Raging Bull

Released: November 14, 1980

Studio: United Artists

Genre: sports drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 23.38 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 77.50 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Martin Scorsese

Screenwriting: Mardik Martin, Paul Schrader

Starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci

Review:

“The most beautifully brutal sports film ever made, and one of the best movies of the 1980s regardless of genre.” ^TV “This brilliant biography” ^VD of boxer Jake LaMotta is “a poetic meditation on the nature of violence” ^RS and “the rigid and sentimental codes of masculinity which he clings to even as they destroy him.” ^T95 It is “beautifully photographed in rich black and white” ^VD and contains “some of the most intense fight scenes ever filmed.” ^VD It is “often noted for Thelma Schoonmacher’s achievement in editing.” ^A98

“De Niro gives one of his greatest performances” ^VD as “the anti-Rocky,” ^TV “a man whose only true emotional outlet was fighting.” ^VD The “hard-headed, animalistic, unlovable slum kid…becomes the 1949 middle-weight champ,” ^FS but his “opponents in the ring are no match for the demons he fights in his personal life,” ^A98 including domestic and emotional violence with his brother Joey (Pesci) and wife Vikki (Moriarty). “De Niro’s transformation from a sleek professional boxer to an out-of-shape, stand-up nightclub entertainer is simply remarkable.” ^FS

“The movie was actually Robert De Niro’s passion project. It took him years to convince his friend and collaborator, Martin Scorsese, to make it. Scorsese wasn’t a fan of sports, and less so of boxing, not finding it to be a good visual medium.” ^MSN The result is “as a moving and beautiful film as anyone could make about an intolerably nasty, screwed-up man.” ^ML “That such an unappealing man could inspire so vivid a portrait is a tribute to the collaboration of Scorsese, De Niro, and writers Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin.” ^LM “There’s not a false note in characterization or period detail.” ^LM “Scorsese’s best.” ^ML

Sources:

^A98 American Film Institute (1998). “AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies”
^FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films”
^LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century”
^ML Movieline (Dec. 1995). “100 Best Movies Ever Made” by Virginia Campbell and Edward Margulies
^MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud
^RS Rolling Stone (12/30/1999). “100 Maverick Movies of the Last 100 Years”
^T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films”
^TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video”
^VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”