Raging Bull (1980) ft. Jen and Sarah
- Thomas Duncan
- 14 hours ago
- 7 min read
Guest:
Jen Han and Sarah Callen
Hosts of Movies and Us podcast
On Medium
Previously on The Maltese Falcon
Cast:
Martin Scorsese, Director
Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin, Writers
Jim Henrikson, Music
Michael Chapman, Cinematography
Thelma Schoonmaker, Editor
Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta
Joe Pesci as Joey LaMotta
Cathy Moriarty as Vickie LaMotta
Nicholas Colasanto as Tommy Como
Theresa Saldana as Lenora LaMotta
Frank Vincent as Salvatore "Salvy Batts"
Lori Anne Flax as Irma LaMotta
Mario Gallo as Mario
Frank Adonis as "Patsy"
Joseph Bono as Guido
Frank Topham as "Toppy"
Background:
Raging Bull was released on December 19, 1980.
On a budget of roughly $19 million, Raging Bull would make $23.4 million to finish #27 at the worldwide box office for 1980.
It received widespread critical acclaim at the time, and was nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture, Director (Scorsese), Supporting Actor (Pesci), Supporting Actress (Moriarty), Cinematography (Chapman), and Sound.
Raging Bull won 2 Oscars for Best Actor (De Niro) and Film Editing (Schoonmaker)
By the end of the 1980s, Raging Bull had cemented its reputation as a modern classic. It was voted the best film of the 1980s in numerous critics' polls, and is regularly pointed to as both Scorsese's best film and one of the finest American films ever made. Several prominent critics, among them Roger Ebert, declared the film to be an instant classic and the consummation of Scorsese's earlier promise. Ebert proclaimed it the best film of the 1980s, and one of the ten greatest films of all time.
Raging Bull was listed by Time magazine as one of the All-TIME 100 Movies.
Variety magazine ranked the film number 39 on their list of the 50 greatest movies. Raging Bull is fifth on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.
The film tied with The Bicycle Thieves and Vertigo at number 6 on Sight & Sound's 2002 poll of the greatest movies.
When Sight & Sound's directors' and critics' lists from that year are combined, Raging Bull gets the most votes of any movie that has been produced since 1975.
In 2002, Film4 held a poll of the 100 Greatest Movies, on which Raging Bull was voted in at number 20.
Leonard Maltin included Raging Bull on his 100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century list.
Roger Ebert named "Robert De Niro's transformation from sleek boxer to paunchy nightclub owner in Raging Bull" as one of the 100 Greatest Movie Moments.
The National Society of Film Critics ranked it #75 on their 100 Essential Films list.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #6 on their list of the 100 Maverick Movies in the Last 100 Years.
The Writers Guild of America named the film as the 76th best screenplay of all time.
In 2008, Empire magazine held a poll of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, taking votes from 10,000 readers, 150 film makers, and 50 film critics in which Raging Bull was placed at number 11.
In 2012, the Motion Picture Editors Guild listed the film as the best-edited film of all time based on a survey of its membership.
In the 2012 Sight & Sound polls, it was ranked the 53rd-greatest film ever made in the critics' poll and 12th in the directors' poll.
Contemporaries of Scorsese, like Francis Ford Coppola, have included it routinely in their lists for favorite films of all time.
In 2015, Raging Bull ranked 29th on BBC's "100 Greatest American Films" list, voted on by film critics from around the world.
The AFI has recognized Raging Bull on the following lists:
The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1990 - second ever class.
Raging Bull was recognized by the CLP list - tied at #105
Raging Bull currently holds a 92% on RT, a 90 score on Metacritic, and 4.2/5 on Letterboxd.
What is this movie about?/Elevator Pitch: A self-destructive person who cannot get out of their own way. Despite eventually allowing people to help him enough to win the title, he cannot let go, and it leaves him alone and broken. Yet, he's unwilling to ever change or accept responsibility.
Plot Summary: Raging Bull is a biographical drama about boxer Jake LaMotta, played by Robert De Niro. The film follows Jake’s rise in the ring during the 1940s and 1950s, showing his intense drive to win and his struggle to control his anger. His brother and manager, Joey LaMotta, played by Joe Pesci, tries to keep Jake focused, but their relationship becomes strained as Jake’s temper grows.
