🎬 Movie🏛️ Adults · Ages 18+Modern Drama

Raging Bull (1980)

Name: Raging Bull
Released: 1980

About This Movie

Boxer Jake LaMotta's volcanic rage drives him to the middleweight championship and then systematically destroys his career, his marriages, and his relationship with his brother. Scorsese shot the boxing scenes like nothing before, with slow motion blood spray and sound design that makes every punch land in your chest. De Niro gained sixty pounds to play the older, bloated LaMotta, and the physical transformation is staggering.

Why It's a Classic

Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman shot in black and white, giving the film the texture of a 1940s newsreel and stripping away any glamour from the violence. The boxing sequences are the most visceral ever filmed, using speed ramping, subjective camera angles, and sound design that alternates between deafening impact and eerie silence. De Niro's performance goes beyond acting into something closer to possession; his LaMotta is incapable of expressing love except through jealousy and fists, and watching him destroy every good thing in his life is almost physically painful. Joe Pesci's Joey LaMotta, the loyal brother who eventually cannot take any more, provides the emotional heart that the protagonist lacks. The AFI ranked it the fourth greatest American film, and many critics consider it Scorsese's finest work.

Fun Fact

De Niro trained with the real Jake LaMotta for over a year and reportedly entered three real Brooklyn boxing matches, winning two. The sixty pounds De Niro gained for the older scenes were accomplished by eating his way through France and Italy over four months. Scorsese was in such poor physical and mental health during pre-production that the film nearly did not get made, and De Niro's persistence in pushing the project forward may have saved the director's career. The real Jake LaMotta cried when he first saw the finished film.

Parent Note

The boxing violence is brutal and graphic, with close-up blood spray and facial damage. Domestic violence is depicted extensively, with LaMotta physically and emotionally abusing his wives. Strong language is pervasive. The protagonist is deliberately unsympathetic for much of the film. Rated R. This is demanding, unflinching cinema that earns its reputation as one of the greatest films ever made but requires a tolerance for sustained emotional intensity.