JumpCutz

Two acting heavyweights. Who's work do you prefer?

Solid Snake

De Niro. He had fucking fantastic work w/ Scorsese. Did a fucking great job w/ Coppola as Vito. And it was in fucking Italian (for the most part). Nicholson had great shit..but...just w/ the work he had w/ Marty alone trumps Nicholson, especially in those early prime years.

FRwL

Who writes w/ all the time?

But yeah i'm going w/ DeNiro. Even Nicholson wishes he could get the roles that DeNiro had.

musick

I find both to be overrated
but if I had to choose ....

Sonic

I enjoy more the screen presence of DeNiro.

JumpCutz

Damn, Nicholson did some fine work in some great films. And even in his not so great films he was stellar.

Easy Rider
Five Easy Pieces
Carnal Knowledge
Drive, He Said
The King of Marvin Gardens
The Last Detail
Chinatown
The Passenger
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Tommy
The Missouri Breaks
Goin' South
The Shining
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Reds
The Border
Terms of Endearment
Prizzi's Honor
The Witches of Eastwick
Broadcast News
Ironweed
Batman
A Few Good Men
The Crossing Guard
As Good As It Gets
The Pledge
About Schmidt
The Departed

CloverClover

Nicholson is better at owning the screen and carrying a film based on his acting/presence alone. DeNiro is better at the craft, meshing with his character and living in the reality of the film.

banthafett

Nicholson all the way. Hes a nut on and off the screen.

Was never a fan of DeNiro, same can be said for Pacino. I always lump those two together. Dislike both of them. Seems everything I have seen them in, they play the same roll and yell. Sam Jackson must look up to both of them. Also hate that everyone thinks they are such badasses of screen.

Charlie Goose

DeNiro, by a slight margin. Both were better in the 70s and 80s, but now Nicholson is almost a parody of himself. Every character is that smugly confident rake with a toothy grin. I do think that DeNiro has chosen some really lousy projects in the past 10-15 years, but he is the better actor.

MoviePage

Nicholson, probably for the fact that's he given more performances I like in far more movies I like than De Niro.

Rival11

I can see you saying this about Pacino...but De Niro? No way. Two different acting styles altogether.

Have you seen Awakenings? Cape Fear? Even if you don't like the movies as a whole the job done by De Niro is exceptional. Not that it matters but I just recently found he filed his teeth for real for the Cape Fear role.

I remember all the scarface hype before I watched it....after I watched it I had no idea why everyone liked that flick so much.

As for this thread...I pick De Niro although I think these guys are really in leagues of their own.

Jules Winfield

I really like Nicholson but find that he's almost always Jack Nicholson. DeNiro has disappeared into his characters on more occasions. So, I pick DeNiro. But this is like asking me if I would like a blowjob from this girl or that girl. Either way, I'm a winner.

TomOpus

My exact same thought.

RagingBull80

Which one was in Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas?

inri222

2 greats but I gotta go with Bobby D.

Sonic

Taylor Kitsch

costanza

Old man fight!

wm lopez

DeNiro and Nicholson both played the devil so I judge my pick on that part.
DeNiro played him very mysterious. While Jack played him for laughs.

conscience

So? One was a drama the other a comedy.

Jack all the way. Again with the "always playing himself" comments?

wm lopez

What we need to do is add up all the Jack didn't play Jack movies and see what we can come up with.
I can only think of HOFFA.

Troy Stiffler

Yea. But they were both non-fiction movies.

Supermallet

Really tough decision. Both have become parodies of themselves, but Jack can still pull a great performance out of his hat every once in a while. Also he was in Chinatown, The Passenger, and The Shining. gotta give it to Jack.

Ash Ketchum

Nicholson's legacy: FIVE EASY PIECES, THE LAST DETAIL, CHINATOWN, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

DeNiro's legacy: MEAN STREETS, TAXI DRIVER, RAGING BULL, GOODFELLAS

So they're tied.

Throw in Nicholson's "early funny" movies for Corman (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and THE RAVEN) and DeNiro's "early funny" movies for Brian De Palma (GREETINGS, HI MOM) and...

...they're still tied.

Mr. Flix

This is exactly what I was going to write.

But he does. While I can't deny Nicholson has screen presence and is the very definition of a movie star, I've NEVER seen him play a role where he disappeared and I forgot that I was watching Jack Nicholson. DeNiro, on the other hand, becomes invisible in his best performances.

chris_santucci

I would argue that Nicholson played various versions of the Nicholson archetype save for one: About Schmidt. That was truly that film where Jack was able to undo his persona--confident, charming, eccentric--and imbue a sad, pathetic, timid old man.

DeNiro has Max Cady, Jake LaMotta and Travis Bickle: all various incarnations of personalities--each in which he disappears into the character.

They're both amazing actors--icons even. Do I think both have gone well beyond their prime and are coasting their way towards retirement? Yes. But they are titans, whereas Jack will be more of the "star" whereas DeNiro will be ingrained as more of the "actor"