Raging Bull
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"One of several creative peaks collaboratively reached by De Niro and Scorsese, the duo here reunite with Taxi Driver writer Paul Schrader for this bruising biopic of boxer Jake LaMotta. A modern classic in moody black and white, Raging Bull is an expansive study of self-destructive masculinity."
— MUBI's take
Raging Bull
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1990.
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 I remember those cheers, they still ring in my ears, after years, they remain in my thoughts.
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Raging Bull is a 1980 American biographical, black-and-white sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martinfrom Jake LaMotta's memoir Raging Bull: My Story. It stars Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, an Italian American middleweight-boxer whose self-destructive and obsessive rage, sexual jealousy, and animalistic appetite destroyed his relationship with his wife and family.
Plot
The story of a middleweight boxer as he rises through ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown. He falls in love with a gorgeous girl from the Bronx. The inability to express his feelings enters into the ring and eventually takes over his life. He eventually is sent into a downward spiral that costs him everything.
Why It Rocks
- Raging Bull is the story of former boxing middleweight champion Jake LaMotta, and his penchant for self-destruction which eventually drives any and everyone who has ever cared about him out of his life. LaMotta's rise and fall is overall meant to serve as a cautionary tale as he went through a divorce, was in poor health, and prone to substance abuse.
- Naturally, Scorsese's direction is flawless, and Thelma Schoonmaker's editing will pretty much speak for itself.
- Robert De Niro gets to showcase his wide range of acting skills through intensely physical and emotional scenes.
- While De Niro thought there was something decent about La Motta, finding the spark of humanity was secondary to depicting the fighter's primal appetites, the driving narrative force to both the script and the film. For him the project became a series of moments in the fighter's life, moments of complete emotional and physical exposure. De Niro was concerned about the truthfulness and honesty, to the point where he trained to get into fighting shape, and gained weight to show the fighter's dissolute decline.
- Joe Pesci is excellent as Jake's brother Joey as is Cathy Moriarty as Jake's long-suffering wife.
- The film deals with controversial topics of self-destruction, obsessive rage, and s*x in the most mature ways possible.
- On top of that, the movie holds absolutely nothing back in terms of realism in the boxing scenes with just how realistic, visceral, bloody, and brutal the fighting could be.
- The film was shot in black-and-white (or tinted monochrome) -- even though the technique had mainly disappeared from mainstream films -- as a way to make the film come across as "serious" compared to other films of the time. This is an ingenious touch, creating a visually pleasing and distinct aesthetic that holds up for ages. In a way, it nearly resembles a newsreel.
- There's a three-page soliloquy that's considered a fine piece of writing, in which La Motta, in jail on a morals charge, m*sturb*tes over memories of the women in the life, only to smash his hand against the cell wall when remorse renders him impotent.
- The film is certainly one of the most intense films Scorsese has directed and one of the most important of his career. Along with Taxi Driver, it is an iconic motion picture that will stand the test of time for years to come.
Bad Qualities
- What the crew had to say about La Motta—that he really was a raging bull with elemental appetites, that he might have been a better person had he not been forced to compromise by the mob, that he was a masochist who lashed out at those around him in order to earn his punishments—was ultimately not as interesting as how they said it. They were targeting an audience that largely didn’t know anything about La Motta or boxing, and many viewers may have subsequently mistaken technique for insight.
Trivia
- Raging Bull was the first film to be inducted into the National Film Registry in the first year it was eligible.