacular in his small-but-constant role as a lethargic but dangerous ex-con in Jackie Brown. He's a comedy character in that -- very funny in his deadpan nothingness, even when he turns deadly at the end. Very sexy, too, what with that beard and stache combination. Middle-aged stud.
Others on this thread are more familiar with his later work, but its true: he's done too much hack work for the bucks. Rocky and Bullwinkle. Still...he seems to be working more than Pacino..and Nicholson doesn't work any more.
Since I'm not familiar with his later work, I'll pick "Ronin" from one year after Jackie Brown, as DeNiro's last really good perf. Copland was more of a cameo.
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