Without Robert De Niro, we wouldn't have Joe Pesci, at least not as we know him today. Before 1980, when Pesci made his Oscar-nominated appearance in Scorsese's Raging Bull, he was virtually unknown. Sure, Pesci had been working in show business for a while. In 1968, he released his first album, Little Joe Sure Can Sing! He worked as half of the comedy duo "Vincent and Pesci" throughout the early '70s.
Still, before Raging Bull, Pesci only had one film credit to his name — The Death Collector, a low-budget mob thriller — and that came out in 1976. For the following four years? Nothing. However, Robert De Niro saw The Death Collector and, impressed with Pesci's performance, convinced Scorsese to cast Pesci in Raging Bull. Thus, Pesci's career, and De Niro and Pesci's decades-long friendship, began. Forty years later, history repeated itself: According to Scorsese, Pesci turned down The Irishman 40 times before De Niro finally convinced him to appear in the movie.
In The Irishman, that relationship is the same, but flipped. Pesci's Bufalino is the one who sees the potential in De Niro's Sheeran. He's the one who brings Frank into the larger criminal underworld, and even as Sheeran's friendship with Hoffa grows, he's the one who guides the Teamster's career. That being said, he also loves Sheeran. It's not fully clear until this scene, but when Russell touches Frank's hand and says, "You know how strong I made you?," Pesci pulls both halves of the relationship together. That one moment tells you everything you need to know.
Pesci and De Niro's real-life relationship is different, of course. They're equal collaborators, and they're about the same age (in The Irishman, Bufalino is about 20 years older than Sheeran, making his mentor role a little more natural). Still, there's clearly a lot of real affection between the two. As such, when Bufalino kisses Sheeran on the cheek and says, "You're my kid," as tears well up in both of their eyes, it feels like the actors' real personalities are peeking through. It's a powerful moment because both Russell and Pesci really mean it.
