After starting their cinematic relationship on Mean Streets in 1973, Martin Scorcese and Robert De Niro have gone on to collaborate on several of the most epic films of all time, according to both critics and international audiences alike.
With a working relationship that spans four decades, we’ll take a look at the enduring partnership between Scorsese and De Niro and the movies they’ve blessed us with.
1970s to 1990s
After Mean Streets, the duo directed and starred in (respectively) Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas, and Cape Fear (1991).
Though admittedly not as heralded as Taxi Driver or Goodfellas, the eighth collaboration between the pair, Casino (1995), is not to be overlooked – especially as it signaled a creative break between the pair.
Based on the novel Casino: Love and Honour in Las Vegas, De Niro stars as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, who is ordered by the Chicago Mafia to run a casino in Las Vegas.
Of course, the casino industry has massively transformed since the writing of the book and the Scorsese film adaptation that followed.
Players can still see the bright lights of Las Vegas but also enjoy classic games like casino roulette online on a reliable platform. Users also have the opportunity to interact with live dealers and other players, making the experience more realistic for fans of the real-life Sin City.
With this in mind, it would be interesting to see how the narrative would fare in the modern world – perhaps a modern remake would explore the film’s themes completely differently.
A two-decade pause
After Casino, Scorsese and De Niro did not collaborate for 20 years – unless you count both giving voices to characters in the animated film Shark Tale (2004) – returning to the screen with a short film, The Audition (2015).
Potentially taking inspiration from the film that signaled the pause in their working relationship, The Audition bookends the break with yet more casino-related content – this time, as an advertisement of sorts for luxury casino resorts in China and the Philippines.
Four years later, we got the critically acclaimed The Irishman (2019) – Scorsese and De Niro’s first collab to go straight to streaming with the mighty Netflix.
Thanks to its innovative costumes, special effects, cinematography, costume design, and much much more, The Irishman was nominated for 10 Academy Awards – yes, 10!
If we are to believe the rumors, some have suggested that The Irishman didn’t win any of these Oscars due to the fact that it was released on Netflix.
What’s next?
Killers of the Flower Moon is the highly-anticipated next (and 11th) project for Scorsese and De Niro, marking four decades of working together.
This crime-drama-turned-Western also stars Leonardo DiCaprio (DiCaprio’s 7th collaboration with Scorsese, in fact), Jesse Plemons, Lily Gladstone, and newly-awarded Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser, and explores a series of murders in Oklahoma during the roaring 20s.
First announced in 2018, filming was delayed for a few years. Nevertheless, the movie has prevailed, with a predicted release date of October 2023 in selected cinemas and on Apple TV+.
After that, the sky is the limit for Scorsese and De Niro – though it might break the hearts of the cinema purists or make the homebodies jump for joy, it is looking as though the duo’s switch to straight-to-streaming film releases will be the new normal.
