De Niro as Capone
It just didn't feel right. Did not suit him in my opinion. Anyone else feel the same way?
shareNo he was great!
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MovieChat Forums > The Untouchables (1987) Discussion > De Niro as Capone
This is based on a TV show from the 50s. I haven't seen the show but knowing things I've seen from the 50s I imagine Al Capone in his 5 episodes (looked it up) may've been as over the top as DeNiro was in this.
"No officer! I swear!" Al, Toy Story 2
De Niro was miscast. Maybe it was also the screenplay, not giving a lot of great material to draw from, that Capone came off as dopey caricature.
Dalton and Craig! Accept NO substitutes!
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Haha just watching the movie now on the telly, and the scene with Capone yelling "I want him dead!" speech, just realized thats where the comedian Pablo Fransisco got his part of the trailer act. Hilarious!
shareDeNiro's Capone was an INCREDIBLY, uniquely lame villain.
All the character did was yell at people and boast about how he would never get caught, but the character actually DID nothing. Beating the guy to death with the baseball doesn't count as doing something because that moment was purely for shock value, and added nothing to the story.
The story would actually have played better if Capone didn't appear on screen at all, and was merely talked about, and played as an offscreen character. As it was he was just shoehorned into the plot because all films need a central antagonist.
Having said all that, DeNiro's actual performance was just fine. He did a pro job in a role that shouldn't even have existed.
Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
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i felt uncomfortable watching this thing and im 30. Such a cheesy movie.
shareHe did a great job!
shareIt was interesting. DeNiro was pitched the Capone part early on, but said no.
So the producers signed British cockney actor Bob Hoskins -- based on his work in The Long Good Friday(1980) and, just recently, his Oscar nommed work in Mona Lisa(1986.) This was one year before Hoskins' biggest role (in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where he got a role turned down by Harrison Ford!)
Hoskins was good to go but the producers took one more try at DeNiro...and got him. Hoskins was paid off in full, saying something like "Anytime you want to pay me my full price NOT to do a movie...you know where to find me!"
If Hoskins had played Capone, it would have looked like more of a supporting role...though his Oscar nom for Mona Lisa made him a bit of a star.
With DeNiro in the role, suddenly it took on more "expectation." This was the man from Godfather II (Oscar, supporting) and Raging Bull(Oscar, Best Actor.) This was a "prestige movie star."
And while the role in some ways didn't look big enough for DeNiro...I, for one, think he pulled off something really interesting:
His very "prestige presence" made the role MORE IMPORTANT, even if he was "just around the edges" of the movie.
And the character IS important.
Eliott Ness's entire mission is to "get Capone." And Capone at first doesn't take Ness seriously at all. But as Ness scores wins, Capone gets angrier and angrier and launches murderous retaliation and ultimately...Ness gets Capone. But at great cost.
One thing to remember about DeNiro when he made The Untouchables. He had two Oscars and a prestige reputation, but he wasn't much of a "traditional entertainment movie star." Hoffman, Pacino and especially Nicholson could shift between big entertainment and "serious work," but DeNiro held off on "fun movies." He wasn't especially bankable -- lost some roles for that reason.
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The Untouchables was a great big summer hit and DeNiro seemed to have "popped his cherry" for entertainment. The next summer, he kept going on his newfound "entertainment movie" voyage with the buddy comedy "Midnight Run," a movie that indeed put a prestige art film gloss on crime and action, but was MAINLY crime and action. Now DeNiro was "good to go" for entertainment movies. When he did a short part in Ron Howard's rather pulpy "Backdraft" in 1991, DeNiro announced he was "for hire." Rocky and Bullwinkle and Meet the Fockers were not far off.
Anyway, I think DeNiro to The Untouchables in 1987 was what Nicholson was to "Batman" two years later. The most "prestige star" for the part.