The Ten Greatest Robert De Niro Movies

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Our greatest living actor Robert De Niro had an occurrence this week when a woman broke into his NYC apartment and tried to steal Christmas gifts he had under his tree. Caroline wrote about the incident here but the whole thing got me thinking. He's been in more movies that I love then any other actor so I put together a top ten list of his best movies. It was much harder then I expected. I left about ten very good movies off the list. I'm also only judging the movie for this list and not solely his performance. He's brilliant in Raging Bull but you won't find that on this list. The movie is impressive but it's not one I love. He also so many other movies to choose from.

I'm sure I left off some of your favorites so feel free to have the debate in the comments with the ones I missed but here are my Top 10 Robert De Niro movies:

10. Taxi Driver

If we are starting the list with this movie, you know this list is stacked. This is a brutal and depressing character study of Travis Bickle, a man who is compelled to commit violence. It was such a realistic portrayal of a lone gunman, it actually inspired one. John Hinckley, who shot Ronald Reagan in 1981 was said to be influenced by Bickle in Taxi Driver. While this isn't my favorite De Niro movie, it might be his best performance.

9. The King Of Comedy

This is similar to Taxi Driver (and also directed by Martin Scorsese) but deals more with obsession and delusion as opposed to brutal violence. This is more entertaining than Taxi Driver and asks some interesting questions about how fame impacts someone and where is the line between being a fan and something much worse. De Niro would later do another movie about this topic called The Fan with Wesley Snipes but that lame boilerplate "thriller" does everything wrong that King Of Comedy does right. Over the past decade, King Of Comedy has started getting the respect it deserves and you've even seen a modern movie in Joker directly rip it off/pay homage to it.

8. Silver Linings Playbook

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This is the moment in the list where you punch your desk and make a mean comment about how I look like Bill Hader with a meth addiction. Let me try to win you back with a GIF of Jennifer Lawrence.

Remember this is a list of my favorite Robert De Niro movies and he is in Silver Linings Playbook. He even got his first Oscar nomination in 22 years for it! It also might be the greatest rom-com ever. Of course, the strength of this movie comes from the relationship between Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence but De Niro is great as the father of someone who is mentally ill and recognizing that some of that may have been inherited. After a decade of making one bad comedy after another, this was a much needed return to form.

7. The Irishman

I shouldn't be surprised that a mob movie dealing with aging doesn't resonate with many people. I was talking with Jeff Nadu about this movie and he said "it was wasted on the wrong generation". I think there is a lot of truth in that. Releasing this on Netflix did this no favors. Watching at home allows for so many distractions. This needs to be seen in a movie theater when you can't look at your phone or stop and start it. 

People were also overly focused on the wrong things like the de-aging or the fight outside the supermarket. The Godfather fight scene with Sonny has an even more obviously missed punch yet everyone is so quick to jump on De Niro weakly kicking someone. Should they have just used a younger actor rather then lean on the de-aging? I really don't care. My takeaway from The Irishman is what happens when evil men don't die in a hail of bullets but instead get old and are left with are the crimes they have committed and the lives they destroyed. 

6. The Untouchables

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In a movie where everything looks outstanding, I always thought De Niro never quite fit in. I don't particularly like his Al Capone. As great of an actor as he is, I have trouble with the padding to make him look fat and the fake receding hairline. But the rest of this movie is fantastic. This is Brian De Palma's best film and it has an outstanding script by David Mamet. The biggest issue with De Palma movies is that they are always visually stunning but lack heart. Sean Connery brings that emotion and fits perfectly. His portrayal feels so lived in compared to De Niro who seems more like a cartoon. It's the only De Niro performance on this list I don't love.

