Trivia: Robin Williams was reportedly the original choice for the part of Ben Sobel. Tom Hanks was also considered before it went to Billy Crystal.
Analyze This (1999)
2 trivia entries
Directed by: Harold Ramis
Starring: Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Chazz Palminteri, Lisa Kudrow
Other mistake: When the sex scene with Robert De Niro and his lover is over, you can see that he is wearing underwear.
Ben Sobel: My name is Ben Sobel...leone. Ben Sobelleone. I'm also known as Benny the Groin, Sammy the Schnauz, Elmer the Fudd, Tubby the Tuba, and once... Once as Miss Phyllis Levine.
Question: When Nicky Shivers is being held hostage, De Niro is about to belt him in the face with a metal pipe and make him fall into a hole. This most likely would have been fatal. But De Niro has a change of heart and walks away. Then Nicky sardonically comments "Well geez, that was pretty painless." Given that he was just spared from a painful ending, why would he make such a smart-alec comment?
Chosen answer: That's how he dealt with facing certain death and then not being killed. Some would be silently grateful as you suggest, others wouldn't. Everyone reacts differently.
Captain Defenestrator