** ROBERT DE NIRO vs SEAN PENN ** SG's Favourite Actor 1st Knockout Round 3rd Pair

You can view previous results and impending fixtures by checking this thead.

Voting is now open for the third (and fourth, see other thread) pairing of the first knockout round of the SG's favourite actor competition.

All members with more than 100 posts are invited to vote in the poll above for their favourite of the two actors who go head to head in this round. The actor with the most votes, excluding those from members with under 100 posts, at the time when the poll closes, in three days, will go through to the quarter finals. Once these two pairings have closed, the next two will be opened and so on until all eight quarter final places have been filled.

Robert De Niro has had a long and varied career, ranging from his magnificant early work with Martin Scorsese, to his fantastic mid career gangsters and now his new roles in comedies and other movies. Sean Penn is one of the greatest modern actors with a very impressive CV and alot of integrity, always putting in great performances and brother of Nice Guy Eddie! You are encouraged to vote for your favourite even if you are not totally convinced he is the best.

Now, get voting, and feel free to post who you went for and why.

tough one, I like both actors

I am going to go with De Niro because he plays a great role

I went for Penn as sort of a protest vote against DeNiro. I love DeNiro's early work, but I am starting to detest him now as he keeps selling out more and more, his performances and quality of movies getting worse and worse. Sean Penn, by contrast, is still very much on the up and is full of integrety. I admire him so much for doing The Assassination of Richard Nixon for free - it's a great movie and wouldnt have happened without him.

De Niro, although Penn is the better actor nowadays.

I'll go with Penn.

meh, i always prefered pencils anyway, I'm going with De Niro

De Niro.

I agree he has made some stinkers lately, but I actually enjoyed his role in the Meet the Parents movies.

Penn is a great actor, but for some reason I've never been a fan.

love Sean Penn but De Niro was just too great

and yeah, I said 'was'. please come back man

De Niro.

Hakeem said:

love Sean Penn but De Niro was just too great

and yeah, I said 'was'. please come back man

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Too late now, he's sold out for good. Whatever crap Nicholson appears in these days - Anger Management, Something's Gotta Give etc - you always feel he's still got good performances in him, but there's nothing left with DeNiro.

You know, I find that even in a ****hole movie like Anger Management, Carlos still manages to somehow pull off some good Carlos moments.

You may be getting at something with DeNiro, but at the end of the day, you must remember, he is just getting his money. I mean, you can talk about love of the art and all that crap, but after all, most actors are goin to take the money.

He's Robert DeNiro so people will throw huge wads of cash at him to play in ****bowl movies and I don't particularly blame him for taking it. I mean you have to remember that most actors had to struggle through mountains of BS just to get to be even half able to make a living out of it, so when you reach the top, reap your rewards.

De Niro, no doubt. My favourite actor.

CarlosDanger said:

You know, I find that even in a ****hole movie like Anger Management, Carlos still manages to somehow pull off some good Carlos moments.

You may be getting at something with DeNiro, but at the end of the day, you must remember, he is just getting his money. I mean, you can talk about love of the art and all that crap, but after all, most actors are goin to take the money.

He's Robert DeNiro so people will throw huge wads of cash at him to play in ****bowl movies and I don't particularly blame him for taking it. I mean you have to remember that most actors had to struggle through mountains of BS just to get to be even half able to make a living out of it, so when you reach the top, reap your rewards.

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I see what you mean, but I still disagree. DeNiro doesnt need to sell out - he's always going to have enough money and I'm sure he's been offered quality work aswell at almost as good a salary as his crap stuff, he's just chosen not to pick it. If he had been lucky enough to be killed in a car crash after Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, he would be remembered as an absolute modern icon. If he had been sensible enough to step down after Goodfellas, the Deer Hunter and Casino, he'd have been remembered as one of the most talented actors of all time. But now his memory will always be diluted and, to me, he'll never be the great that he should be.

I agree about Nicholson though, you can sit through two hours of utter sh!te and then it's all made worthwhile by that trademark grin.

Sir Sir_Didier_Drogba said:

I see what you mean, but I still disagree. DeNiro doesnt need to sell out - he's always going to have enough money and I'm sure he's been offered quality work aswell at almost as good a salary as his crap stuff, he's just chosen not to pick it. If he had been lucky enough to be killed in a car crash after Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, he would be remembered as an absolute modern icon. If he had been sensible enough to step down after Goodfellas, the Deer Hunter and Casino, he'd have been remembered as one of the most talented actors of all time. But now his memory will always be diluted and, to me, he'll never be the great that he should be.

I agree about Nicholson though, you can sit through two hours of utter sh!te and then it's all made worthwhile by that trademark grin.

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You have a point about DeNiro and I agree with you that he has somewhat diluted his reputation, but that doesn't matter to me.

I look at it in a certain way and I'll use a sports metaphor for you...

I don't think Jordan diluted his legacy as the greatest player ever by doing the Washington thing, even though to some people that may be true. His performances in the playoffs against well, just about everyone, make him the greatest and I will prefer to remember him by those, rather than as the overweight 40 year old who played for Washington (and who could still get it done, just not every night).

You could say the same about someone like Zidane, whose final year at Madrid was anything but scintillating, yet he still came out with a great tournament in the WC.

