by Stephen Kerr-Robinson

Created on: May 15, 2009   Last Updated: May 16, 2009

Probably one of the toughest questions I have come across, both are very good at what they do. I would even stretch it to as far as two of the best that cinema has ever seen, and this debate of who is better has gone on for some time and no doubt it will continue to go on. But, for me Robert De Niro is better, I take offence at anyone saying he was in the right place at the right time, because it makes it seem as if De Niro isn't that great of an actor and got lucky.

One of the first things that make me believe that De Niro is the better of the two actors is that his determination to make his character work is beyond any other actor I have seen. With acting it isn't just about a natural ability, its also about how far an actor is willing to go to perfect that role. An actor doesn't just audition for a role, and through their acting ability is able to make that character believable they need to work at it. That's where De Niro can perfect his character, the determination that he has to make his character work he wants it to be perfect and more often than not succeeds.

An example of De Niro's determination is when he played the role of Travis Bickle in the film Taxi Driver. To fully understand the theme of the film, and to fully depict how he should act to make his character believable he would drive a Taxi at all hours of the night and would distance himself from the cast to get the feeling of loneliness. De Niro would be able to assess what the characters traits should be and would portray those very well. De Niro is such a good character actor because of his philosophy that you have to earn the right to play the character rather than just get it. That philosophy I believe is enough drive for De Niro to be able to perfect the character he is playing.

For me as a movie fan, an important part of what makes a good film is the characters, if the characters lack dynamic traits then what is the point of watching the film? De Niro has been able to create such dynamic characters that make you interested, even his most despicable characters, it still makes you want to take notice of him. De Niro's characters are really his legacy, not to say Pacino hasn't been able to create dynamic characters. But they have lacked what De Niro's characters have, Pacino has been able to make dynamic characters, but there isn't one Pacino movie I have seen where I thought there isn't anyone else that could have done the role as good as him. Whilst with De Niro, I really don't

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