Robert De Niro phoned in Goodfellas Performance

Banana Beard wrote:

Flounder wrote:

Do you think Pesci was there to amuse you? You stuttering prick you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2LAs-WL_4

Anyone ever meet a real life Joe Pesci type?

I used to think he was only really a sort of "comedy" character but I met a total psycho character like him once whilst working overseas and meeting a new crowd. Not an actual murder (as far as I knew!) but totally wild, big into knives and would fly off the handle beating up guys not in our circle when out drinking for the slightest perceived insult. V scary.

Whitey Bulger, R.I.P. (may he rest in pieces), would fit that description, allegedly, cough, cough.

PopeFrancis wrote:

Banana Beard wrote:

Anyone ever meet a real life Joe Pesci type?

I used to think he was only really a sort of "comedy" character but I met a total psycho character like him once whilst working overseas and meeting a new crowd. Not an actual murder (as far as I knew!) but totally wild, big into knives and would fly off the handle beating up guys not in our circle when out drinking for the slightest perceived insult. V scary.

Whitey Bulger, R.I.P. (may he rest in pieces), would fit that description, allegedly, cough, cough.

Before Bekele starts a race and puts on his shoes, I bet he could tell anyone to go home and get their fukking shine box. How bad ass would that be. He should say that to Jos Hermens before his next race.

Just because everyone has run across their yard at some time or another, they all think they can do it or coach it at the hgihest level. Most think this about acting as well.

I judge acting by whether I believe I am watching a character or an actor playing a character. It is pretty difficult for me to watch Stallone (outside of Rocky I) and not know I am watching an actor trying to play a character. At no time during Goodfella's did I not think I was watching Jimmy Conway regardless of how he cried. Good acting in my eyes.

To the people saying De Niro's acting was bad when he cried, did you not see him knock over that telephone booth. You would only do that if you were really upset.

Banana Bread wrote:

To the people saying De Niro's acting was bad when he cried, did you not see him knock over that telephone booth. You would only do that if you were really upset.

I did not see him knocking over that telephone booth because that literally did not happen.

However in terms of the character's emotions getting the better of him (i.e. the smashing down at the handle with the receiver) coupled with the lengthy voice over telling us how excited he was about Tommy being made I guess we should have expected a little more, erm, emotion in his acting rather than appearing like a rubber faced Italian Mr Bean.

Amanda Bentley wrote:

Banana Bread wrote:

To the people saying De Niro's acting was bad when he cried, did you not see him knock over that telephone booth. You would only do that if you were really upset.

I did not see him knocking over that telephone booth because that literally did not happen.

However in terms of the character's emotions getting the better of him (i.e. the smashing down at the handle with the receiver) coupled with the lengthy voice over telling us how excited he was about Tommy being made I guess we should have expected a little more, erm, emotion in his acting rather than appearing like a rubber faced Italian Mr Bean.

Maybe your mother didn't allow you to watch that bit.

Lol, an Italian Mr Bean. That made me chuckle.

Keep the thread going.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hill

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lufthansa_heist

Maybe Maybe Maybe

What a clown. How about it all happened, with some dramatic license applied, in the fashion depicted in the film.

Banana Bread wrote:

Amanda Bentley wrote:

I did not see him knocking over that telephone booth because that literally did not happen.

However in terms of the character's emotions getting the better of him (i.e. the smashing down at the handle with the receiver) coupled with the lengthy voice over telling us how excited he was about Tommy being made I guess we should have expected a little more, erm, emotion in his acting rather than appearing like a rubber faced Italian Mr Bean.

Maybe your mother didn't allow you to watch that bit.

Lol, an Italian Mr Bean. That made me chuckle.

Chortle. My mother couldn't allow me to watch that bit because like I said it literally doesn't exist. Here watch:-

Go to 2:34, as I said he whacked at the handle with the receiver a few times but there is no "knocking over the telephone booth".

Don't feel too bad though Mr Banana because, just like the formerly great Bekele, time catches up with all of us whether it's making a fool of ourselves in major marathons or miss-remembering scenes from old films.

Amanda Bentley wrote:

Banana Bread wrote:

To the people saying De Niro's acting was bad when he cried, did you not see him knock over that telephone booth. You would only do that if you were really upset.

I did not see him knocking over that telephone booth because that literally did not happen.

