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16-04-2008 14:47
Like Depp and Burton throughout the nineties Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese were the directing/actor partnership of the seventies and eighties spanning eight pictures.De Niro was a new face in cinema when he began his collaboration with Scorsese in 1973. Mean Streets was also Martin Scorsese's breakthrough movie as a director.Charlie (Harvey Keitel), a charming 27-year-old who is supported by his devoutly Catholic mother spends his days wandering the streets of New York City and nights hanging out drinking with his good friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro), a loose cannon that can't seem toescape trouble. Charlie's extreme affability makes him the middle man between his mob-tied uncle Giovanni (Cesare Danova) and various clients, as well as between Johnny Boy and Michael (Richard Romanus), a bookie who has become fed up with Johnny Boy's constant debt dodging.As the city's San Gennaro Festival takes over the streets of Little Italy, Michael seeks revenge on Johnny Boy once and for all.Man Streets has grown in popularity over the years and has been selected for presentation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being 'culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.And their fruitful partnership began.
After further establishing himself in The Godfather II De Niro worked with Scorsese in 1976 on Taxi Driver, a film that cemented them as a forceful filmmaking due.
For psychotic, pistol-packing Vietnam vet Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), New York City seems like a circle of hell.
Driving his cab each night through the bleak Manhattan streets, Bickle observes with fanatical loathing the sleazy lowlifes who comprise most of his fares.
By day he haunts the porno theatres of 42nd Street, taking his cues from the violent vision of life portrayed in these movies.
As badly as Travis wants to connect with the people around him--including Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a lovely blonde campaign worker, and Iris (Jodie Foster), a prepubescent prostitute he tries to save--his attempts are thwarted and his pent-up rage grows, turning him into a Mohawk-wearing walking time bomb.
The film was a critical and commercial success going on to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and being nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture.
New York, New York followed, a lesser know collaboration between the pair, but it was a box office failure grossing $13 million, $1 million less than it's budget.
But the pair bounced back in 1980 with boxing movie Raging Bull, which is widely regarded as Scorsese's best movie.
Middleweight boxer Jake La Motta rises through the ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown, he falls in love with Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), a gorgeous girl from his Bronx neighbourhood.
Jake's inability to express his feelings pours out in the ring and eventually takes over his life in his dealings with his brother, Joey ( Joe Pesci).
Irrational jealousy over Vickie, as well as an insatiable appetite, sends him into a downward spiral that costs him his title, his wife, and his relationship with Joey.
Upon release the film was met with mixed reviews with many concerned by the level of violence that is portrayed throughout the film. But De Niro won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance.
However over the years the film came to be regarded as a classic and was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Based on the book Wiseguy, the true story of Henry Hill a mob informer, the film is regarded as one of the best movies in this genre.
As a poor Irish-Italian growing up in 1950s New York City, Hill (Ray Liotta) rises through the ranks of his Brooklyn neighbourhood's organized crime branch, and with money from the mob he begins living the good life, complete with a beautiful bride, Karen (Lorraine Bracco), a fancy house, and the best seats at the most exclusive restaurants.
A botched robbery lands Henry in prison for a brief period of time, and when he gets released, his reckless infidelities and drug abuse damage his association with his adopted family.
It was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, but won just one, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Joe Pesci.
1995 was the last time that the duo worked together on Casino, which also starred Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci.
The Academy Award winning crime thriller is based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Pileggi and Larry Shandling.
Sam "Ace" Rothstein, the consummate bookie who can change the odds merely by placing a bet, has risen through the ranks of the Midwestern mob to be picked by the bosses to front their entree into Vegas.
Ace lives and breathes the odds. He eventually doubles the mob's take and changes the rules of how the casinos are run. But he can't control the odds when it comes to Ginger McKenna, the chip-hustling vamp who charms Ace and becomes his wife.
His infatuation with Ginger turns to obsession as she rises with him to the upper crust of society, then turns to the bottle and pills for consolation in her gilded cage.
The third member of this triangle of greed and obsession is Nicky Santoro, Ace's best friend and fellow graduate of the city streets.
Together, they run the perfect operation, with Ace in charge and Nicky providing the muscle. But as Nicky expands his interests and each man gains power, their lives become entangled in a story of hot tempers, obstinacy, money, love and deception.
Over the years the talents of these two cinema greats has produced some of the best movies ever committed to film.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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