Well’ what can I possibly write about this dynamite of a talent that already has not been written ?
But i’m gonna try my hands on it.........right now.
He is arguably the best successor of the legacy of Brando ’’school’’ of acting.
His work in his early movies like ’’Mean Streets’’ and ’’God Father-I’’, incidently released in the same year i.e 1973, made it very clear to all the critics around at that time that he was the one actor to watch out for in the coming years.Earlier he had already won praises for his work in ’’Bang the Drum Slowly’’.
His next noteworthy performance was in ’’The Last Tycoon’’ in 1976 but it was ’’Taxi Driver’’ in that same year which made him the ’’star’’.His portrayal of Travis Bickle was indeed legendary and at par with the break-through performance of Brando as Stanley Kowalnski in ’’Street Car Named Desire’’.This performane was recently rated as the most famous ’’Anti-Hero’’ character in history of film-making.
Then came astonishingly refreshing performances like those of ’’NewYork NewYork’’ and’’Deer Hunter’’ in 1977 and 1978 respectively.But the performance of his life came in 1980 in the form of Jack Lamotta in ’’Raging Bull’’.This performance alone has guaranteed his place among the immortals of the great art of acting.(in my personal opinion , this particular performance surpasses even that of Brando’s in God Father;you just simply has to see it for yourself to beleive it).An ultimate acting lesson in ’’method’’ school of acting.
After gaining ’’immortality’’, he then tried his hands on various facets of human emotions and was at his experimental best throughout the 80’s.His memorable works during that time includes ’’Once Upon a Time in America’’, The Mission’’, ’’Angel Heart’’, ’’Jack Knife’’, ’’Falling in Love’’, ’’Good Fellas’’, Awakenings’’, etc.
Then came the 90’s.In early part of 90’s, he made great movies like ’’This Boy’s Life’’,
’’Cape Fear’’, ’’Guilty by Suspicion’’ and ’Frankenstein’’.
But then sudden change in his choices occurred and he delved into meaningless so-called commercial movies like ’’Meet the Parents/Fockers’’, ’’Showtime’’, ’’Analyse This/That’’, etc.
Although all these movies were box-office smash hits, these were also a big disappointment for all die-hard DeNiro fans as those movies were never meant to further explore the great talent of his but, rather, meant to use him just as a ’’star’’.
But I have not losed hope.I feel he wiil come back to his acting best soon and compensate all his fans for all those dry years of late 90’s.
He is the most revered actor these days alongwith Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino.
Enjoy watching his great talent in his movies from 70’s and 80’s.
Bye and take care all of you.