Robert De Niro Movies: Top 10, Best, New & Full List

Robert De Niro’s career runs hotter and colder than a James Dean movie — yet even his quietest moments command the screen in ways most actors never achieve. Over 50-plus years, he’s built cinema’s most electric filmography by disappearing into characters rather than performing them, from Mean Streets to the Netflix era.

Film Debut: Greetings (1968) ·
Breakthrough Film: Mean Streets (1973) ·
Oscar Wins: 2 (The Godfather Part II, Raging Bull) ·
Notable Comedies: Hi Mom! (1970), Last Vegas (2013) ·
Recent Project: Zero Day (Netflix series)

The table below consolidates career-defining metrics from authoritative film databases.

What are Robert De Niro’s top 10 movies?

Critics consistently agree on a core set of De Niro performances that anchor any “best of” discussion. The rankings shift slightly depending on whether you value Tomatometer scores, audience ratings, or sheer iconic weight, but three films appear in virtually every top-five list regardless of methodology.

Rotten Tomatoes places Brazil (1985) at the summit of its Tomatometer-ranked De Niro films, with a 98% critical score (Rotten Tomatoes Editorial). The Terry Gilliam surrealist comedy features De Niro in a supporting cameo as Harry Tuttle, a role that let him disappear into bureaucratic chaos rather than command it. Empire and AVForums, meanwhile, crown Raging Bull (1980) as the greatest De Niro performance — a #1 ranking on both lists that reflects the film’s unrivaled physical transformation and psychological intensity (AVForums).

Rankings from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb

The divergence between critical consensus and audience favorites produces useful tension. Godfather Part II (1974) ranks #2 or #3 across multiple lists — high placement from Rotten Tomatoes but never reaching #1 on either Tomatometer or Empire’s rankings (Rotten Tomatoes). IMDb users consistently elevate Goodfellas (1990) above Godfather Part II in their weighted ratings, reflecting the gangster film’s more recent cultural penetration and rewatchability.

StudioBinder’s 20 best list

StudioBinder’s curated list of the top 20 De Niro films emphasizes both drama and comedy credentials, placing Mean Streets (1973) and The King of Comedy (1982) alongside heavier hitters. The list reflects a broader industry recognition that De Niro’s comedy work deserves equal billing alongside his dramatic peaks.

The implication for viewers is clear: treating De Niro as a one-genre performer misses half his legacy.

What movies has Robert De Niro done?

De Niro’s filmography spans six decades and defies simple categorization, but certain collaborations define the shape of it. Martin Scorsese directed nine of his performances — a partnership that produced Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), The Irishman (2019), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) (Wikipedia). That density of collaboration is unmatched in American cinema.

Beyond Scorsese, De Niro worked with directors across every genre: Michael Cimino on The Deer Hunter (1978), Brian De Palma on Scarface (1983) and Heat (1995), Jon Favreau on Swingers (1995), and Ron Howard on Awakenings (1990) and A Beautiful Mind (2001) (JustWatch). His directorial choices show equal range — A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006) demonstrate he approaches storytelling with the same intensity he brings to performance.

Early career films

The 1968-1973 period established De Niro’s working pattern with New Hollywood directors. Greetings (1968) was his film debut, a Vietnam War-era comedy-drama that introduced his willingness to play uncomfortable, morally ambiguous characters (Wikipedia). Bloody Mama (1970) and Hi, Mom! (1970) expanded his early comedy credentials before Mean Streets (1973) announced him as a dramatic force (Wikipedia).

What this pattern means: De Niro built credibility through genre experimentation before anyone pigeonholed him.

Major collaborations with Scorsese

The Scorsese partnership is worth examining separately because it reshaped both men’s careers. Mean Streets (1973) gave De Niro the gritty urban realism that became his signature, while Taxi Driver (1976) perfected the method-acting intensity that the actor would push further in Raging Bull (1980) (Rotten Tomatoes). The late-career reunions — particularly The Irishman (2019) — showed De Niro could convey aging, regret, and violence with quieter authority than his younger self ever managed.

What are Robert De Niro movies in order?

Chronological ordering reveals how De Niro’s career evolved from outsider comedies toward mainstream acceptance, then back toward genre experimentation. The progression also shows his shift from supporting roles in the late 1960s to leading-man status by the mid-1970s.

De Niro’s first comedy was Greetings (1968), followed by The Wedding Party (1969), both early Brian De Palma collaborations (Wikipedia). The Wedding Party established a pattern — De Niro often debuted in lower-budgeted, genre-experimental work before graduating to prestige projects. By 1976, he was starring in Taxi Driver; by 1980, he had won his first Oscar for Raging Bull.

Chronological filmography highlights

The 1990s represented De Niro’s commercial peak: Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995) dominated the box office while earning critical respect (AVForums). Heat (1995) stands apart from the gangster genre — Michael Mann’s precise, dialogue-driven heist film showed De Niro could anchor ensemble crime dramas outside the Scorsese universe. The 2000s brought prestige projects like The Good Shepherd (2006) alongside commercial comedies including Meet the Parents (2000) and its sequels (2004, 2010) (Wikipedia).

