“What Just Happened” to Robert De Niro?
By: Dan Jones
My favorite actor of all time. Or, at least of a time. A time when everything he did mattered.
Have you seen Mr. Robert De Niro’s movie selection lately? Have you bothered to see the movies? It’s like “The Simpsons” before the year 2000.
Let’s allow the movies to do the explaining.
1968, twenty-five-year-old Bobby comes out with a quirky independent hippie film “Greetings” (directed by up-and-coming Brian De Palma – “Carrie”).
He does a few other movies, two directed by De Palma, and then receives critical acclaim for his performance in the 1973 film “Bang the Drum Slowly.”
De Niro teams up with another newbie director, Martin Scorsese, and is a standout in “Mean Streets.”
A year later, “The Godfather: Part II;” and he takes home an Oscar for best supporting.
Next – “Taxi Driver”
Then De Niro joins Jack Nicholson, Robert Mitchum, and Tony Curtis to do an Elia Kazan (“On the Waterfront”) picture based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final unfinished novel – “The Last Tycoon.”
Another Scorsese film “New York, New York,” followed by “The Deer Hunter,” and “Raging Bull.” After he accepts the Oscar for “Raging Bull,” he’s in the underrated “True Confessions” with Robert Duvall.
Then cult classic “The King of Comedy” and epic “Once Upon a Time in America.”
1984 – “Falling in Love” opposite Meryl Streep.
1985 – The wild “Brazil” directed by wild Terry Gilliam.
1986 – 1988 – “The Mission,” “Angel Heart,” “The Untouchables,” and “Midnight Run.”
(Is your mouth open in amazement, because it happens to me every time I review this list.)
De Niro takes it easy in 1989 to do “Jackknife” with Ed Harris, “We’re No Angels” with Sean Penn, and “Stanley & Iris” with Jane Fonda. (Did you catch my sarcasm?)
In 1990, he joins Scorsese for the 6th time to do a film you may have heard of: “Goodfellas.”
After?
“Awakenings” (nominated), another underrated film “Guilty by Suspicion,” “Backdraft,” and “Cape Fear.”
Oh, did I miss “Mistress,” a movie with Martin Landau about the difficulty of making movies?
1992 – “Night and the City” is his second movie with both director Irwin Winkler and Jessica Lange. (I originally liked this movie when I saw it ten years ago.)
Robert’s in “Mad Dog and Glory,” “This Boy’s Life,” and directs “A Bronx Tale” all in the same year of 1993.
“Frankenstein”? He IS the creature.
1995 – He speaks French in “A Hundred and One Nights of Simon Cinema” and goes on to do “Casino” and “Heat.”
“The Fan” Oops. He threw us a curveball. But he’s damn convincing as a new breed of psycho.
De Niro makes up for any hard luck with “Sleepers” and teams up again with Streep and DiCaprio in “Marvin’s Room.”
1997 – “Copland” with Harvey Keitel, “Wag the Dog” with Dustin Hoffman, and Quentin Tarantino’s 3rd full-length feature “Jackie Brown.”
1998 – “Great Expectations” (modern adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ classic) and “Ronin” directed by John Frankenheimer (“Manchurian Candidate”).
And in 1999, De Niro succeeds with the mob comedy “Analyze This.”
He ends the 20th century with “Flawless.” Not a flawless movie by any means; but up to this point, his career was just about perfect.
2000 – “The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle”? I suppose he’s good as the Fearless Leader, but this turned out to be one of the worst movies of the year. (And we were fans of the cartoon.)
“Men of Honor” was next. You know the one. With Cuba Gooding Jr. Nothing special.
“Meet the Parents”! All right. He’s done it again. But wasn’t his last success a comedy?
2001 – “15 Minutes” Slow down, Bob.
“The Score” with Edward Norton. What was that one about again?
“Showtime”? With … Eddie Murphy? You were in that?
“City by the Sea” was … I guess, okay.
“Analyze That”? You’re joking. I despise the title.
“Godsend” What’s next, an annoying animated movie?
“Shark Tale” And Scorsese’s acting with you?! Just don’t do any more sequels.
“Meet the Fockers” I laughed, but …
What the hell is “The Bridge of San Luis Rey”?
Robert, what’s happening?
2005 – “Hide and Seek” I can’t even comment on the ending …
2006 – “Arthur and the Invisibles” Huh?
“The Good Sheperd” I’m glad you wanted to finally direct again, but … I guess I’d say there was some nice composition and cinematography …
2007 – “Stardust”
All right, now that’s ENOUGH!
2008 – “What Just Happened”
Yeah, what the hell is going on?!
“Righteous Kill” And what are you doing, Al? (That’s Pacino I’m talking to.)
2009 – “Everybody’s Fine”
2010 – “Machete”
“Stone” Yes! You’ve come back to us. And you’ve brought Ed (Norton) with you. Where have you been Ed? Why aren’t you guys nominated this year?
“Little Fockers” NOOOOOOO!
“The Ages of Love” I haven’t gotten around to it.
“Limitless” Good film, but you could have been Tom Wilkinson for all I knew.
“Killer Elite” O-kay?
“New Year’s Eve” WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Mr. Robert De Niro, I love you – we all love you – but what just happened? Where are you going with this? Can you and Al Pacino sit down and come to an agreement on how you two can stop your foolishness, please?
I’ll cross my fingers for “Red Lights” (release date March 2nd) and re-watch “Stone” and “Awakenings” back-to-back to restore my faith.
Just like Jake La Matta (“Raging Bull”), I know you’ll never go down. Yeah, I’m talking to you. Stop asking me. You’re the only one standing there, in front of that mirror (“Taxi Driver”). Look at yourself. And remember: “This is this. This ain’t somethin’ else. This is this.” (“The Deer Hunter”)
Make us proud, Bob.