Inside the Actor's Studio: Robert DeNiro (1998)
*** (out of 4)
Robert DeNiro is the subject of this episode and as you'd expect many of the big titles are talked about including MEAN STREETS, THE GODFATHER PART II, TAXI DRIVER, RAGING BULL, GOODFELLAS, CAPE FEAR and A BRONX TALE. As you can tell from the list, there are many, many movies that aren't discussed, which is a shame but I'm guessing this had something to do with the long, drawn out answers that DeNiro gives. There are some pretty good stories here including some stuff we've heard about countless times including the mirror scene in TAXI DRIVER. There's a funny bit where Jame Lipton tries to get the actor to say the famous line but he refuses. DeNiro also talks about the weight gain on RAGING BULL as well as the famous fight scene with Joe Pesci. CAPE FEAR also get a good chunk of the running time and mostly the seduction scene. Of course there's discussion of working with Scorsese and the actors opinion on why they work so well together. The biggest problem is how many movies aren't discussed and I think it would have been interesting hearing more about some lesser known films rather than hearing the same stories told again. The deleted scenes on the DVD features a wonderful story about THE DEER HUNTER, which is a lot more interesting than anything in the actual show. Still, fans of DeNiro will want to check this out.