5. Sleepers

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The most underrated movie on this list, Sleepers feels like it's been completely forgotten. This was a modest hit when it came out but didn't do particularly well during award season and only got a single Academy Award nomination for best score. De Niro and Kevin Bacon are fantastic and both should have gotten more praise. They each deserved Oscar nominations but it was a particularly stacked movie year. Edward Norton (Primal Fear) and William H. Macy (Fargo) are both great actors and gave the performances of their careers and still lost to Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Jerry Maguire). I still would have found a place for both Bacon and De Niro.

If you haven't seen Sleepers, please check it out. It's one of the greatest revenge stories ever with an amazing cast that has not only De Niro and Bacon but Brad Pitt and Dustin Hoffman as well. It's a careful and thoughtful movie that constantly questions whether the quest for revenge is worth throwing away the beliefs you have built you whole life around.

4. The Godfather Part II

If this movie was all Young Vito as opposed to the Hyman Roth stuff, it would be even higher on this list. The Fredo downfall at the end is stunning to watch but the path to get there can feel long. This is a minor complaint. It is one of my favorite movies of all-time but I'd be lying if I didn't say that De Niro as Vito is more compelling. I'd watch a 10 episode Netflix series of just Young Vito operating the olive oil store. 

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This is one of the greatest De Niro performances along with Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. He captures the soul of what Brando did in the first movie but it never feels like an imitation. It's a great changing of the guard from the greatest actor of one generation to the greatest actor of the next. I'm excited to get De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio both in the upcoming Scorsese film Killer Of The Flower Moon. DiCaprio should be the next one to get that baton.

3. Casino

The knock on Casino is that it's a Goodfellas knock off. I think that's pretty unfair. This is an unquestionably great movie and while it does have some similarities, the issues of trust along with the Ace Rothstein character make this unique. If Scorsese had cast Casino with different actors than De Niro and Joe Pesci, I wonder if you'd get as many Goodfellas comparisons. You'd have a weaker movie though.

I love watching Ace try to use the same angles that brought him success gambling with people in his life. For as bright as he is, he can't get past that human beings are not numbers in a sports book. He calls his marriage "the biggest bet in his life" which while true on a surface level, not everything in life is something to be won. I especially love this scene with Pat Webb who is the gaming commissioner and because of Ace's black and white stubbornness, it eventually costs Ace his gaming license.

2. Jackie Brown

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I know he doesn't have the biggest role in this but I think De Niro is funnier in this than almost every "comedy" he would be in for the next decade plus. I've written about it here but the movie's strength is the Max Cherry character played by Robert Forster. It's such a natural performance. It's crazy that Quentin Tarantino's follow up movie to Pulp Fiction was a crime drama about being middle-aged and what it feels like to have less years in front of you than behind you. It's even crazier that the 34 year old Tarantino pulled it off.

1. Goodfellas

There's so much you can say about this movie but let's just isolate this smoking scene. It's perfect acting. De Niro's Jimmy Conway is contemplating killing Morrie who was part of the Lufthansa heist. He's weighting the options of keeping Morrie, a man he has known for years, alive OR killing him and getting rid of both a potential rat and creating a bigger cut for himself. The part that gets me is for a quick second, his eyes go wild with excitement and you can see the thrill that killing Maury will provide Jimmy. Maury never had a shot the second you see that elation strike his face. 

That's my Top 10. I already mentioned Raging Bull but I also left out Heat, A Bronx Tale, The Deer Hunter, Joker and Meet The Parents among many others but I really like all of those movies. Older readers might wonder how I can be so stupid to leave out Mean Streets and Midnight Run. It really is incredible how many revered movies De Niro has been in. Does any other actor have this many renowned movies to their credit? Meryl Streep has more Oscar nominations but the lion's share of her movies haven't stood the test of time like this. Al Pacino has to be in the argument as well but I'd take De Niro's library over his. 

I fully expect people to have major disagreements with this list ("Silver Linings Playbook??? you scrawny fuck!") but that speaks to the quality of movies he's been in. You could have 100 people each create a De Niro top 10 list and you might not get the same list by any two people.

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I feel awful for leaving Heat off this list so I leave you all with this: