海角大神

Few actors since Orson Welles have been as admired 鈥� or as condescended to 鈥� as Robert De Niro.

Both burnished their reputations early on: Welles for his breathtaking screen presence in 鈥淐itizen Kane,鈥� De Niro for his vigorous incarnations of morally knotty characters in such films as 鈥淭axi Driver鈥� and 鈥淩aging Bull.鈥� And both were deemed disappointments as they got on in years: Welles for his ubiquity in d茅class茅 television commercials, De Niro for appearing in a number of artistically unsound films.

This dichotomy is tackled head-on in Shawn Levy鈥檚 De Niro: A Life, an authoritative biography that impresses with its fair-mindedness. While Levy, also the author of earlier biographies of Jerry Lewis and Paul Newman, is unstinting in his admiration for De Niro鈥檚 best films 鈥� including a five-year period that netted 鈥淢ean Streets,鈥� 鈥淭he Godfather Part II,鈥� 鈥淭axi Driver,鈥� and 鈥淭he Deer Hunter鈥� 鈥� he does not shrink from acknowledging what is on all of our minds: De Niro has traded delving deeply into characters like 鈥淩aging Bull鈥� boxer Jake LaMotta for low-maintenance roles. Arguing that De Niro鈥檚 work (and the projects he opted to work in) could be depended on as late as the 1990s, Levy admits that, in the aftermath of the blockbuster success of 鈥淢eet the Parents鈥� in 2000, 鈥渢he arithmetic he did in choosing roles changed, and he began making films out of dubious material with scripts and co-stars and directors that left audiences puzzled why De Niro was involved.鈥�

Indeed, the book 鈥� tethered as it is to the yo-yoing of De Niro鈥檚 career 鈥� winds down on a glum note, with Levy marching through such films as 鈥淐ity by the Sea鈥� (鈥渢he first film to truly mark a dip in his interest in his work鈥�), 鈥淩ighteous Kill鈥� (鈥渁 strictly by-the-numbers crime movie鈥�), and, of course, the sequels to 鈥淢eet the Parents鈥� (鈥溾�楲ittle Fockers鈥� ... was about as subtle and nuanced as a steamroller leveling a fruit stand鈥�). (Levy鈥檚 pithy, consistently erudite descriptions of films is a carryover from his background as a film critic.) Setting aside the aberration of 鈥淪ilver Linings Playbook鈥� 鈥� for which De Niro was Oscar nominated 鈥� Levy is forced to conclude that, 鈥渇or reasons that were genuinely unclear and even troubling,鈥� the actor鈥檚 taste in roles had slipped miserably.

鈥淥nce his talent had seemed like vintage wine, carefully decanted drop by painstaking drop into the finest crystal,鈥� Levy writes. 鈥淣ow he was pouring it sloppily into so many paper cups as if it were the cheapest, most indifferently made plonk.鈥�

Of course, several hundred pages precede this despairing conclusion 鈥� pages which recount, in frequently minute detail, the making of De Niro鈥檚 earlier triumphs. Jam-packed with insight, anecdotes, and trivia about those films, it is almost enough to make us set aside the paper cups and plonk and treasure the wine and crystal.

Levy has the gift of breathing life into films that have been written about to death, as when he emphasizes how perilously close 鈥淭axi Driver鈥� came to not being made: director Martin Scorsese and producers Michael and Julia Phillips were busy with other projects, and De Niro could have earned far more than his $30,000 salary. According to screenwriter Paul Schrader: 鈥淗e was being offered a half a million for something else.鈥�

As we read of De Niro鈥檚 working methods, which involve not only fulsome research but his own sometimes-philosophical musings on a given character, it is a pleasure to summon our memories of the final performances, matching the process with the end result. For example, we learn that De Niro visualized a crab when reflecting on 鈥淭axi Driver鈥檚鈥� cab driver antihero Travis Bickle: 鈥淗e鈥檚 out of his cab, which is his protective shell 鈥� he鈥檚 outside his element.... I got the image of a crab, moving awkwardly, sideways and back.鈥� Playing stylish studio executive Monroe Stahr in 鈥淭he Last Tycoon,鈥� De Niro luxuriated in his fancy wardrobe, wearing it even when not filming: 鈥淚 spent time just walking around the studio dressed in those three-piece suits, thinking, 鈥楾his is all mine.鈥欌�� Levy suggests that De Niro looks for himself in many roles, as in script notes for 鈥淪tanley & Iris鈥� in which he compares the illiteracy of his character to 鈥渉is very limited knowledge of Italian.鈥�

Levy also prepares us, in a way, for De Niro鈥檚 drop off, pointing out that, four short years after 鈥淩aging Bull,鈥� he was in his first genuinely insubstantial film (鈥淔alling in Love鈥�) and four years after that, he was in an outright comedy (鈥淢idnight Run鈥�). And Levy makes clear that De Niro did not always have the pick of the litter. Writing of the tacky Ma Barker crime film 鈥淏loody Mama鈥� 鈥� made early in his career 鈥� Levy commends De Niro for being 鈥渢he most haunting thing in a surprisingly haunting bit of grindhouse,鈥� praising his performance for the sort of character specificity we associate with his finest hours, such as 鈥渉is habit of falling into distracted singsong鈥� or 鈥渨earing a fedora with the brim turned up,鈥� the latter a detail he recycled in 鈥淢ean Streets.鈥� Maybe De Niro was always less pure than we imagine, appearing 鈥� for far longer than just the past decade 鈥� in humdrum films.

In the end, though, perhaps we should look to Orson Welles himself to best understand De Niro鈥檚 career fluctuations: as Peter Bogdanovich has recalled, Welles responded to Bogdanovich鈥檚 comment that Greta Garbo made just a pair of good movies by saying 鈥� after a pause 鈥� 鈥淵ou only need one.鈥� And Robert De Niro has many more than that.

Peter Tonguette鈥檚 criticism has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and many other publications.