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Movies / On DVD / Raging Bull
Raging Bull

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Raging Bull (1980)

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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

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Feb 8, 2005

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Reviews for Raging Bull

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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An underdog in its day and a classic today.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
02/23/05
Glenn Abel
Glenn Abel
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The boxing sequences have little to do with reality, but cinematically they explode.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

a work of religious devotion by a filmmaker to his craft and an apotheosis of Scorsese's promise

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/18/05
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Filmcritic.com

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.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

De Niro and Joe Pesci are impeccable and Cathy Moriarty is iconically sexy.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
08/17/07
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]

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.

Full Review Source: Edinburgh U Film Society | comment Comment
01/01/00
Keith H. Brown
Keith H. Brown
Edinburgh U Film Society

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.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
02/16/05
Matt Brunson
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

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.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
01/29/04
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

The film that many consider the finest of its decade.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
03/11/05
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Though Raging Bull has only three principal characters, it is a big film, its territory being the landscape of the soul.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

De Niro is always absorbing and credible, even when his character isn't.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment 1 Comment
08/04/08
Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films | comment Comment
01/01/00
Tim Dirks
Tim Dirks
Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films

It's the best film I've seen about the low self-esteem, sexual inadequacy and fear that lead some men to abuse women.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Jake's inner struggles dovetail with his performance in the ring, and the film

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
03/22/05
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Director Martin Scorsese has a knack for tackling fascinating characters that aren’t altogether sympathetic.

Full Review Source: Reno Gazette-Journal | comment Comment
02/18/05
Forrest Hartman
Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal

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.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
08/17/07
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]

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.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dan Jardine
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide

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.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
01/01/00
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

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.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 8 Comments
03/14/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

If you've never seen Raging Bull, it's nowhere near as artwank as you've been led to believe.

Full Review Source: Heckler Spray | comment 1 Comment
07/30/08
Chris Laverty
Chris Laverty
Heckler Spray
 
 
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