A true classic from the winning team of De Niro and Scorsese. This biopic of the great pugilist Jake LaMotta might be tough going at times, but is well worth sticking with to the end, and is a classic example of De Niro's once-legendary physical immersion into a role - not just with the weight gain, but especially the eyes
Another Scoresese classic. Loved the way the story flowed from year to year and the use of the black and white cause when it was set. De Niro and Pesci have some awesome chemistry together as well. Was gutsy of Scorsese to bring out a boxing movie around the time the Rocky phenomenon started and still make it awesome.
Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull" is a movie about brute force, anger, and grief. It is also, like several of Scorsese's other movies, about a man's inability to understand a woman except in terms of the only two roles he knows how to assign her: virgin or whore. There is no room inside the mind of the prizefighter in this movie for the notion that a woman might be a friend, a lover, or a partner. She is only, to begin with, an inaccessible sexual fantasy. And then, after he has possessed her, she becomes tarnished by sex. Insecure in his own manhood, the man becomes obsessed by jealousy -- and releases his jealousy in violence.
It is a vicious circle. Freud called it the "madonna-whore complex." Groucho Marx put it somewhat differently: "I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member." It amounts to a man having such low self-esteem that he (a) cannot respect a woman who would sleep with him, and (b) is convinced that, given the choice, she would rather be sleeping with someone else. I'm making a point of the way "Raging Bull" equates sexuality and violence because one of the criticisms of this movie is that we never really get to know the central character. I don't agree with that. I think Scorsese and Robert De Niro do a fearless job of showing us the precise feelings of their central character, the former boxing champion Jake LaMotta.
It is true that the character never tells us what he's feeling, that he is not introspective, that his dialogue is mostly limited to expressions of desire, fear, hatred, and jealousy. But these very limitations -- these stone walls separating the character from the world of ordinary feelings -- tell us all we need to know, especially when they're reflected back at him by the other people in his life. Especially his brother and his wife, Vickie.
"Raging Bull" is based, we are told, on the life of LaMotta, who came out of the slums of the Bronx to become middleweight champion in the 1940s, who made and squandered millions of dollars, who became a pathetic stand-up comedian, and finally spent time in a prison for corrupting the morals of an underage girl. Is this the real LaMotta? We cannot know for sure, though LaMotta was closely involved with the production. What's perhaps more to the point is that Scorsese and his principal collaborators, actor Robert De Niro and screenwriter Paul Schrader, were attracted to this material. All three seem fascinated by the lives of tortured, violent, guilt-ridden characters; their previous three-way collaboration was the movie "Taxi Driver."
Scorsese's very first film, "Who's That Knocking at My Door?" (1968), starred Harvey Keitel as a kid from Little Italy who fell in love with a girl but could not handle the facts of her previous sexual experience. In its sequel, "Mean Streets" (1973), the same hang-up was explored, as it was in "Taxi Driver," where the De Niro character's madonna-whore complex tortured him in sick relationships with an inaccessible, icy blonde, and with a young prostitute. Now the filmmakers have returned to the same ground, in a film deliberately intended to strip away everything but the raw surges of guilt, jealousy, and rage coursing through LaMotta's extremely limited imagination.
"Raging Bull" remains close to its three basic elements: a man, a woman, and prizefighting. LaMotta is portrayed as a punk kid, stubborn, strong, and narrow. He gets involved in boxing, and he is good at it. He gets married, but his wife seems almost an afterthought. Then one day he sees a girl at a municipal swimming pool and is transfixed by her. The girl is named Vickie, and she is played by Cathy Moriarty as an intriguing mixture of unstudied teenager, self-reliant survivor, and somewhat calculated slut.