The timeline shows De Niro peaking commercially in the 1990s but artistically throughout — a split that explains why fan rankings and critic rankings diverge so sharply.

From 1968 debut to present

Recent years show De Niro embracing streaming and older-audience comedy: The Irishman (2019) on Netflix demonstrated he could still command prestige projects, while Dirty Grandpa (2016) and The War with Grandpa (2020) targeted different demographics entirely. The upcoming Alto Knights represents a return to organized crime drama — the genre that built his legacy.

That return to mob territory with Alto Knights suggests De Niro still trusts the material that made him — even as he signals openness to new formats like streaming drama.

What are Robert De Niro comedy movies?

Comedies constitute roughly one-fifth of De Niro’s total filmography, yet they often get dismissed as filler between dramatic peaks. This undercounts both the volume and the quality of his comedic work. The Vulture staff ranked over 20 De Niro comedies, a count that surprises audiences who primarily associate him with Taxi Driver and Raging Bull (LVCCLD librarian summary).

De Niro’s comedy range spans from dark absurdist work (Brazil, The King of Comedy) to broad studio farces (Meet the Parents, Analyze This) to generational ensemble pieces (Last Vegas, The Intern) (ScreenRant critics). That versatility is the point: he uses comedy differently than drama, sometimes as release valve, sometimes as Trojan horse for social commentary, and sometimes simply for commercial reasons that he executes well regardless.

Early comedies

De Niro’s first comedy role was Greetings (1968), and he followed quickly with The Wedding Party (1969), Hi, Mom! (1970), and Bloody Mama (1970) — four comedies in three years before he established dramatic credibility with Mean Streets (1973) (Wikipedia). Midnight Run (1988) represents the first major studio comedy success, ranking #5 on Rotten Tomatoes’ De Niro films by Tomatometer score (Rotten Tomatoes). The King of Comedy (1982) occupies a strange middle ground — a Scorsese-directed dark comedy that critics now consider a masterpiece of media satire.

The pattern across those early years shows De Niro building comedy credits before drama, not after — a sequencing that contradicts the common assumption he “graduated” to humor.

Later comedic roles

The 1999-2016 period represents De Niro’s most sustained comedy phase. Analyze This (1999) paired him with Billy Crystal in a psychoanalytic buddy comedy that spawned a sequel (2002). Meet the Parents (2000) launched a trilogy that generated over $1 billion worldwide — De Niro’s most commercially successful franchise, paradoxically, being a comedy (Wikipedia). Last Vegas (2013), The Intern (2015), and Dirty Grandpa (2016) continue the pattern of casting De Niro as authority figure destabilized by younger, more energetic co-stars.

The takeaway: De Niro treated comedy as a parallel career, not a fallback, and the numbers prove it.

What is Robert De Niro’s new movie called?

Two projects anchor De Niro’s current phase: The Alto Knights (upcoming), a mob drama covering the Vito Genovese trial, and Zero Day, a Netflix drama series exploring artificial intelligence and political instability (Wikipedia). Both represent deliberate returns to themes that made his reputation — organized crime for Alto Knights, and for Zero Day, a more cerebral confrontation with contemporary anxieties.

Alto Knights marks De Niro’s latest collaboration in the organized crime genre that defined his 1990s peak, though the production timeline has extended well beyond initial announcements. Zero Day places him in a different context entirely — a political thriller about AI-driven crisis management that signals willingness to engage with 2020s technological anxieties.

Alto Knights details

The Alto Knights production history spans multiple years, with De Niro attached to play Vito Genovese in a trial narrative that covers the late 1950s to early 1960s period. The film has undergone scheduling changes that pushed its release timeline beyond original projections, though De Niro’s involvement remained consistent throughout (Wikipedia).

The implication for audiences: De Niro returns to mob territory not out of limitation, but because he still has stories worth telling there.

Zero Day Netflix series

Zero Day represents De Niro’s most significant television commitment in decades, positioning him as a former president navigating an AI-driven national crisis. The series places him in ensemble format with other prominent actors, signaling Netflix’s investment in prestige casting for high-concept political thrillers.

The shift to streaming prestige TV shows De Niro adapting his screen presence to a format that rewards slower burns — a natural fit for an actor whose power has always been in what’s unsaid.

Summary

Robert De Niro’s filmography rewards selective attention rather than comprehensive viewing — not because the lesser work fails, but because the peaks are so high that everything else reads as context. For viewers new to his catalog: start with Raging Bull for craft, Goodfellas for entertainment, and Brazil for ambition. For viewers who want the comedy track: Midnight Run and The King of Comedy belong alongside the dramas, not below them. De Niro’s current slate — Alto Knights and Zero Day — suggests he is not finished redefining what his career can still produce.

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De Niro’s career highlights like Taxi Driver find echoes in best films and filmography, which surveys his top performances and full cinematic legacy over five decades.

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