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In some ways, by the time Scorsese and De Niro worked on Casino, his performance seemed closer to parody than something honest. There's only a limited amount of time where you can play a similar character without tipping into cartoonishness. It's probably too early to tell, but Leonardo DiCaprio is likely not going to pose such a problem; when you can jump from playing Howard Hughes to playing a scrappy undercover cop, you show off some versatility. And, yes, De Niro was plenty versatile in The King of Comedy, but he's always played something close to the same character, going all the way back to Mean Streets. DiCaprio is a far more vulnerable actor; De Niro doesn't want to let any of his emotions seep through his visage. Whatever criticisms I may have about his later career doesn't diminish the impressive early filmography that De Niro had with Scorsese. But let's just forget they were ever in Shark Tale.

Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon

For some modern directors, the ideal is Billy Wilder. Current Oscar nominee Jason Reitman has often stated his affinity for this classic helmer; Cameron Crowe is so dedicated to Wilder's craft that he conducted lengthy interview sessions with the director before he passed away. Wilder managed to make wildly diverse movies; his 1959 classic Some Like It Hot is often cited as the greatest American comedy ever (I'd say differently, but I understand the love for the movie). But, he's also responsible for great film noirs such as Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard. That aside, one of his most lasting collaborations was with an ultimate Everyman, a nebbish before Woody Allen ever came onto the scene. Moreover, when he also passed away, one of the big reasons why we mourned as we did, is because Jack Lemmon would never act again.

Lemmon and Wilder worked on seven films together, including the aforementioned Some Like It Hot, Irma la Douce, The Fortune Cookie, The Front Page, and, most remembered, The Apartment. The Apartment, co-starring Fred MacMurray and a young Shirley MacLaine, is easily Wilder's best non-noir film, a bittersweet comedy about how far a young man will go to be respected by his superiors at a thankless big-city job. Lemmon is C.C. Baxter, a man who wants to move up in his company, and figures that if he loans his apartment to some of the higher-ups for their various affairs, he'll be in like Flint. Though all of the films they made were notable, The Apartment is the one worth checking out, and the one that solidified Lemmon's status as a great actor. Wilder's style may not be as flashy, but his mark was all over Lemmon's work.

Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant

Though he famously made fun of the actors in his movies, there's no question that acting was of critical importance to the films of the great Alfred Hitchcock. Though he worked with many actors, including Ingrid Bergman, Tippi Hedren, James Stewart, and Farley Granger, Hitchcock's most memorable collaboration was with the ultimate movie star: Cary Grant. Grant was, and is, the epitome of the ideal star. When we equate George Clooney to being a movie star, it's because of the image Cary Grant instilled in all of us. Grant and Hitchcock only worked on four movies together, but when those movies are Suspicion, To Catch A Thief, Notorious, and North by Northwest, it's hard not to pay attention. Though Grant had a long and illustrious career in Hollywood, his most challenging and exciting work came at the hands of Hitch.

For the ultimate in Hitchcock entertainment, I'd have to choose North by Northwest (despite knowing that the generous Box Office Prophets overlords have a special place for To Catch A Thief). Frankly, North by Northwest is the ultimate in entertainment, even now. It's got action, romance, comedy, drama, intrigue, thrills, spills, and so on. What more could you ask for? But for a true challenge, for a true subversion of the movie-star ideal, check out Notorious, a movie in which Grant plays another of his debonair, slightly aloof leads; this time, though, Hitchcock makes no bones about having us ask the hard questions: is what his character, Devlin, does to Ingrid Bergman's Alicia for her good or for his? Does he deserve to be as loved by her as he is? Grant has the distinction of being at his best when with Hitchcock, and some of his films with Hitch are also among the best ever made.

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