However in terms of the character's emotions getting the better of him (i.e. the smashing down at the handle with the receiver) coupled with the lengthy voice over telling us how excited he was about Tommy being made I guess we should have expected a little more, erm, emotion in his acting rather than appearing like a rubber faced Italian Mr Bean.

The scene of Jimmy getting the phone call likely did not occur in real life as there have been differing accounts of Tommy DeSimone's demise. One is similar to the movie in which he was going to be made but was killed instead. Another account has him disappearing and body not found for about a year. He was murdered in retaliation for killing Billy Bentvena(portrayed by Frank Vincent in the movie) who was a made member while Tommy D wasn't. Tommy D and Jimmy Burke didn't like the way Billy Batts spoke to Tommy D when he got out of prsion but the real reason was much more likely that the two men didn't want to give Billy Batts his loansharking business back to him.

Some of the casting was odd. Henry Hill is a dour relatively short numbskull while Ray Liotta is a good looking guy without a hint of the street smart Brooklyn accent Hill carried. In opposition to that is the real Tommy D was a tall imposing figure and a good looking guy. Joe Pesci was missing at least one of those characteristics.

The killings occurred but the movie needs to wrap them up quickly....Sticks was apparently killed in the fashion portrayed although whether they had to make the coffee to go after shooting him is anyone's guess.

Oh grow up. It is possible to appreciate film, art, music, architecture, etc. without having to marry your likes and dislikes to the political leanings of the artist. I think James Woods is one tweet shy of being a white supremacist and fascist. But I still really like his acting and have no reason to go back and pick through his roles to discredit him as an actor.

De Niro was great in Goodfellas. He played the crying scene perfectly. He loved Pesci's character but also lived the life of the brutal mob enforcer. The scene shows the conflict between De Niro's instinct for violence and power and his love and dedication to Pesci's character. De Niro's role in Goodfellas was to be the straight man to Pesci's erratic character and Liotta's young mob upstart. So, he did not have as interesting a role to play. But that is why De Niro is so brilliant. He played his character to fit in with the dynamic between the three and did not try to play the role up for the Academy Award. This is why Goodfellas got snubbed at the Academy Awards. It told the story so well without reaching for melodrama and the kind of big moments that seem to be a prerequisite for an Academy Award.

Agree, and some of the DeNiro looks were classic. Like when he was considering killing Maury the wig guy. I get everything in the move except for one scene. Was DeNiro setting up Henry Hills wife to be killed in the scene where he sent her to pick up some fur coats or whatever after Henry went to prison?

Amanda Bentley wrote:

Banana Bread wrote:

To the people saying De Niro's acting was bad when he cried, did you not see him knock over that telephone booth. You would only do that if you were really upset.

I did not see him knocking over that telephone booth because that literally did not happen.

However in terms of the character's emotions getting the better of him (i.e. the smashing down at the handle with the receiver) coupled with the lengthy voice over telling us how excited he was about Tommy being made I guess we should have expected a little more, erm, emotion in his acting rather than appearing like a rubber faced Italian Mr Bean.

Might as well put up the scene that the thread is about:

Yeah he did knock over the telephone booth.

Yes, De Niro has been phoning it in for years now; at a certain point he cynically realized that degenerating into bloated self-parody and playing "Robert De Niro" in film after film -The Fockers Franchise, Dirty Grandpa, etc.- would allow him to mail it in and collect a nice paycheck in the process. ( Chris Walken and Nicolas Cage have followed similar career trajectories, although Cage wasn't in the same league as an actor to begin with). He stopped caring about his craft.

Although De Niro was already on the decline when Goodfellas was made in 1990 (he'd already done We're No Angels, Midnight Run, and his cartoonish Al Capone in The Untouchables), his portrayal of Jimmy The Gent was most definitely not phoned in. It was a return to form and a glimpse of the man who was once one of the greatest American actors of his generation. To say De Niro was always "just a cartoon" is absurd. His intensity in earlier films like Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull practically burned off the screen with such authenticity it made the viewer think he might be legit nuts.

Yes, he was pretty poor in Goodfellas but still passable especially for guys of a certain age who cannot dissociate "cool" 70s De Niro from the self parody he was becoming by this stage.

However, I think Analyze This (1989) and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (1990) represent the dawn of the era were he just looks like he wishes he could just curl up in a ball and wait for it all to be over so he can collect his money.