Robert De Niro Returns to Gangster Role — Sort Of

Robert De Niro. Say the name and you think of "The Godfather" and other tough gangster roles. Well, like Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, DeNiro has the chops to play far outside the gangster genre.

Thanks mostly to the great classic Warner Brothers cartoons, entire generations have grown up thinking that Robinson and Cagney always played gangsters in their movies.Nothing could be further from the truth. Cagney was basically a song and dance man (a 'hoofer' as he called it) and did comedy as well. Edward G. Robinson was capable of playing just about anything he cared to play. Just a brilliant actor whose non-gangster roles have been rather glossed over.

I doubt that anyone is going to remember DeNiro solely as, "that guy that played gangsters", and I'd put him in the same class as Robinson. The guy isn't afraid to step out from behind the pin stripe suit and machine gun.

He was great in 'Meet the Parents' and 'Little Fockers.' Now, he'll combine two genres with a 'fish out of water' movie also starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones.

Yeah, the "mobsters relocated to a place where they don't fit in has been done several times, but there are also some twists and turns in the form of mobsters looking for the family. Well, here. Let me give you the official synopsis.

A mafia boss and his family are relocated to a sleepy town in France under the witness protection program after snitching on the mob. Despite the best efforts of Agent Stansfield to keep them in line, Fred Manzoni, his wife Maggie and their children Belle and Warren can't help but revert to old habits and blow their cover by handling their problems the "family" way, enabling their former mafia cronies to track them down.

'The Family' is slated for a fall release.

I look forward to seeing it. Oh, forgive me for this part. I've always wanted to say this and I can't stop myself:

'Yea, Bobby De Niro has a new movie out.'

Actually, he has a bunch of movies in various stages of production. You can read the list HERE