Robert De Niro...The Greatest Actor Of All-Time...

[Amadaca]

Utter bullshit, I say.

Better...

Pete Postlethwaite
Robert Duvall
Tom Hanks
Al Pacino
Leonardo Di Caprio
Dustin Hoffman

I'm not saying he isn't (wasn't?) an elite actor, but I'm tired of hearing he's the best ever. Its a lie.

Thoughts?

 

[hineyrulz]

lol only Hoffman and Pacino out of that lot deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence.

Duvall is a damn good actor but in De Niro's class???? Another thread fail.

 

[Springs]

He's an actor. No actor is the best of all time as it's largely a subjective opinion.

Daniel Day-Lewis has my vote for talent.

Most actors dilute their career by taking shitty roles. De Niro has tons of crappy roles.

 

[Amadaca]

Postlethwaite is my vote for the greatest actor of all-time.

Daniel Day-Lewis is another better than De Niro.

 

[Fire]

Actors who have come after De Niro, Pacino, and Duvall have all stood on their shoulders, so to speak. Just as these three actors stood on the shoulders of the class actors before them.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Marlon Brando is the greatest actor of all time IMO.

If you haven't seen his performance in On the Waterfront , rush out and get yourself a copy.

 

[Dragon2010]

De Niro is a top actor and has made some phenomenal movies where he really shows his class and talent. Casino and Goodfellas to start. Yet, he's dine many duds which he still gives a good performance and just a crap storyline and shit supporting cast damage it.

Pacino is one of my all time favourites though. He's class.

 

[Danish]

Considering De Niro has played basically the same character in just about every movie I've seen him in I wouldn't call him anything like the best actor

 

[Tommy Smith]

lol What like Mean Steets, Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, This Boy's Life, Heat...

All completely different characters, just to name a few. And all brilliant performances.

 

[Springs]

Marlon Brando is the greatest actor of all time IMO.

If you haven't seen his performance in On the Waterfront , rush out and get yourself a copy.

Too bad his ego was only matched in size by his gut. An incredibly selfish man who screwed over his directors more than once. He was a complete f**khead during Apocalypse Now.

That said I don't really see what's so great about him. More so he saw how simple acting could be and played it that way. Didn't learn his lines, didn't method act, didn't research, just knew how to say what he needed to.

Yet, he's dine many duds which he still gives a good performance and just a crap storyline and shit supporting cast damage it.

He still chose the roles, and could see how bad they were. The performance is limited by the writing but it's still bad.

In my opinion the only 'great' actors are the ones that are unrecognisable from film to film. Daniel Day-Lewis and Gary Oldman fit the category in my opinion. But you often call whatever character De Niro is playing simply 'De Niro' as in, he's often just himself, or Italian mobster character. Godfather II, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull to be his best in order, but doesn't come near Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood or Lincoln.

The great directors and writers can get great performances out of any actor. Performances often rely as much on script and direction as talent. Watched Moonrise Kingdom the other night and the two young leads were as good as any of the adult actors and I never would have thought it was their first performances.

Eh, I don't think acting is much of an art form when 8 year olds can be nominated for best actress.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

lol What like Mean Steets, Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, This Boy's Life, Heat...

All completely different characters, just to name a few. And all brilliant performances.

Then there is Meet the Fockers, Little Fockers, Killer Elite, Limitless etc etc.

De Niro is a good actor and had some fantastic roles over the years, as anyone who has managed to stay in the business as long as he has should. But his career over the last decade or even beyond that has become a caricature of itself. He's unfortunately planted himself strongly in the b-grade cash cow line of work now.

Every generation has fantastic actors, it's impossible to say who is the best. I personally wouldn't have De Niro in my top 20 actors, but his work in This Boys Life, Taxi Driver and The Raging Bull have to be some of my favourite performances of all time.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Too bad his ego was only matched in size by his gut. An incredibly selfish man who screwed over his directors more than once. He was a complete f**khead during Apocalypse Now.

That said I don't really see what's so great about him. More so he saw how simple acting could be and played it that way. Didn't learn his lines, didn't method act, didn't research, just knew how to say what he needed to.

.

There's no doubt Brando was a tosser.

But much like what happens away from the field in footy , what happens away from the cameras doesn't change his greatness.

Just because it came incredibly naturally to Brando doesn't change the fact he was an incredible actor.

 

[Mader45]

In my opinion the only 'great' actors are the ones that are unrecognisable from film to film

Thats the key. Not the difference of their characters. Robert DeNiro still uses the same mannerisms, body language and facial expressions for each role. He doesnt play himself like Jack Nicholson does, but he isnt some master of acting people make him out to be.

If you watch In The Name Of The Father, There will be Blood and Last Of The Mohicans you see 3 stunningly different people on the screen.

 

[Silent Knight]

He doesn't rank alongside some of the names mentioned in this thread but Bruce Willis showed he could deliver beyond his usual action hero/tough guy persona in at least two films I can name, The Sixth Sense and 12 Monkeys. Too bad he didn't get many other roles in alternative/drama films because I really felt he could've shined there.

He'll always be remembered as John Mcclane though (not that there's anything wrong with that ) and he's appeared in one too many stinkers like Striking Distance and The Colour of Night to be thrown up in the same echelon as Brando and Pacino.

 

[Avenger]

No mention of Jack Nicholson? Up there with the best of them.

 

[Avenger]

Sean Penn and Ed Norton are right up there. In relation to the ladies nobody comes close to Meryl Streep and Jodie Foster.

 

[Avenger]

Thats the key. Not the difference of their characters. Robert DeNiro still uses the same mannerisms, body language and facial expressions for each role. He doesnt play himself like Jack Nicholson does, but he isnt some master of acting people make him out to be.

If you watch In The Name Of The Father, There will be Blood and Last Of The Mohicans you see 3 stunningly different people on the screen.

Daniel Day Lewis is a phenomenal talent. Kevin Spacey is similar.

 

[nöyd]

meh, we're all inclined to nominate actors we prefer more than who we think is the best/greatest...

i'd nominate john cusack personally, fair quota of stinkers, but what actor doesn't?

 

[Amadaca]

He doesn't rank alongside some of the names mentioned in this thread but Bruce Willis showed he could deliver beyond his usual action hero/tough guy persona in at least two films I can name, The Sixth Sense and 12 Monkeys. Too bad he didn't get many other roles in alternative/drama films because I really felt he could've shined there.

He'll always be remembered as John Mcclane though (not that there's anything wrong with that ) and he's appeared in one too many stinkers like Striking Distance and The Colour of Night to be thrown up in the same echelon as Brando and Pacino.

The Colour Of Night is under-rated!

 

[Amadaca]

Sean Penn and Ed Norton are right up there. In relation to the ladies nobody comes close to Meryl Streep and Jdie Foster.

Cate Blanchett will be remembered alongside them.