Night and the City (1992 film) De Niro's work as "more like a riff on Rupert Pupkin, the goofy talk show fan he played in Scorsese's "The King of Comedy"". Ebert and Howe both agreed, however, that Alan King's performance was fantastic. Owen Gleiberman concurred in his review, but he sided with Ebert regarding De Niro, concluding, "the actor who once seemed the heir to Brando, Clift, and, yes, Widmark — the actor who once got so far inside his roles that he just about detonated the screen — now plays characters who don't seem to have any inner life at all." David Ansen praised the
A Bronx Tale (play) The play had a sold-out run and Palminteri received a 1989–1990 Special Award from the Outer Critics Circle. Academy Award winning actor Robert De Niro attended a performance of "A Bronx Tale" and offered to buy the film rights to the show. Palminteri agreed to sell the film rights on the conditions that he would be able to write the screenplay and that he be cast as the role of Sonny. The film version of "A Bronx Tale" premiered in 1993. The film version marked the directorial debut of De Niro and helped catapult Palminteri's film acting career. In 2007,