Joe Pesci

1980 · Martin Scorsese · 129 min · Drama / Biography / Sport

Raging Bull is Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro at their most uncompromising, a portrait of self-destruction so complete it refuses to offer the audience a single comfortable handhold. De Niro's physical and emotional transformation into Jake LaMotta is one of the landmark performances in cinema history, and Scorsese's black-and-white photography turns the boxing ring into a space of almost expressionist intensity. The film offers no redemption arc, no easy sympathy, and no concessions to entertainment. That relentlessness is exactly what makes it one of the greatest American films ever made, and exactly what makes it a difficult watch that not everyone will want to endure.

1992 · Jonathan Lynn · 120 min · Comedy

My Cousin Vinny is the courtroom comedy that actual lawyers cite as the most accurate trial movie ever made, a Brooklyn personal-injury rookie defending his cousin against an Alabama murder charge with borrowed suits, zero trial experience, and a fiancee who knows more about cars than the prosecution's entire case. Joe Pesci runs the comedy, Marisa Tomei's Oscar-winning Mona Lisa Vito runs away with the movie, and the script's secret is treating procedure, discovery, voir dire, expert testimony, as the comedy engine rather than the obstacle. It's long for a comedy and broad in its culture-clash gags. The verdict has been in for decades. Classic.

2019 · Martin Scorsese · 209 min · Crime / Drama

The Irishman is Martin Scorsese's final word on the gangster film, a three-and-a-half-hour meditation on loyalty, violence, and the emptiness that waits at the end of a life spent serving other men's interests. Robert De Niro's quiet obedience, Al Pacino's theatrical charisma, and Joe Pesci's terrifying stillness form a trio that elevates every scene they share. The de-aging technology distracts at times, and the runtime will turn away viewers who aren't ready for its contemplative pace. But the final hour is among the most devastating work Scorsese has ever done, a portrait of old age and regret that reframes everything that came before it.

1995 · Martin Scorsese · 178 min · Crime / Drama

Casino is Martin Scorsese working at full operational scale, a 178-minute chronicle of how greed, ego, and love brought down the mob's last great enterprise. Robert De Niro anchors the film with controlled precision, Joe Pesci brings terrifying volatility, and Sharon Stone delivers career-best work as the woman caught between them. It lives permanently in the shadow of Goodfellas, and the runtime demands real commitment, but the film's meticulous reconstruction of Las Vegas in its mob-run golden age is a feat of filmmaking craft that rewards every minute of patience.