by Scott Lawson
De Niro’s biggest moments have come when teaming with director Martin Scorsese. While this has garnered him the reputation of someone who excels at playing unhinged, threatening characters, he has also displayed a penchant for many softer roles and even comedy. Yet while his most famous roles are the stuff of Hollywood legend, he also has a lot of other releases that did not get the attention they deserve. Here’s some of the most iconic roles portrayed by De Niro so far.
Casino
Casino is one of De Niro’s big Scorsese collaborations, but it somehow failed to make a substantial impact, unlike the rest. This may be down to the fact that the plot was slightly convoluted, according to critics. Essentially, the movie is the tale of Sam Rothstein, a gangster placed in charge of the Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. With a mob enforcer friend on his back and a promiscuous wife, the character starts to unravel due to the machinations of sin city.
Despite the fact that the movie wasn’t hailed a blockbuster success or regarded with acclaim by critics, Casino has gone on to become a cult classic. For example, in their list of the top ten casino movies of all time, Casino.com describe it as the story of “a man challenged with keeping the Mafia happy, the casino running, and the bureaucrats on board”. All the while, it is De Niro’s simmering performance, scaled back compared to many of his other roles, that keeps the tension rising.
Analyze This
Analyze This was released in 1999, the same year that smash hit gangster series The Sopranos hit television screens. Yet in a year basked in gangster success, Analyze This offered a different take on the genre. Directed by Harold Ramis, it is the comedic story of Paul Vitti, a mob boss who is experiencing panic attacks and psychological problems. Vitti decides to seek therapy.
Soon, his psychiatrist Ben Sobel gets pulled into his Mafia antics and finds himself in the firing line of the FBI. Crossed wires soon lead to misunderstandings between Ben and Paul. Despite this, they carry on resolving Paul’s issues even during assassination attempts and Mafia hits.
Angel Heart
While he has very few scenes in this movie, De Niro is a pivotal character who really makes the creepy atmosphere of this title roll along. Released in 1987, Angel Heart stars Mickey Rourke as a New York private detective. His job is to locate a missing singer for the sinister Louis Cyphre, played by De Niro himself.
This journey takes him deep into the voodoo and witchcraft underbelly of 1955 New Orleans, where he is caught in a string of horrific murders. De Niro’s performance as a boiled egg-eating, long-nailed sadist has a terrific and terrifying twist at the end. A box office flop on release, it is now considered vastly underrated.
