Robert DeNiro: Just keeps on trucking

Robert Deniro, at right, in "Midnight Run" in 1988, with co-star Charles Grodin.

Source: https://filmforum.org/film/midnight-run-road-movies

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Imagine being hired to track someone down who is a fugitive and a criminal, and bring them back to justice. Only, when you meet the guy, he isn’t as much a criminal as he is a guy who was trying to do the right thing. He only jumped bail so he could prove it. Do you change your mind about the guy? Do you still bring him in?

That was what happened to Robert DeNiro when he played Jack Walsh in the movie “Midnight Run”.

I saw DeNiro today, railing against the Gotham Awards for altering the contents of an acceptance speech he was giving.

Seeing DeNiro reminded me of “Midnight Run”, his movies with Martin Scorcese, and the other work he did in the 1980s. That all acted as a springboard to the amazing career still going strong at the age of 80.

The years before
Robert DeNiro had made quite a name for himself as the 1980s dawned. He started appearing in movies in 1965, and really got rolling with a part in “The Godfather Part II” in 1974, for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

He soon teamed with director Martin Scorcese in the beginning of a series of movies, starting with “Taxi Driver” in 1976, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor; and “New York, New York” in 1977. He followed that up with “The Deer Hunter” in 1978, directed by Michael Cimino, where he was nominated for another Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

DeNiro would only get busier, and more prolific in the 1980s.

More Martin
He started the decade starring in “Raging Bull” in 1980, another movie directed by Scorcese. DeNiro plays legendary boxer Jake LaMotta, a performance that earned him an Oscar for Best Actor.

The first time I actually saw DeNiro was in “The King of Comedy”, a 1982 movie that I saw later. I was in Grade 8 hanging out with my friend Mike Hartman, and accompanied him to do some babysitting. The people he babysat for had Pay-TV. When we tuned in, this strange movie was playing.

This deranged fan named Rupert Pupkin, kidnapped a comic, and was staging his own talk show with him, actually trying to be the comic. It was the end of the movie, and did not make a lot of sense to me.

We didn’t have much time to digest it either, because the people came home from their night out.

Robert DeNiro played Rupert Pupkin.

Prolific actor
Robert DeNiro kept on making movies as the decade proceeded – and a lot of them. In 1984, he was in “Once Upon a Time in America” about Jewish gangsters in New York, and “Falling in Love”, where he stars opposite Meryl Streep. I recall “Falling in Love” billed as starring two Oscar winners in a love story.

In 1985, he appeared in “Brazil” a dystopic science fiction movie directed by Terry Gilliam, who made his name as part of Monty Python.

In 1986, he was in “The Mission” where he co-starred with Jeremy Irons about two missionaries in South America in the 18th Century. My good friend David Perlich saw this movie when we were in high school and loved it. Another friend in university raved about the music in the movie.

I did not see these movies, but I did see his next one.

The devil you say
“Angel Heart” came out early in 1987 when I was still in high school. It was greeted with some controversy because of a scene Lisa Bonet did, that was deemed sexually explicit. At the time she was best known as the eldest daughter in the smash television comedy “The Cosby Show”. The censors were going to give the movie an X-rating if the scene was not deleted. It was.

Mickey Rourke stars in “Angel Heart” as private detective Harry Angel, who is hired to look into a man’s disappearance. He follows the trail to New Orleans and the world of voodoo, witchcraft, and a shadowy man named Louis Cyphre, who hired Angel. DeNiro played Louis Cyphre.

He turned in a memorable performance as Louis Cyphre combining a looming, foreboding presence with slick charm. You can tell he is not what he appears to be and definitely has a hidden, darker agenda.

DeNiro also played Al Capone in the theatrical update of “The Untouchables” in 1987 but, again, I never saw the movie in its entirety.

I was told by several people I missed out, but I definitely did not miss out on his next movie.

It remains one of my favourite DeNiro movies.

Running
It was the summer of 1988, and I was home after my first year of university. While I was gone away to school, a new theatre complex cropped up in Lethbridge, providing so many more screens to see movies.

I was hanging out with my friend and neighbour Bill, and we went to a lot of movies, because they were cheap and accessible.

So one day we decided to go see this movie that looked interesting, although we really hadn’t heard anything about it, other than it was a comedy.

It was called “Midnight Run”.

DeNiro plays bounty hunter Jack Walsh hired to bring back a nebbish accountant named Jonathan Mardukas, played by Charles Grodin, who embezzled $15 million from a mobster. However, the FBI wants Mardukas so he can testify against the mobster. And the mobster wants Mardukas to get his money back, and of course, kill the embezzler. When Walsh finally captures Mardukas, he discovers Mardukas is afraid of flying, meaning he has to take him back cross country to Los Angeles by any means necessary.

It is a great movie, part comedy, part drama and part action. The chemistry between DeNiro and Grodin is immediate as the bounty hunter comes to like the accountant, who isn’t a bad guy at all.

I saw it again a few years ago, and it still a great movie.

It also really shows DeNiro's versatility as an actor who can play it straight and do comedy.

The years after
Robert DeNiro just keeps making great movies where he demonstrates his talent and versatility. Given he was nominated for all those Oscars so early in his career, it’s hard to comprehend how it was possible for him to keep making so many great movies in the years after the 1980s.

Those include “Goodfellas” and “Awakenings” in 1990; “Guilty by Suspicion”, “Backdraft”, and “Cape Fear” in 1991; “Mad Dog and Glory” and “A Bronx Tale” in 1993; “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” in 1994; “Casino” and “Heat” in 1995; “The Fan” in 1996; “Cop Land”, “Jackie Brown”, and “Wag the Dog” in 1997; “Great Expectations” and “Ronin” in 1998; “Analyze This” in 1999; “Meet the Parents” in 2000; “Analyze That” in 2002; “Meet the Fockers” in 2004; “Little Fockers” in 2010; “Silver Linings Playbook” in 2012; “Joker” in 2019, where his character pays tribute to Rupert Pupkin; “The War with Grandpa” in 2020; “Killers of the Flower Moon” in 2023; and so, so many more.

Parting thoughts
Robert DeNiro is an incredibly versatile actor, whose career has just evolved and changed with the times.

I have seen some of his dramatic movies, but I have to admit I love him more in comedy. As he has aged, and is less believable as a dramatic or action hero, he has just increased his reputation as a comedic actor.

The epitome of his comedic work is playing Jack Walsh in “Midnight Run”, where he is this hard-boiled, ex-cop bounty hunter who has his heart melted by the endearing and engaging Jonathan Mardukas.

It amazes me that Robert DeNiro has been acting longer than I have been alive, and he just keeps on trucking.