| Raging Bull | |
| Studio: United Artist Director: Martin Scorcese Screenplay By: Paul Schrader/Mardik Martin Producer: Irwin Winkler/Robert Chartoff Release: 1980 Cast Robert De Niro Jake LaMotta Cathy Moriarty Vickie LaMotta Joe Pesci Joey LaMotta Frank Vincent Salvy Nicholas Colosanto Tommy Como Theresa Saldana Lenore LaMotta Johnny Barnes Sugar Ray Robinson Kevin Mahon Tony Janiro Louis Raftis Marcel Cerdan Johnny Turner Laurent Dathuille |  
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Average Blamo User Rating :  (6 votes) | |
| Movie Review by Reginald I. Perrin | |
| Undoubtedly one of the best films of the 1980's, and of all-time. Raging Bull is a classic character study of the almighty
Jake LaMotta, a middleweight boxer who managed to get all the way to the top of his trade, only to fall right back down again. And really, it was through no-one's fault but his own. He undoubtedly had the skills to become one of the greats, but his own, utterly dislikeable mixture of paranoia, ego and laziness prevented him from doing so. We watch as LaMotta falls down the spiral, destroying his career, his family, and ultimately, everything that made him the great that he was. And despite everything, the man never changed. At the end of the film, when he recites Marlon Brando's famous speech from "On the Waterfront", you can easily replace "Charlie" with "Joey". In the main role, there's Robert De Niro. De Niro trained under Jake LaMotta himself to become a fighter, fought 3 professional bouts (won two), and according to LaMotta, he certainly could have been a contender in the boxing world by the time they were finished. To play the older, fatter LaMotta, De Niro made himself practically unrecognisable - gaining an incredible 60 lbs. De Niro went further into hell to play Jake LaMotta than he did for any of his other characters, and it was worth it. De Niro won the "Best Actor" gong for the film, and the portrayal is regarded as one of the greatest performances ever committed to screen. And of course, they're right. Robert De Niro, at the time, was peerless, coming off of various other excellent characters - from the young Vito Corleone in "Godfather Part II", to Michael Vronsky in "The Deer Hunter", and of course, Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver". But with Raging Bull, De Niro turned out his greatest performance, perhaps even the greatest of all time. De Niro isn't just portraying Jake LaMotta, he IS LaMotta. Everything, from the opening scene where Jake is pacing around the ring, all of the (incredibly done) fights, LaMotta's paranoia, forcing him to question every single thing his wife and his family does, to the moment where, locked in the cage, La Motta is face to face with his demons, is conducted with such power and authenticity that you can't help but watch in awe. Unbelievable. There's not many actors who have managed to come close to this level of acting, since. The only performances I can think of are Jack Nicholson in "The Shining", Al Pacino in "The Godfather, Part III", and Harvey Keitel in "Bad Lieutenant". Robert De Niro is the undisputed god of acting, regardless of how many "Rocky and Bullwinkles" or "Analyze That"'s he does in the future, he will always remain at the top of the tree in my book. And there's also De Niro's partner in crime, Martin Scorcese. Scorcese and De Niro have formed one of the all-time great director/actor partnerships, and for both of them, this is their masterpiece. Scorcese's camera captures everything to a tee - it sweeps through the dressing rooms, the halls, and the ring with a grace that few can match. The fight scenes especially, are incredibly well captured - poetry in motion. The fight with Janiro, where LaMotta delivers an uncomparable beating to Janiro, purely out of jealousy after hearing Janiro referred to as a "pretty boy" one too many times, culminates in one terrifying punch - and the camera goes right in, in slow-motion to capture it. LaMotta doesn't just break Janiro's nose, he repositions it onto the other side of his face. And after Janiro goes down for the count, Tommy Como gets in one of the best lines of the movie with "He ain't pretty no more!". Brilliance. Every scene is magnificent. Every fight. But really, it's the scenes where we see De Niro go down the spiral that really make it. The film features 5 of the ugliest minutes ever captured on screen, all starting off from when the paranoid part of LaMotta takes full force. When Jake asks Joey, his own brother (played masterfully by Joe Pesci) the question "Did you fuck my wife?" you know that no answer's going to satisfy him. In the minutes that follow, LaMotta launches into an absolute rage, and destroys his own family. Ultimately, the old LaMotta gets put in jail for making sexual advances toward an under-age girl. In the cell, he finally meets his demons. Left with only his reflection against the wall, Jake punches the shit out of the wall, and cries out "I'm not an animal". Powerful, and unforgettable. In the final scenes, we see LaMotta down on his luck - he's an entertainer. And then he launches into his speech - taken from "On the Waterfront". It's a great ending, but it's tinged with emotion. The speech tells us one thing - LaMotta will never change. When he says "It was you, Charlie", he might as well say "It was you, Joey". He blames Joey for everything, when really, the only person who stopped him from getting to the top and staying there was himself. It's a powerful moment, and you do feel sorry for Jake, but ultimately, it's the truth. Perhaps now would be a good place to stop. Needless to say, the supporting cast is great - Pesci deserved the praise for his performance as Joey, LaMotta's brother, and Cathy Moriarty was great as Vickie. Frank Vincent played another typical character gangster role, but he was uniformly good as always, as was Colosanto as Tommy Como. All of the fighters had their part to play, and they played it well. All that's left to say, really, is...watch the movie. It's a 10, of course. Watch it now. You will be hypnotised from the second Pietro Macagni's intermezzo from "Cavalleria Rusticana" rises up over the opening credits sequence, and if the hairs don't stand up on the back of your neck then, then perhaps you should check your pulse. Undoubtedly, one of the greatest movies ever made. Reviewer Rating of Movie : | |
