Raging Bull

1980 • 129 minutes
4.6
158 reviews
92%
Tomatometer
R
Rating
Eligible
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About this movie

RAGING BULL is director Martin Scorsese's lacerating film biography of middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta, who was known during his brief reign as "the Bronx Bull." LaMotta (played with extraordinary brilliance by Robert De Niro) had early lessons in life: to steal and to fight. His aggression in the ring was a means of combating deep-seated anxieties and emotional fears. This determination and rage turned him from a young hoodlum into a champion. But his drive for the title, his brutality outside of the ring and his almost-psychotic sexual jealousy will destroy his marriage to Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) and his deepest friendships. After Vickie leaves him a final violent confrontation with his patient, supportive brother and manager, Joey (Joe Pesci)-and the loss of his title.
Rating
R

Ratings and reviews

4.6
158 reviews
David Lawrence
September 21, 2020
The boxing was uninteresting, whiffs, and has an old timey kind of gore porn aspect. Jake is a meathead who follows a predictable self destructive spiral where he never seems to learn a thing the whole way down. Joe Pesci is almost a charicature of what he would be in later more developed mob movies. Generally the cast is wasted on a predictable slog through boredom. I love so much of the cast for it to be this way. I can't understand.
Natalya Smith-Njigba
September 29, 2021
Review for ART 1145 American Cinema - Raging Bull ⚠️ SPOILER WARNING ⚠️ Raging Bull directed Martin Scorsese and produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler is a 1980 biographical drama adapted from Jake LaMotta's memoir “Raging Bull: My Story”. This film stars Robert De Niro, who would go on to win his second Academy Award as Best Actor due to this film. The film follows Jake LaMotta an Italian American who was a middleweight boxer in the 1940s-1950s. His animalistic and violent nature is shown throughout the movie through his boxing matches, as he wants to “destroy” his opponents. LaMotta’s career is affected by his and brother and manager Joey’s (Joe Pesci) mafia connections. Even though he is powerful in the ring, LaMotta must overcome his disagreements with what the mafia wants out of these matches and his own head-strong behavior, which eventually spills over into his personal life. We also see his warped version of “love” and lust throughout the film as well, as he cheats on his first wife for Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) who ends up marrying. However, when he becomes paranoid that she has been unfaithful, he’s filled with jealous rage and started abusing her. Even though at this point he’s at the top of his boxing career, he starts to lose control, gaining weight, and ends up hurting everyone around him with his self-destructive behavior. The story ends with him losing everyone around him and becoming a stand-up comedian. The acting for this film was phenomenal. I can understand why this role won Robert De Niro an Academy Award. He played his role masterfully and became the animalistic aggressive and self-destructive character Jake LaMotta was. Also, the cinematography and editing of this film were above standard, and really captured the overall dark tone of the film. I can see why the American Film Institute ranked it as the fourth-greatest American movie of all time. Although the story was very well-acted and directed, it was honestly too violent for my taste. Obviously, it needed to be, since this was a true story about someone who was clearly an extremely violent person, but it just seemed like a little too much. However, like previously stated the acting and cinematography of this movie really made it amazing.
Guy Z
August 22, 2017
To me it's the greatest movie of all time. It's violent and beautiful at the same time. Every actor's performance is perfect. I read that Scorsese directed this as his swan song as he was completely disenchanted with Hollywood and he was going through some serious issues. There are camera angles and moments where he pans the camera onto an object and away from the characters that really increases the dramatic dialogue here. I mean it's the greatest movie ever.
8 people found this review helpful