Marlon Brando, long regarded as one of cinema's greatest actors, once named Robert De Niro as the most impressive young actor of the 1970s, an era widely considered the richest for acting talent in Hollywood history. Coming from Brando, whose own career had been revitalised by his Oscar-winning turn in The Godfather, the endorsement carried enormous weight given the sheer depth of competition at the time, including the likes of Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman.

Brando made the remark during a period when he himself was working infrequently, appearing in The Missouri Breaks in 1976 before a two-year gap ahead of Superman. Asked to identify the standout young actor in the business, he singled out De Niro, remarking "I doubt he really knows how good he is," despite De Niro having already won an Academy Award for The Godfather Part II. De Niro went on to justify the praise, following up with Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter and Raging Bull, the latter earning him a second Oscar as the decade drew to a close.