Robert De Niro’s top five films of his career includes ‘shockingly overlooked' Netflix release
Robert De Niro has starred in some of the most iconic films in cinema history, but will his favorites to star in align with your top picks?
Granted, The Alto Knights certainly isn't expected to be a career-highlight for Robert De Niro, but when the 81-year-old sat down to chat about some of the challenges of filming scenes 'with himself' in the gangster thriller, UNILAD made sure to ask what movies may make some form of top list.
Admittedly, when asked for the top five films of his career, De Niro told UNILAD RANKED: "I don't know."
However, he proceeded to list three bangers, with co-star Debra Messing chiming in with another which De Niro chortled along to - seemingly in agreement.
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And so this week's UNILAD RANKED gives you the top five according to De Niro (and, well, according to Messing slightly too) with the fifth film decided based on Rotten Tomatoes score.
5) Brazil (1985)
De Niro ultimately said he 'didn't know which other ones' after listing three movies he's starred in. Granted, when you're one of the world's most recognized actors and have starred in so many hits, it must be hard to remember them all.
Thankfully, there's a clear winner on Rotten Tomatoes when it comes to the best movie of his career, with a near-perfect critics score of 98 percent and audience score of 90 - Brazil.
The dystopian sci-fi comedy was written by Terry Gilliam (Time Bandits), Charles McKeown (Spies Like Us) and Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love). It was directed by Gilliam and produced by Arnon Milchan (Mr and Mrs Smith).
Robert De Niro in 'Brazil' (20th Century Fox)
The release stars Jonathan Pryce alongside De Niro, Kim Greist (Manhunter), Michael Palin (Monty Python) and Katherine Helmond (Overboard).
Reminiscent of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, the story centers on a ministry clerk whose job is mind-numbingly boring, daydreaming about being a hero. But will his dreams propel him into taking greater action when he stumbles across a case involving a wrongful arrest?
It's reported Gilliam grew frustrated with De Niro's need to 'research' so much for his character, so much so, the director said he wanted to 'strangle him'. However, De Niro later said he'd happily work with the creative again, so it can't have been too bad eh?
One Twitter user said: "One of my favorite movies."
"One of my favorite performances of [De Niro's]," another added.
In fourth place comes a more recent addition to De Niro's catalogue which you can catch on Netflix.
4) The Irishman (2019)
For number four, Messing chimed in naming The Irishman - to which De Niro seemingly agreed.
The 2019 release's screenplay was written by Steven Zaillian (Ripley) and based on Charles Brandt's 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses.
Produced and directed by Martin Scorsese, the American gangster hit stars none other than Al Pacino (Heat) and Joe Pesci (Goodfellas) alongside De Niro.
Set in the 1950s, the story centers around a truck driver who ends up getting involved in a notorious Pennsylvania crime family and ending up taking on a whole new - and far more risky - career path. The question is, will it all be worth it?
Adolescence's Stephen Graham, worked alongside De Niro on the movie but never told the star what an influence he's had on his career - only recently admitting to De Niro for being the 'beginning of [his] whole love of films really' .
Graham recalled watching several films starring De Niro while he was a kid after telling his dad he wanted to get into acting seriously.
And it's not only Messing who thinks The Irishman is one of De Niro's top projects, the Rotten Tomatoes critics score for the gangster movie coming in at a solid 95 percent with the audience score at 86 percent.
One Twitter user said: "An instant Martin Scorsese crime classic that’s everything you want to be, and more. De Niro’s best work in ages."
Another wrote: "I would like to remind everyone that Robert De Niro gives a towering and shockingly overlooked performance in THE IRISHMAN.
"In a career of extraordinary performances, it is one of his best and his most tragic."
And next up is an all-time classic.
3) The Godfather Part II (1974)
The epic crime movie's screenplay was co-written by Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now) and Mario Puzo - Puzo having written the 1969 novel The Godfather on which the film was loosely based.
Produced and directed by Coppola, the film acts as both a sequel and prequel to the 1972 release The Godfather.
It's action splits in two - focusing on the parallel stories of Al Pacino's character of Michael Corleone alongside that of his father Vito Corleone (De Niro). It tracks Vito growing up in Sicily before moving to New York and becoming one of the most respected mafia bosses of New York, side-by-side with Michael's attempts to expand the family business.
With nearly all the dialogue Vito speaks in the film in Sicilian, the film saw De Niro spend around four months learning the Sicilian dialect of Italian.
The Godfather Part II is widely considered one of the greatest films ever - obtaining a solid Rotten Tomatoes critics' score of 96 and audience score of 97 - with one Twitter user echoing: "A classic that defined cinema history."
"The masterpiece for a sequel, which is rare," another added.
A third said: "The Godfather Part II is my favorite film from Francis Ford Coppola because Coppola masterfully synthesizes Vito’s story with Michael’s story by using two generational actors at their peak, Al Pacino & Robert De Niro. This is still some of the best acting of De Niro’s career."
And De Niro takes on a very different role for the next film up on the list.
2) Raging Bull (1980)
An adaption of former middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir Raging Bull: My Story, the screenplay was written by Paul Schrader (Master Gardener) and Mardik Martin (Valentino).
The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Irwin Winkler (The Net) and Robert Chartoff (Rocky II).
It follows the career of LaMotta - played by De Niro - lifting the lid on not only the behind-the-scenes of his professional boxing career, but peeling back a look into his turbulent personal life too.
In preparation for the role De Niro took part in extensive boxing training, even entering into three genuine Brooklyn boxing matches - winning two.
With a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 92 percent and audience score of 93, it's no surprise the film has been praised online as 'one of the best movies ever made'.
"One of the greatest performances of all time," another said of De Niro.
A third resolved: "A role he was born to play."
Indeed, so remarkable is De Niro's portrayal of the boxer, the actor went on to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role alongside Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama at the 1981 Golden Globes.
However, there's one film which leapt straight from De Niro's mouth as soon as UNILAD asked him for his top five movies of his career.
1) Taxi Driver (1976)
Written by Paul Schrader, the neo-noir psychological drama was directed, one again, by Scorsese. It was produced by Michael and Julia Phillips (The Sting).
Diving into New York City following the Vietnam War, De Niro stars as a veteran Marine turned taxi driver who suffers from chronic insomnia, the story tracking his mental health rapidly declining.
Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs), Cybill Shepherd (Moonlighting) and Albert Brooks (Finding Nemo) join De Niro in the cast.
De Niro committed to working 12-hour shifts for a month as a taxi driver in preparation for the role, once being recognized for his role in The Godfather Part II, a passenger exclaiming: "Wait a minute, you just won an Oscar. My God... is it THAT hard to get work??"
He also studied mental illness and visited a US army base in Northern Italy, recording Midwestern soldiers to help inform his accent.
Despite the controversy at the time of its release surrounding casting 12-year-old Foster as a child prostitute, the film has gone on to achieve cult status - alongside a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 89 and audience score of 93.
De Niro's mirror monologue has been praised as 'legendary,' 'unforgettable' and 'forever etched in cinema history'.
"I was today years old when I found out that De Niro's mohawk in Taxi Driver was a latex skull cap and not real," another viewer simply added.
And a third resolved: "Piece of art," while a final user said the film had 'one of cinema's most unforgettable lines'.
UNILAD RANKED is a weekly series with a new article released every Friday.
Topics: Entertainment, Film and TV, Robert De Niro, UNILAD RANKED
Poppy Bilderbeck