Dustin Hoffman or Robert De Niro?
I will definitely go with Hoffman because of his range. De Niro usually played a tough guy, but Hoffman played EVERYTHING, and did amazing at EVERYTHING.
I had goose bumps to the point of leprosy during The Graduate - still probably my favorite of all time.
Oh, and he was so damn good in Tootsie too, and Rain man.
Pretty much every movie!
Fun fact: It was Robert Redford who was originally to play the role of Benjamin Braddock in the Graduate but then due to his good looks he lost out on the part because no one would believe he'd be someone who "couldn't get the girl."
shareThat is a fun fact, if indeed it is a fact. Thank goodness. I'm sure Dustin could play a nervous nebbish much better than Redford. I don't think RR was ever that young, haha.
shareTrue! In fact, in the novel it's based on, Benjamin is tall and blonde and something of an athlete.
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Hoffman. He has way more range than De Niro ever did and ever will.
shareDe Niro
His performances in Taxi Driver and Raging Bull are hands down two of the greatest in movie history.
Not to mention other top contenders like The Deer Hunter, Once Upon a Time in America, Goodfellas and Cape Fear.
While I don't agree, you do point out some very good movies. I think DH could have pulled these roles off too, save for Bull. And I have to give RD credit for the movie Awakenings. Again, DH could have done just as well in the same role (see Rain Man), but DeNiro really took on an unusual challenge here. What was that movie he made with Jane Fonda? Iris and something?
share"De Niro usually played a tough guy, but Hoffman played EVERYTHING".
Everything except the tough guy, that is - even in Straw Dogs and Marathon Man, where he finally gets into action successfully, he's more like an unexpectedly empowered nerd, a little awkward. Also, to say De Niro "usually played a tough guy" is quite severely limiting, considering these so-called "tough guys" come with all kinds of different personalities - sometimes he's introverted (Taxi Driver), sometimes volatile (Mean Streets), sometimes an everyman rising to the occasion (The Deer Hunter)... sometimes he's smart (The Godfather Part 2), at other times shockingly stupid (Raging Bull).
"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan
Everything except the tough guy, that is - even in Straw Dogs and Marathon Man, where he finally gets into action successfully, he's more like an unexpectedly empowered nerd, a little awkward.
Maybe in Ulu Grosbard's Straight Time?
Granted, that would be the melancholy, horizon gazing, Michael Mann brand of tough guy. But tough nonetheless.
Probably; don't really recall if he had much ass to kick (well, there was this strange road incident with Emmett Walsh), but he certainly was one brazen little burglar (and, as with De Niro in Jackie Brown, the moustache seems to have gone a long way in defining his low level hood personality).
"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan