By the time Travis has gone completely thermonuclear, we're so invested in his character that it's like a part of us has gone mad as well. As Travis Bickle, 'God's lonely man,' a Vietnam vet who takes a job driving cabs by night, the actor has to perform an unholy bait-and-switch: He has to win us over, make us relate to him, and then slowly let his psyche unravel while still keeping us watching. For all of Martin Scorsese's stylization in this film - think of those demonic plumes of steam, those grotesque streets, those tense, militaristic montages - it's so clear that he's basically handed the reins over to De Niro. One of the greatest American films ever made, and one of the greatest screen performances ever given. In the meantime, we decided to look at De Niro’s filmography – that’s more than 95 movies, by the way – and suss out truly Good (the great performances that will forever define his career and stand as testaments to the power of acting), the genuinely Bad (the paycheck gigs, the flops, and the just plain awful decisions), and, well, the Ugly - those De Niro performances that are too strange, too out there to classify as either across-the-board Good or Bad.Īnd for the last time: Yes, we are, in fact, talkin’ to you. That said, who can blame a guy for wanting to mix things up once in a while? If he tried to pull a Raging Bull every other movie, he’d probably die - literally.Ĭase in point: The Intern, a comedy in which the actor plays a 70-year-old retiree who becomes an intern for a hot new fashion e-commerce company run by Anne Hathaway? While we’re not in Vito Corleone territory, let’s not forget that De Niro has been known to triumph in mainstream comedies from time to time. Indeed, when one looks at the broad arc of his career, it’s hard not to notice the high concentration of masterpieces in the Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties - and the sheer drop-off that occurs once his career hits the aughts. Resolved: Robert De Niro is one of the greatest actors of all time.Īlso resolved: For the past decade or so, Robert De Niro has been appearing in a lot of movies that don’t necessarily make the best use of his talents.

Robert deniro raging bull