Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro The film won a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for four other BAFTAs, including Best Direction for Scorsese and Best Actor for De Niro. The film was generally praised by critics but did not perform well in the United States. Scorsese suggested the film "...maybe wasn't so well received because it gave off an aura of something that people didn't want to look at or know." De Niro and Scorsese collaborated again in 1990 on "Goodfellas", which also starred Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci. The film follows Henry Hill (Liotta) as he and his friends work their
Robert De Niro Corleone, Carlo Rizzi, and Paulie Gatto in "The Godfather". His performance earned him his first Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actor, although Coppola accepted the award as De Niro was not present at the ceremony. De Niro became the first actor to win an Academy Award speaking mainly a foreign language. In this case, several Sicilian dialects, although he delivered a few lines in English. He and Marlon Brando, who played the older Vito Corleone in the first film, are the only actors to have won Oscars for portraying the same fictional character. After working with Scorsese in "Mean Streets",