Don Rickles’ hilarious tribute to Martin Scorsese
Stand-up comedian Don Rickles was known for his routines heavily based on insult. However, he also had several film roles, including Run Silent, Run Deep in 1958 with Clark Cable and 1970’s Kelly’s Heroes, led by Clint Eastwood. Perhaps the most notable of Rickles’ film credits, though, was in Martin Scorsese’s 1995 picture Casino.
In 1997, Rickles paid tribute to Scorsese when the director was granted the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in a way only he could have. “It is now 11 o’clock, and I am fed up and tired,” Rickles announced, drawing instant laughs from the audience. He then drew attention to Scorsese’s small physical stature “Marty, has someone got a phone book so you can see me?” to many more outbursts of laughter. “40 million jobs in show business, I got a midget to direct me.”
Referring to the kind of mob films that Scorsese had been known to make, he then joked about the mob eventually taking revenge on Scorsese for making them the centrepiece of his stories: “I have regards for you Marty from Tony Bomini and Frankie Garazno [presumably made up mobster names], and they told me to tell you, you’ll be dead in the morning.”
Rickles continued, “Marty, you are the most annoying director I ever had. Little guy, he’s the kind of guy in prison who was the squealer all the time. Pulling on your pants leg, going, ‘Let’s do it again!’ I said, ‘Marty, it’s 85 times; De Niro won’t have it anymore. He’s busy mumbling, mumbling’.” Scorsese is, of course, known to go to extreme lengths to get the perfect take after all.
“Marty, we when see all the films you did, none of them were great. None of them,” Rickles brilliantly noted, before a big of self-aggrandisement, adding, “I look around the room now and realised, apart from Clint Eastwood, I’m the biggest name here. Clint Eastwood is now thrilled his name was mentioned.”
And where would Scorsese be without his good friend and frequent collaborator Robert De Niro? Rickles then briefly draws attention to the legendary actor, in turn claiming he knows he is one of the best. “Anyway, De Niro is sitting there. God bless you, Bobby,” Rickles said, “He’s got the beard on. To know him is a treat; he’s one of the great actors of our time. You ask him. He’ll tell you.”
However, from there, Rickles turns sentimental and pays a proper tribute to one of the greatest directors of all time. He said, “But Marty, from the bottom of my heart, on behalf of my wife Barbara and I, being part of Casino was a great treat. It was a Cadillac; you are a Cadillac. To me, that is the top of the industry.”
Rickles concluded, “Wherever your wonderful mother is, who I loved and adored, as certainly you did, and your family, she’s watching and smiling on you. God give you the great strength and courage to continue your great work. You are special; never forget that. You are special. God bless you, and I love you.”
