BEST OF DE NIRO + SCORSESE
50 Years of Collaboration Ranked
The first thing you’re probably thinking is, “You talkin’ to me?” Or maybe: “Do I amuse you?”
If not, you’re probably thinking about gangster thrillers, which are Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro’s specialty.
When you think about some of the greatest director-actor duos in Hollywood, Scorsese and De Niro are at the top of the list. There’s been no other alliance in showbiz that can compete. They’ve been collaborating for close to 50 years now, since 1973’s Mean Streets, and hopefully won’t stop anytime soon.
If you ask them how and why they’ve worked together so well over the years, they don’t even really know themselves. De Niro, a man of few words, says that every time Scorsese comes to him with a new role, he’s taken it mainly because they both gravitate towards the same types of characters. Scorsese agrees and admits they never planned their long-time partnership. At least they both recognize that there is something extraordinary about their relationship.
While we wait for their tenth collaboration, Killers of the Flower Moon, let’s countdown their five best films. Choosing five out of the pair’s nine masterful movies was hard, almost impossible.
5. Raging Bull (1980)
Arguably one of the best boxing films of all time (sorry Rocky), Raging Bull is a cult classic. De Niro’s face is so messed up we can hardly recognize him through the grainy stylistic black and white film. Raging Bull is Scorsese and De Niro’s first biographical film, bringing Joe Pesci along for the ride.
4. Cape Fear (1991)
Cape Fear is one of the most financially successful out of all the most classic Scorsese-De Niro films. It’s also the only film out of the nine where De Niro plays a genuinely despicable character (Jimmy Conway from Goodfellas aside). He plays a newly released convicted rapist who wants revenge on his defense lawyer for hiding evidence that might have acquitted him.
3. Taxi Driver (1976)
Only their second collaboration, Scorsese and De Niro struck gold when they made Taxi Driver. Travis Bickle, an honorably discharged veteran, returns to the jungle of a dilapidated New York City and takes on a vigilante lifestyle. The famous “You talkin’ to me?” The question will forever be a part of classic cinema lines.
2. Casino (1995)
Casino closed out Scorsese and De Niro’s successful ’90s with another gangster film adapted from a book by Nicholas Pileggi. Only this time, De Niro’s character has a softer edge than Goodfellas’ Jimmy Conway. Sam, sent by the Chicago Mafia to set up shop in a Las Vegas casino, only wants to be loved by his wretched wife and raise his daughter. It’s another perfect team-up with Pesci and has similarly great moments of rage and evil set to a great soundtrack.
1. Goodfellas (1990)
Even though De Niro’s Jimmy Conway isn’t the main character, he is just as much a driving force in the film, which follows the New York Mafia through the eyes of fellow gangster Henry Hill. Arguably one of the best Scorsese-De Niro films, Goodfellas wasn’t a financial success by any means. Yet, it secured its place as a classic that can be watched repeatedly, with its incredible soundtrack and memorable lines. De Niro and Pesci once again steal the show as some of the gang’s most notorious criminals, hellbent on lucrative heists, killing off each gangster one by one and leaving Henry as the last man standing.
