Keitel/ de niro / pesci / pacino

DeNiro overrated? I'll fight you.

The man himself said it best... "I'm gonna open his hole like this. Please excuse my French. I'm gonna make him suffer. I'm gonna make his mother wish she never had him - make him into dog meat... He's a nice, a nice kid. He's a pretty kid, too. I mean I don't know, I gotta problem if I should **** him or fight him."

I've never been beguiled about De Niro / Pacino in the way the others have. Both did their best work pre 1980 IMO. (I always call Raging Dull thus!) As time has gone on, Pacino tended to chew the screen more and start shouting uncontrollably a lot (e.g. Heat), while De Niro was a slave to method for many years, (which basically meant repeating his lines 3 times). Both have undoubtedly made good movies but I wouldn't count either as the greatest American actor of them all, (nor Mumbles Brando either).

Pesci has shown himself to be very versatile, doing comedy (Home Alone) and chilling as Tommy De Vito. Tended towards the former a bit too much for his own good perhaps.

Always had a soft spot for Keitel (eastern European Jewish rather than Italian background). I think he's not been afraid to make different movie choices and has always projected a sense of repressed anger and danger on-screen. I wonder which of them did Scorcese think would become the bigger star when kick-starting he and De Niro in Mean Streets?

Disagree with you on Pesci. He can transition seamlessly from a terrifying character of Tommy in Goodfellas to the comic slapstick Harry in Home Alone (both released the same year). He also was wonderful in the Lethal Weapon movies. A very underrated performance in "With Honors" to boot. I was always impressed with how I could watch Goodfellas and Lethal Weapon 2 back to back and not be taken out of his character performance in either.

I do think it's redundant comparing actors anyway. Way too subjective. Suffice to say they are all excellent legends of the screen.

My opinion of Pesci has increased massively since The Irishman.

Regarding his comedic roles in Home Alone and Lethal Weapon, a lot of actors have said comedy is very hard to do well.

Johnny Boy made DeNiro famous for a reason and Charlie didn't do the same for Keitel. Johnny Boy is what people remembered about 'Mean Streets' because of DeNiro's explosive performance. Harvey Keitel's character was largely just an everyman with a dose of Catholic guilt.

Pesci, as Russell Bufalino, was probably the best character he's ever played, if only because it was slightly different than anything else he's ever done. But his Bufalino is just Tommy, Joey, Leo and Vinny grown up a little. He's a one trick pony for the most part, even if that pony is interesting to watch. I like Pesci, but he's a character actor. In fact the best bit of acting he's ever done was old man Bufalino in prison.

DeNiro's "career change" was down to him just phoning performances in because he found out that he could trade on his name and not have to put so much effort in in later years. But his choices have been curious to say the least. Even so, his best years were most definitely behind him by the time the mid 90's came around. His last truly great role was probably Neil McCauley in 'Heat'.

Dunno. There was some malarkey about taxes a few years ago. But I couldn't tell any more.

Pesci did comedy well in My Cousin Vinny and in Goodfellas for that matter though the latter is dark comedy.

De Niro definitely has the largest range of all four. He can do comedy (Midnight Run), action (Ronin), drama (Awakenings), crime (Goodfellas) even a musical (New York, New York).

As mentioned, all four gave a masterclass in acting in The Irishman, reminding us why they are in such high regard.

What was that weird movie Keitel was in where he was wearing a red dress, strange movie I think Kate Winslet might have been in it too.

Keitel has been in a lot of under the radar or independent films over the years, very underrated actor. I think he got burned by Bernie Maddoff which is why you saw him doing those awful ads where he does a version of his character in Pulp Fiction.