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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Raging Bull is the perfect title of this Martin Scorsese. The movie is about boxing champion Jake LaMotta, a Raging Bull in the ring and life. This wasn’t so much a boxing film but a film about an unruly man, filled with extreme anger and just an overall despicable person. LaMotta, the fighter, was a man who pressed and beat the hell out of his opponents. LaMotta, the person outside the ring, was a man who beat his family and friends along with being highly jealous.
Raging Bull is about the life and boxing career of Jake LaMotta (De Niro). The film opens up in 1964. An older and way fatter Jake practices his stand-up comic routine in his dressing room. As Jake practices, the film shifts to the boxing career beginning in 1941. Jake is fighting against his opponent, Jimmy Reeves, in Cleveland. Jake pretty much dominates the whole fight but loses because it is fixed. Jake’s brother Joey LaMotta (Pesci) is Jake’s sparring partner but also literally his punching bag and manager.
The story continues with Joey discussing potential fights and a title shot for Jake with one of his mob connections by the name of Salvy Batts (Vincent). You gotta love having mob connections. Like any athlete, Jake doesn’t have much faith in his own abilities. Jake, along with his brother, goes to the local swimming pool to relax. At the pool, Jake spots a 15-year-old girl named Vickie (Moriarty) and asks about her. One problem is that Jake is already married, but Joey sets up a meeting between the two. First, that is just NASTY!!!! Raging Bull continues with Jake fighting Sugar Ray Robinson, his rise to being a champion, and eventual fall with jealousy and anger.
Many people will say Raging Bull is one of Martin Scorsese’s best films ever. His masterpiece. The movie is far above average. The things that stand out the most about this film are the black and white style, the boxing scenes and the performances. Besides that, its another movie about a dude who is so far up in his ass, that it must smell like sweet roses to him. He treated his brother like crap, and straight-up left his one wife for another girl.
I would say the story is about the rise and fall of a champion, but that feeling wasn’t there. Muhammad Ali was a champion that rose, fell, and rose again. LaMotta was more of a glorified bully in the ring and off it. The movie shows him more of a glorified bully out of the ring. His temper was one that pushed people away but also drove people towards him. I don’t have the slightest idea how he picked up women. Oh, and he was a creep for going after a fifteen-year-old girl. Honestly, the man lost FIVE times to Sugar Ray Robinson. How you suppose to be a badass when you lose FIVE times to one man.
The black and white style used in this film was actually ideal. At the beginning of the film, LaMotta is working on his stand-up routine, and it almost seems like a flashback when he was a great fighter. The style made the film have that old school feel to it. It was if you were looking at someone’s memories of the past.
The boxing scenes were also terrific. Rather than the film showing the fights from a spectator’s view, Scorsese ensured that viewers got up close and personal. The scene seemed to go back and forth between each fighter’s point of view. How they saw the action. It made the effect of being in the ring even more pronounce. Good move, Scorsese!
Via: YouTube/United Artists
I really don’t know anything about Jake LaMotta the way Robert De Niro played him. De Niro was great as the character and really showed how much of an asshole LaMotta was. De Niro just has a way of making his character come alive. Honestly, LaMotta is that type of person you just want to see his ass get beat repeatedly, and De Niro did that perfectly. De Niro’s mannerisms and just the way he acted and talk will rub you the wrong way. De Niro showed that his character had feelings but didn’t care about others only when his ass was on the line. Once again, he was an asshole.
In one of his earlier roles, Joe Pesci really surprised me in this role. I am used to him being extremely loud, out of control, and in your face. If you have seen Goodfella, Casino, any of the Lethal Weapon movies, Pesci is LOUD all those roles. He was actually the calm one. It seemed like De Niro and Pesci switched roles. It was actually nice and refreshing to see Pesci in another light.
The film actually had a great ending. It wasn’t a happy ending for a man who got everything. The conclusion was LaMotta as big as a whale and looking so rough and hurt, getting ready to do stand-up. He quotes the line from On the Waterfront, stating he was a contender. You sure was—a contender who had it all and pissed it away.
When this film first came out, it was one of Scorsese’s best films ever. It is still a great film, don’t get me wrong. Scorsese has upped his game up since this film. The Scorsese and De Niro affair would blossom for years to come. If you have seen Goodfellas, then you know what I’m talking about. Raging Bull is a sports film but also a film that deals with the personal issues of a person.
Raging Bull is about the life and boxing career of Jake LaMotta (De Niro). The film opens up in 1964. An older and way fatter Jake practices his stand-up comic routine in his dressing room. As Jake practices, the film shifts to the boxing career beginning in 1941. Jake is fighting against his opponent, Jimmy Reeves, in Cleveland. Jake pretty much dominates the whole fight but loses because it is fixed. Jake’s brother Joey LaMotta (Pesci) is Jake’s sparring partner but also literally his punching bag and manager.
