An underdog in its day and a classic today.
Raging Bull (1980)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:52
Fresh:51
Rotten:1
Average Rating:9/10
Consensus: Arguably Martin Scorsese’s and Robert De Niro’s finest film, Raging Bull is often painful to watch, but it’s a searing, powerful work about an unsympathetic hero.
Runtime: 2 hrs 12 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: With RAGING BULL, Martin Scorsese's personal approach to filmmaking is taken to a whole new level. Shooting in a crisp black and white, Scorsese tells the story of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta,... With RAGING BULL, Martin Scorsese's personal approach to filmmaking is taken to a whole new level. Shooting in a crisp black and white, Scorsese tells the story of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, played with incredible intensity by Oscar winner Robert De Niro. As La Motta rises through the ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown, he falls in love with Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), a gorgeous girl from his Bronx neighborhood. Jake's inability to express his feelings pours out in the ring and eventually takes over his life in his dealings with his brother, Joey (a brilliant Joe Pesci). Irrational jealousy over Vickie, as well as an insatiable appetite, sends him into a downward spiral that costs him his title, his wife, and his relationship with Joey. As the out-of-control fighter, De Niro delivers one of the screen's most unforgettable performances. Pesci is just as intense as Joey, who finally realizes that he is unable to tame his animalistic brother. Cinematographer Michael Chapman shoots the film with a stylish flair that fills the boxing scenes with boundless energy and adds immediacy to the arguments that erupt whenever Jake is outside the ring. Simply put, RAGING BULL is one of American cinema's masterworks. [More]
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Frank Vincent
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, Frank Adonis
Director: Martin Scorsese
Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenwriter: Mardik Martin, Paul Schrader
Story: Jake La Motta, Joseph Carter, Peter Savage
Producer: Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff
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Reviews for Raging Bull
The boxing sequences have little to do with reality, but cinematically they explode.
a work of religious devotion by a filmmaker to his craft and an apotheosis of Scorsese's promise
There's no room for romanticism in the ring with inky black blood staining the canvas. During fight sequences, the director also uses a number of point-of-view shots designed to show the world, however briefly, from La Motta's perspective.
De Niro and Joe Pesci are impeccable and Cathy Moriarty is iconically sexy.
Widely acclaimed as both the greatest film of the 1980s and of its director, Martin Scorsese, this is one of a select handful of films that everyone should see.
The true power of De Niro's performance rests in his ability to worm his way into this lug's twisted psyche and air out his personal demons for all to see.
Raging Bull is a screen biography of Jake La Motta, a searing look at the sport of boxing and a riveting drama revolving around grand passions.
Though Raging Bull has only three principal characters, it is a big film, its territory being the landscape of the soul.
De Niro is always absorbing and credible, even when his character isn't.
Raging Bull (1980) is an unrelenting, searing biopic and dramatic tragedy - based on the real life story of an unloveable, stubborn middle-weight boxing champion
It's the best film I've seen about the low self-esteem, sexual inadequacy and fear that lead some men to abuse women.
Jake's inner struggles dovetail with his performance in the ring, and the film
Director Martin Scorsese has a knack for tackling fascinating characters that aren’t altogether sympathetic.
This savagely authentic film about flawed masculinity is worth seeking out for another viewing if the summer’s toothless blockbuster fodder is getting you down.
Filmed in a gritty, naturalistic style in luminescent black and white, Martin Scorsese's tortuous film is a fascinating exploration of a diseased man's soul.
The true story of championship prizefighter Jake La Motta, this is unmannered, unpretentious filmmaking that tells its story with startling authenticity, but it's a movie that leaves you feeling as beat up as one of La Motta's opponents.
I can't pan it, but this 1980 fantasy biography of fighter Jake LaMotta seems unquestionably Martin Scorsese's weakest work, at least to that point in his career.
If you've never seen Raging Bull, it's nowhere near as artwank as you've been led to believe.
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February 26, 2007:
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