The most shocking scene in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman comes near the end. Spoilers: Mafia hitman Frank Sheeran, played by Robert De Niro, lures his best friend, Jimmy Hoffa, into an empty house. Hoffa realizes that something is wrong and heads for the door. Sheeran draws a gun and shoots Hoffa twice, plants the gun on his body, and flees.
It's an incredible moment, but it's not the scene that shows why Robert De Niro is so incredible. That one comes a few minutes later. As Hoffa's disappearance hits the news, Sheeran decides to call Hoffa's wife, Jo, to make sure she's okay. His goal is to reassure Jo that everything's going to be fine, but as the man who pulled the trigger, he knows that's a lie. Throw in Frank's guilt over the murder, his grief over Hoffa's death, and the pressure of keeping the truth a secret, and he's very close to his breaking point.
The scene that follows has no music, no flashy camera work, and no other actors. It's just De Niro, a telephone, and Jo's hysterical cries. It also happens to be one of the best things that De Niro has ever done.
De Niro's biggest strength as an actor is the way he can say everything without actually saying anything. His characters mumble and stutter. Often, he talks around his lines instead of reciting them.
However, thanks to De Niro's body language, it's easy to derive meaning from his half-finished words and tangential thoughts. That's one of the reasons De Niro was spot-on casting for a young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II: Marlon Brando, who originated the role, had a similar acting style.
And yet, despite Sheeran's babbling incoherence, it's completely clear what's going on in Frank's mind. Hoffa's death is weighing on him, and while we've seen in the past that Sheeran is an accomplished and skilled liar, the guilt is simply too much for him to bear. It's the perfect example of what makes De Niro's acting so unique and memorable.
The meaning between words | 0:00
Adding to the page | 2:04
A long goodbye | 3:19
Decades in the making | 4:50
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Hit man Frank Sheeran looks back at the secrets he kept as a loyal member of the Bufalino crime family in this acclaimed film from Martin Scorsese.