So in this case, maybe DeNiro isn't giving us what he used to, but his performances of the past stand the test of time and he deserves all the credit for them. He may have lost it to a certain extent and I admit I haven't seen much of his more recent stuff, except for Meet the Parents and Fockers.... which I thought he pulled off well, although I must admit Dustin and Barbra were pretty funny there, also they totally remind me of some family friends.

But I digress. About Bobby D, I think you can say he has declined, but that shouldn't take the shine off of what he has done. We all get old eventually and sometimes the fire burns lower. I have noticed that my own fire isn't what it was 5 or 10 years ago, and I'm only 33. Nonetheless, the experience balances that out and I know I can contribute a lot to whatever I do.

Anyway, I think what I'm trying to say in this long, rambling post is that you are right about the fact that he hasn't been performing up to his standards lately, but:

1) That takes nothing away from the unbelievable stuff he's done in the past.

2) He's still damn good compared to other actors, just not as good as he used to be, (which is difficult as not many are), since we are comparing him to him.

I get the impression, and correct me if I'm wrong, that you are partial to the burn out rather than slowly fade away school of thought?

I know nothing about Michael Jordon and have not really been following Spanish football lately, so your metaphors are totally lost on me, but yeah, I do get your point.

I dont necessarily favour the "burn-out", though you must agree that some careers did go on far too long and would have really been different, for the better, had the person in question gone out much earlier. Elvis, Ozzy Osbourne, Elliott Gould etc, and De Niro is definately one of those. The likes of Bill Hicks, James Dean, Carlos Kerouac, Kurt Cobain, maybe even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, would not be the icons there are if they hadnt gone out the way they did. On the other hand, the likes of Michael Gambon, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee etc become cooler and cooler as they get older and older. Even Bob Dylan's still got it. It just depends on the person, and DeNiro definately is one who has gone on far to long to his detrement.

I detested him in Meet the Parents too, so I guess that makes my view different to yours because if I had just seen one performance of his I liked in the last few years I would probably be of a different opinion. Maybe in years to come he will be purely remembered for his undeniably awesome work and the memory of his later life ****e will disappear, but somehow I doubt it. I think the resounding image of DeNiro will be of an overweight man in supporting roles in awful films pulling that classic but increasingly flabby DeNiro face for bags of cash, and I'd rather not think of him like that.

I thought he was funny in Meet the Parents , but mostly because it was him doing comedy. But his performance in Meet the Fockers was just painful to watch. I liked the movie mostly because of Stiller, Dustin and Barbra, but if they all come back for Meet the Little Focker (and we all know they´re going to do it), then Dustin and Barbra´s performances will probably be painful to watch too. its good only once, the it stops being funny.

pitty everyone has voted for De Niro (as i have). Sean Penn is absolutely awesome. If I knew the results of the poll before I voted i would have voted for him.

Hakeem said:

I thought he was funny in Meet the Parents , but mostly because it was him doing comedy. But his performance in Meet the Fockers was just painful to watch. I liked the movie mostly because of Stiller, Dustin and Barbra, but if they all come back for Meet the Little Focker (and we all know they´re going to do it), then Dustin and Barbra´s performances will probably be painful to watch too. its good only once, the it stops being funny.

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I agree with you there . It got old in the second movie and really the only thing that saved it was the introduction of the Fockers.

Sir Sir_Didier_Drogba said:

I know nothing about Michael Jordon and have not really been following Spanish football lately, so your metaphors are totally lost on me, but yeah, I do get your point. I dont necessarily favour the "burn-out", though you must agree that some careers did go on far too long and would have really been different, for the better, had the person in question gone out much earlier. Elvis, Ozzy Osbourne, Elliott Gould etc, and De Niro is definately one of those. The likes of Bill Hicks, James Dean, Carlos Kerouac, Kurt Cobain, maybe even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, would not be the icons there are if they hadnt gone out the way they did. On the other hand, the likes of Michael Gambon, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee etc become cooler and cooler as they get older and older. Even Bob Dylan's still got it. It just depends on the person, and DeNiro definately is one who has gone on far to long to his detrement. I detested him in Meet the Parents too, so I guess that makes my view different to yours because if I had just seen one performance of his I liked in the last few years I would probably be of a different opinion. Maybe in years to come he will be purely remembered for his undeniably awesome work and the memory of his later life ****e will disappear, but somehow I doubt it. I think the resounding image of DeNiro will be of an overweight man in supporting roles in awful films pulling that classic but increasingly flabby DeNiro face for bags of cash, and I'd rather not think of him like that.

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Sir_Didier_Drogba... sorry for using my North American metaphors on you there :amika:

I guess you understood me though. When a great player has lost it, but keeps playing due to the fact that he has the name and the fact that maybe, just maybe, he thinks he can still get it done, or maybe, just maybe, he can't let it go.

I had a similar experience when I went back to working in Hotel Entertainment after several years of leaving it behind. It was something I couldn't get out of my system. However, 3 months after taking the Director job at a hotel here in Venezuela, I remembered why I had left and felt it was a royal pain just to do it anymore, although the salary was pretty damn good.

I ended up quitting due to the fact that it was just torture to myself and I wasn't getting the job done, something that DeNiro doesn't seem capable of doing.

Yeah, I know what you meant, there are plenty of people like that in British sport.

But yeah, at the end of the day I concede that De Niro was once a great actor and that the over all standard of his work, or atleast some of his work, is well above that of Penn, and for that reason he has every right to be so far ahead.