Robert De Niro attains what Travis Bickle never could: a key to New York City
New York City Mayor Eric Adams presented De Niro with the key at a Tribeca Film Festival reception where Martin Scorsese also gave a loving tribute to the actor
Aux News Robert De Niro
Just under a half-century since Robert De Niro attempted to cleanse New York via vigilante justice in Taxi Driver, the city that never sleeps has offered up some thanks in return. At a Wednesday night event in Greenwich Village, Tribeca Film Festival announced its first-ever “De Niro Con” will take place over three days this fall, in celebration of the actor’s 80th birthday. During the reception, Mayor Eric Adams presented De Niro with a key to the city.
“De Niro Con” will run from September 29 until October 1 at New York City’s Spring Studios, and feature screenings, panels and talks by the countless friends and colleagues the actor—who founded Tribeca alongside Jane Rosenthal in 2001—has collected over the years. Scorsese, De Niro’s hallmark collaborator, got ahead of the curve and offered a tribute to his friend at the Wednesday reception.
Scorsese, who has worked with De Niro on 10 films over their respective careers, called it “good fortune that we somehow met at the age of 16 over 50-some-odd years ago.”
“But the point is that the good fortune is something that can’t be summed up in one sentence or, or in some platitude of any kind,” he continued, per Deadline. “I mean, if you can see the movies that says it because it’s based on trust and love. And that’s how those films were made, including the last the latest one,” referencing Killers Of The Flower Moon. Scorsese also emphasized that De Niro has been “devoted over the years to his craft, and the arts” in NYC, which Scorsese described as “the most vibrant, alive location.”
“And Bob, it’s amazing. You did all this without having the keys until now,” he concluded.
When presenting De Niro with the key to New York, Adams thanked him for connecting a generation.
“You deserve this key to the City of New York because you have opened our hearts for years and for generations. We all grew up on you,” Adams said at the ceremony. “I don’t care what ethnicity, what community — South Jamaica, South Bronx, Lower East Side. Doesn’t matter where you are. Everyone knew this New York taxi driver was able to drive this to new abilities that we are now. Thank you, brother, for this.”
Accepting the key, De Niro said he was “honored to accept that recognition on behalf of my 8½ million neighbors.” Despite what the smokey, sepia-toned environment caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires might suggest, maybe New York isn’t as bad as Travis Bickle thought it was.