“Next time, we'll make one we'll be really proud of”: Robert De Niro still regrets this thriller with Al Pacino – Cinema News

Not only are Al Pacino and Robert De Niro two of the greatest actors of all time and living legends of Hollywood, they have also been close friends for nearly 50 years. However, it took a while before the two greats were seen together on screen: despite playing the two leads in Francis Ford Coppola's six-time Oscar-winning classic, The Godfather Part II, they don't have a single scene together in the entire 3+ hour film!

That finally changed in 1995 when they starred in another masterpiece, Heat, in front of Michael Mann's camera. But there too, there are very few moments where the Oscar-winning actors can be seen together. Their next collaboration took place in 2008, and this time, we could finally marvel at how the two cinema heavyweights interacted with each other in several scenes. And yet, Robert De Niro still regrets this film today…

Overture Films

A huge disappointment for both actors

We're talking about Law & Order, which in 2008 was highly anticipated by moviegoers – but ultimately left most viewers disappointed. In the film by Jon Avnet, who had already directed the thriller 88 Minutes with Pacino, the latter and Robert De Niro play two seasoned police officers, about to retire, who find themselves confronted with the murder of several criminals who have escaped justice, killed using a modus operandi reminiscent of that of a serial killer they once put behind bars. An unbearable question then arises: could they have made a mistake?

While this all sounded intriguing, the result didn't go down well with fans or critics alike. The film was dubbed a crime thriller.second order” that “Even fans of legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino can't recommend going to the cinema.”Rated 2 out of 5 by AlloCiné viewers (and 1.5 out of 5 by the specialist press listed on our site), Law and Order has only 18% positive reviews on the American site Rotten Tomatoes.

In a 2019 interview with Variety, Robert De Niro admitted to agreeing with this assessment. The Raging Bull star recalled the film's premiere in Rome and what he said to Al Pacino about the fans present on site: “I said, 'That's a great reaction, but it would be nice if they were here for a movie that we're really proud of. Next time, we'll make one that we like.'”.

It would take 11 years for him to get there, but De Niro would keep his promise: in the 2019 gangster film The Irishman, the two men appeared together again in front of the camera – and for the first time in front of Martin Scorsese’s – and this time, with Joe Pesci at their side. They won everything they could: the praise of fans and the press, and their own pride, too.

If you want to (re)discover Law and Order, you'll have to turn to VOD. For The Irishman, whose trailer can be seen below, head to Netflix!