With a career spanning over 50 years, there's no denying the heft Robert De Niro has in the world of cinema. Trying to pinpoint one feature that highlights his career is, therefore, a virtually improbable task.
His frequent colloboration with fellow New Yorker Martin Scorsese has resulted in many of De Niro's best performances. However, it was not just in movies such as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull with which he made his mark. De Niro also proved his ability to tackle complex characters in movies such as The Deer Hunter, Angel Heart and Flawless.
In later years, he veered towards different kinds of roles. The typically tough guy proved he had a sense of humour alongside Ben Stiller in Meet the Parents and Billy Cyrstal in Analyse This, while he kept the action going by teaming up with Sylvester Stallone for Grudge Match.
During the heyday of his career, his natural counterpart was always considered to be Al Pacino. If you wanted a tough-talking, suave, street-wise, East Coast, Italian-American city slicker who burns up the screen with intense presence, Pacino and De Niro were your men. Despite being considered for the same roles, and nursing a feud during their younger years, they both starred in The Godfather Part II - although they never appeared together on screen.
This would only happen 21 years later, for less than ten minutes, in Heat. Thereafter, they appeared together in Righteous Kill, in 2008, and are slated to star in The Irishman, with Martin Scorses at the helm. All these features of the man and his movies are what come to mind when you hear the name Bob De Niro, but at the forefront for many is his frequent appearance as a mobster, gangster and mafioso, with the pinnacle being...the godfather.