With his nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Killers Of The Flower Moon, Robert De Niro moved into a tie for tenth of most acting nominations by an actor or actress. And while he is nowhere close to Meryl Streep and her TWENTY-ONE fucking nominations, he’s still in some pretty good company, including Cate Blanchett, Jack Lemon and Marlon Brando. De Niro has two Oscar wins, and while there doesn’t seem like much of a chance he’ll be getting his third this year, when you’re talking about the greatest actors to ever do it, you have to include Bobby D.
Where does his nomination for Killers rank amongst his work? Let’s rank, baby!
#8. Silver Linings Playbook (2013)
Look, there is nothing wrong with this performance, and this is one of those cases where just because it’s in last place doesn’t make it bad. And it’s fun watching him match energies with actors like Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. But, as you’ll see when we work our way up the list, this is one of those movies where you just kind of forget he was nominated.
7. Awakenings (1991)
Again, this is not a bad performance or a bad movie. This is also the film where De Niro first worked with a script from Steven Zallian, who would later pen the screenplay for The Irishman. A really solid performance in a criminally underseen movie.
#6. Killers Of The Flower Moon (2023)
I understand that Brandon Andreasen, the site’s co-founder, does not like this film or this performance. But this is exactly the kind of performance I was always hoping De Niro would age into. There is still enough of that combination of a twinkle in his eye and a commanding gravitas in his voice that still makes him scary even as you can see his body approaching feebleness. You need this performance to make this film work, and this film works so damn well.
5. Cape Fear (1992)
Yikes, De Niro is scary good in this. I always forget Scorsese made this movie and the other talented actors who are in this because Robert De Niro is the fucking force behind all of this. He only loses because this is the Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter year.
Ok, so we’re at the final four, and I’m going to stop putting in little blurbs for the movies. Because basically for all of these, I just want to say, “Holy shit! Robert De Niro is so good in this playing complicated versions of anger and rage and emotional confusion!” 1975-1981 Bobby De Niro is absolutely unfuckwithable and you could draw these four movies out of a hat to make your own list and it would still be awesome. De Niro is just amazing and it’s easy to see why his two wins both came in this period. So, here we go…
4. The Dear Hunter (1979)
#3. Raging Bull (1981- WON Best Actor)
#2. The Godfather, Part 2 (1975- WON Best Supporting Actor)
#1. Taxi Driver (1977)
Fancy Boys Club 