LaMotta wins and marries her. Then he becomes consumed by the conviction she is cheating on him. Scorsese finds a way to visually suggest his jealousy: From LaMotta's point of view, Vickie sometimes floats in slow motion toward another man. The technique fixes the moment in our minds; we share LaMotta's exaggeration of an innocent event. And we share, too, the LaMotta character's limited and tragic hang-ups. This man we see is not, I think, supposed to be any more subtle than he seems. He does not have additional "qualities" to share with us. He is an engine driven by his own rage. The equation between his prizefighting and his sexuality is inescapable, and we see the trap he's in: LaMotta is the victim of base needs and instincts that, in his case, are not accompanied by the insights and maturity necessary for him to cope with them. The raging bull. The poor sap.
As boxing movies go, this is probably the best I've ever seen. For the actual boxing sequences the filming is so good it's like you're in the boxer's heads as the blows land. I especially like the actor portraying Sugar Ray. I remember watching Robinson fight when I was little and the actor really seemed to master his style. De Niro and Moriarty burn up the screen which makes their scenes uncomfortable to watch for me since she's supposed to be 15 years old. She exudes a smoking sexuality and LaMotta is driven by his obsession for her like a moth into flame.
Great movie directed by Martin Scorcese, with the addition of Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci starring. Filmed in black and white, Raging Bull is a classic in it's time. The dynamc duo of DeNiro and Pesci are fantastic portraying brothers in this amazing drama. Great movie!
I remember those cheers / They still ring in my ears / After years, they remain in my thoughts. / Go to one night / I took off my robe, and what'd I do? I forgot to wear shorts. / I recall every fall / Every hook, every jab / The worst way a guy can get rid of his flab. / As you know, my life wasn't drab. / Though I'd much... Though I'd rather hear you cheer / When you delve... Though I'd rather hear you cheer / When I delve into Shakespeare / "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse", I haven't had a winner in six months.
Directed by: Martin Scorsese Starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto
Genre: Biography/Drama/Sport
Running time: 129 minutes
My review:
This is without a doubt the greatest sports film of all time and the best boxing film of all time because I think all of the characters in this film are absolutely fantastic. Also, it is a true story about the life of Jake La Motta. This is probably Robert De Niros most famous performance along with Godfather part 2 but this is my favourite Robert De Niro film without a doubt. He did deserve his second Oscar in this film though. This film is a lot about jealousy and betrayal. Robert De Niro plays really good villains and bad ass characters as he does in this, Taxi Driver, Casino, Heat, Cape Fear and more films. I think this is the only black and white Martin Scorsese film. Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty were awesome in both of their Oscar nominated performances as Joey La Motta and Vickie Thailer/La Motta. This is a film that probably isnt like a classic boxing film like Rocky is because of the Jake La Motta character and person he really is and he had a lot of aggression and anger within him. And because of this, he starts to fall out with his brother Joey and wrecks his marriage to Vickie. Also, this is very different from Rocky because this I thought this film was better than Cinderella Man, Million Dollar Baby and the Rocky series aswell. My second favourite Scorsese film, favourite Scorsese-De Niro film and favourite De Niro film too.
Tour de force performance from De Niro. Tale of a bruthish, meatheaded, self destructive boxer, who's life outside the ring rivals the brutality within it.
I suppose this was artistic, but I found the film frustrating and difficult to sit through. Every single thing that the main character Jake (De Niro) did made me want to kill him. He was a jealous, paranoid, and violent maniac who ended up going crazy. So if the audience was supposed to sympathize with him, that was not too successful. Maybe it is just me.
has to be one of the best boxing films of all time and it comes under the direction of Martin Scorsese. Robert De Niro is great in thr role of his career.
has to be one of the best boxing movies of all time and this is a great movie from director Martin Scorsese. Robert De Niro is great in the role of his career.
It didn't change my life. I don't think it opened my mind. But it's gripping, terrible, awe-full, awesome. I came out a boxer, broken and victorious.
seen: 2000.
