I chuckled recently when I read that Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson had been offered the role of Dick Tracy in the 1990 big-screen version.

Both turned down the role, with Nicholson committed to playing The Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), while De Niro feared he would be typecast as a ‘hardened tough guy’ similar to his Travis Bickle
character in Taxi Driver (1976).

Afraid he would be typecast as a hardened tough guy! Judging by his future roles, he obviously didn't think that way for too long.

He does, afterall, play it so well.




He played a hardened tough guy mobster, James 'Jimmy' Conway, in Goodfellas (2000) the same year as Dick Tracy, who was of course eventually played by Warren Beatty who also directed.

After playing a catatonic patient in Awakenings (1991) came Ron Howard's fiery Backdraft (1991) in which he played a hardened tough guy arson investigator Dom Rimgale.

Following was the thriller Cape Fear (1992), alongside Nick Nolte, as the hardened tough guy psychopath, Max Cady, who torments the lawyer who put him behind bars.

There was a turn as a reporter in Mad Dog and Glory (1993) before playing the ultimate hardened tough guy Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein (1994), alongside Kenneth Branagh.


De Niro was back as the consummate hardened tough guy mobster in Martin Scorsese's Casino (1995) as Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, before switching back to the other side of the law (as he has done throughout his career) for Heat (1995) as the hardened tough guy cop Neil McCauley.




He played a stalker Gil Renard, who you could say was somewhat hardened, in The Fan (1996) and then a priest (who was ctually pretty tough) for Sleepers (1996), but went some way towards returning to full hardened tough guy mode for Cop Land (1997), playing ... you guessed it, a cop Lt Moe Tilden - a name which just screams, hardened tough guy!



You can't not be a hardened tough guy and be in a Quentin Tarantino film so he was definitely one of those in Jackie Brown (1997) as ex-con Louis Gara, who's not really all that bright.


De Niro was back as a mobster in Analyse This (1999) as Paul Vitti, who although is a hardened tough guy, is also very emotional and seeks counseling. He played the character again in Analyse That (2002).



There was more hardened tough guy with a difference from the actor in Flawless (2000) about a security guard, Walt Koontz, who after having a stroke takes singing lessons from a drag queen.

The role of hardened tough guy, former CIA agent and loving father Jack Byrnes came in Meet the Parents (2000) with Ben Stiller, and then in Meet the Fockers (2004).



De Niro played almost identical celebrity hardened tough guy cop roles in the good, 15 Minutes (2001), an intelligent thriller with Edward Burns, and the bad Showtime (2002), a comedy with Eddie Murphy.


He continued on as a hardened tough guy cop in City By the Sea (2002), not to mention pretty uncomfortable as his son is a suspect in the murder investigation he is undertaking.



De Niro shied away from his favourite kind of role recently by starring as a doctor in Godsend (2004) and a dad in Hide and Seek (2005). Neither were really hardened or tough, or for that matter was the pirate in Stardust (2007), though it was entertaining.

He’s back though this year true to form in Righteous Kill (2008) as an (ageing) hardened tough guy cop on the trail of a killer this time alongside Al Pacino.

Like I said, he does do it so well.

Have I missed any?