From The King of Comedy, 1983
Today is the official publication day of my book Robert De Niro: Anatomy of an Actor. I’d be much obliged if you purchased a copy. If you’d like to preview it first, my friends at both Vulture and RogerEbert.com have published excerpts, from the chapters on Midnight Run and Mean Streets respectively. And soon Vanity Fair.com will publish something from the King of Comedy chapter. I’ll update when that happens. The book is available from the usual suspect, but Barnes and Noble.com will ship it faster. And your friendly neighborhood bookstore provides a more personal experience.
Last night’s event at Book Court went wonderfully, and I’m really grateful to everyone who turned out. On Thursday night at 7:30 at Videology I’ll be presenting both myself and the book with excerpts from some of the films. It should be fun. Come say hi if you’re able. Thanks.
I don’t remember it’s been argued here or not, but someone wrote (and I agree) MIDNIGHT RUN is the one De Niro comedy where he’s not spoofing his own persona. Obviously, his previous roles do inform the movie and the performance, but he plays it completely straight. That, I think, is one of the main reasons the movie works so well (that, of course, and the script and other performances, especially Grodin, Dennis Farina and Yaphet Kotto).
Yeah. He even deflates the tough guy BS–Walsh looks whipped by life through most of the movie.
Isn’t part of the reason he looks whipped is because he tried to do the right thing and had it blow up in his face? Because he remained an honest cop and got no payoff? He may be subverting tough-guy cliches, but isn’t that required by the script?