De Niro, pfffftt! Don’t even talk! As I said , Mitchum just had to stand still and you knew the poop was going to hit the fan and it wasn’t going to be good. In my opinion he was the best at it. Cagney, Bogart, they had to ‘’act’’ tough. Mitchum was. Seems to me they had to tone him down.
I suspect Richard Widmark had to be “toned down,” too. He was at his best pushing old ladies in wheel chairs down the stairs.
He was a natural...he absolutely buries DeNiro and all the pale little pretenders of today...He was THE MAN as far as I’m conderned...in image, aura and acting skills.
Best line of his IMHO was in Out of the Past (1947) Kirk Douglas as a crime kingpin with some toughs tries to recruit Mitchum down in Mexico in his hotel room and Mitchum replies
Let’s go down to the bar. We can cool off while we try to impress each other.