I liked these reviews:
There are few moments in modern cinema more beautiful than the sight of a robed Robert De Niro shadow-boxing in slow motion to Mascagni?s Cavalleria Rusticana. But this is the calm before the storm, the overture before the brutality of the ring matches the ferocity of domestic violence. Scorsese captures the intensity of Jake La Motta?s professional and private lives, as the self-destructive champ dishes out punishment to himself and all around him. Whether this is the greatest film of the ?80s is debatable, but it is without doubt De Niro?s ultimate immersion into ?The Method?. --- De Niro is nothing short of superb and set a standard that no actor has even got close to since.
This is brilliant! Robert De Niro is superb as Jake Lamotta, along with Joe Pesci and the rest of the cast, and the cinematography is great, especially in the fight scenes.
Raging Bull follows the career and domestic life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose paranoia leads to his self-destruction. Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese once again leave audiences shocked and amazed. This is both savage and majestic, a true masterpiece by the world's best director/actor collaboration.
The story of a boxer's journey through life, as the violence that leads him to the top in the ring, destroys his life outside of it. One of De Niro's best performances. Another Scorsese masterpiece.
scorsese masterpeice, the score of animals noises and the editing was amazing it changed the movie and made it would it was, scorseses a genius and the slow motion scences in the ring of de niro just made the movie for me.. i love this movie
Uncle Marty puts out one of his most recognizable films of his courier, in which the main character is based on the real life boxer known as the "Raging Bull" Jake Lamotta. The black and white effect for the film adds to the dark feel of the film, in addition, it allows the audience to focus strictly on the characters. Plus, it contains one of the most hardcore and most painful scenes in a movie, when Lamotta punches and headbutss a brick wall multiple times out of anger and frustration for the times in his lfie when he hurt those that were close to him.
I never been attract to watch this movie, but actually I found it pretty good and even if i'm not a boxer fan, I found it really interesting, delivred with really strong performance, maybe one of the best or THE best by De Niro and a really good and awesome direction by Scorsese. Really good biographical movie!
Aggressive,a flaming piece of an unpredictable explosion,this is the remarkable entrance to the 80's and Scorsese is once again ahead of its time.Brilliant cast,influential cinematography and a head-on insight on a boxer's trifles...it's a pity the Academy was (and is) so conservative in her choices.
Raging Bull tells the story of Jake LaMotta, a former middleweight boxing champion, whose reputation for tenacity and success in the ring was offset by his troubled domestic life. Martin Scorsese made the greatest boxing movie ever and Robert De Niro is magnificiant in the role of his career.
The story of Jake LaMotta, a former middleweight boxing champion, whose reputation for tenacity and success in the ring was offset by his troubled domestic life: full of rage, jealousy, and suspicion--particularly towards his wife and manager/brother--which, in the end, left him destitute, alone, and seeking redemption. One of my favourite boxing films i have ever seen. Another film that Robert DeNiro has starred in and Martin Scorsese has directed it. Great performances by of course, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Mario Gallo, Cathy Moriarty and Frank Vincent. an instant classic.
Raging Bull is the product of another great collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and highly acclaimed actor Robert DeNiro. A biopic about boxing champion Jake LaMotta Raging Bull chronicled LaMotta's career and personal life started in the 40's and ending with his personal and professional life in shambles. Raging Bull was extremely violent for its time which is the main thing LaMotta was known for in and out of the ring. The theme of violence is made even more powerful with the film being shot in black and white. Raging Bull was one of DeNiros' best and most powerful performances, he went through a complete body transformation and I'm sure a personal one as well. Joe Pesci also stars alongside DeNiro as his brother. Fans of DeNrio and Scorsese would not be disappointed.
A story about the raise and fall of a talent. It's about Jake LaMotta's inner monster: a Raging Bull that drove him to success and subsequently to failure. Based on true events, so life proves us that every Force, every Energy, needs to be canalized in order to take advantage of it and in this case: LaMotta failed.
Robert DeNiro is on FIRE in this movie, his performance is another statement of Method-Acting, and of course: we all know Scorsese.
MCT:October 3, 2008
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