Even if there are a few direct-to-DVD pickles and comedies mixed in, especially in the new millennium, the filmography, which stretches back to the 1960s, reads like the Oscar-winning masterpieces “The Godfather 2” and “Raging Bull.” actor Robert De Niro is absolutely impressive.
Over the course of his stellar career, De Niro was not only in front of the camera, but tried his hand behind the camera for the first time in 1993 – but with little success, at least from a financial perspective. His directorial debut “On the streets of the Bronx“was only able to rake in about $17 million of its $21 million production budget at the box officea clear flop for De Niro, who was quite used to success at the time, and whose directing career seemed over before it had even really begun.
“I was never asked to make a movie again after that,” De Niro explains at the last Tribeca Film Festival, where “In the Streets of the Bronx” was screened and celebrated again on the big screen for its 30th anniversary (via ). With this statement, De Niro was of course not referring to his work as an actor, which he continued to do, but to his work as a director. And in fact, thirteen years would pass until De Niro’s second and so far final directorial effort, ‘The Good Shepherd’, which, according to the now 79-year-old, was another uphill battle.
Still a “great experience”
The poor performance of “In the Streets of the Bronx” was a major disappointment for Robert De Niro considering all the work that went into the film, but he was still happy that he was able to make exactly the film he set out to close. And in the end that’s what matters.
As De Niro also explained at the Tribeca Film Festival, it is a nice confirmation when a film is seen by many people and makes a lot of money, but the work itself and its realization are still the most important. Looking back, he also described working on “In the Streets of the Bronx” as a “pleasure” and “a wonderful experience.”
And Ultimately, the once-failed coming-of-age gangster drama still received the deserved recognition: The semi-autobiographical story about a boy who is torn between his sincere father (De Niro) and an underworld boss (Palminteri), written by De Niro’s then co-star Chazz Palminteri, has become a cult film over the years and for many it is a of De Niro’s most popular works.