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
Robert De Niro Bickle earned him his first Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor. His portrayal of Jake LaMotta in "Raging Bull" was lauded, as well as his interpretation of Max Cady in "Cape Fear". In 1976, De Niro appeared in "1900", Bernardo Bertolucci's biographical exploration of life in Italy before World War II, seen through the eyes of two Italian childhood friends at the opposite sides of society's hierarchy. He also starred in "The Last Tycoon" (1976), directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan recalls that De Niro "would do almost anything to succeed" and noted that he cut his weight down from 170