Outside the ring, Jake’s jealousy and insecurity hurt the people closest to him, especially his wife Vickie, played by Cathy Moriarty. As Jake’s behavior pushes others away, he begins to lose everything he worked for. The movie shows how his personal battles become just as destructive as the fights in the boxing ring, leaving him to face the consequences of his actions.
Did You Know:
In 1978, Martin Scorsese was at an all-time low after his last movie New York, New York (1977) had bombed at the box office, followed by a near-overdose resulting from an addiction to cocaine. Robert De Niro visited him at the hospital, and told him that he had to clean himself up and make this movie about a boxer. De Niro had asked Scorsese many times before, but he had always refused (he didn't like sports movies anyway), but due to De Niro's persistence, he eventually gave in. Scorsese believed that his American career was over anyway, so he wanted to do one final film there, and then move to Europe to make smaller movies. Many (including Scorsese) claim that De Niro saved Scorsese's life by getting him back into work, and that this movie cemented Scorsese's reputation as one of the most important American filmmakers of all time.
The Oscars were held the day after President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, who did it as an attempt to impress Jodie Foster, who played a child prostitute in another of Scorsese's famous films, Taxi Driver (which also starred De Niro). Out of fear of being attacked, Scorsese went to the ceremony with FBI bodyguards disguised as guests who escorted him before the announcement of the Academy Award for Best Picture was made (the winner being Robert Redford's Ordinary People).
When the real Jake LaMotta saw the movie, he said it made him break down in tears and realize for the first time what a terrible person he had been. He asked the real Vicki LaMotta "Was I really like that?". Vicki replied "You were worse."
In preparation for his role, Robert De Niro went through extensive physical training, then entered in three genuine Brooklyn boxing matches and won two of them.
To add to the documentary-like realism, Martin Scorsese wanted mainly amateur actors and newcomers around Robert De Niro. Joe Pesci, at the time a frustrated, struggling actor managing an Italian restaurant in the Bronx, had to be persuaded several times to make the film rather than return to the musical act he shared with fellow actor Frank Vincent, because they really liked his streetwise and authentic persona. To achieve the feeling of brotherhood between the two lead actors, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci lived and trained with each other for some time before and even during filming. Ever since then, the two have been very close friends.
To show up better on black-and-white film, Hershey's chocolate syrup was used for blood. The makers found that it looked even more convincing than real blood. To achieve the effect of blood gushing and spraying from Robert De Niro's face, the actor wore a prosthetic nose that was filled with the fake blood, which would squirt in every direction upon impact with punches.
Best Performance: Robert De Niro (Jake)/Michael Chapman (Cinematographer)
Best Secondary Performance: Robert De Niro (Jake)/Joe Pesci (Joey)/Lori Anne Flax (Irma)/Thelma Schoonmaker (Editor)
Most Charismatic Award: Sound Effects/Joe Pesci (Joey)/Nicholas Colasanto (Tommy Como)
Best Scene:
You Want Your Steak
Seeing Vicky
Meeting Vicky
Nightclub Brawl
Throwing the Fight
Last Fight w/ Sugar Ray
Fixing the TV
Attacking Joey
Jake Arrested
Stand-Up
Favorite Scene: Nightclub Brawl/Seeing Vicky
Most Indelible Moment: Nightclub Brawl/Stand-Up/Jake Arrested/Blood on the Ropes
In Memorium:
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, 75, American actor (Licence to Kill, Mortal Kombat, The Man in the High Castle, Johnny Tsunami)
David Matalon, 82, American film producer (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Color of Night), co-founder of TriStar Pictures.
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Jake La Motta: I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss... I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss.
Joey La Motta: If you win, you win. If you lose, you still win. There's no way you can lose.
Jake La Motta: You didn't get me down, Ray.
Tommy Como: [after Janiro fight] He ain't pretty no more.
Joey La Motta: They robbed you. They're miserable because their mothers take it up their fucking ass.
Joey La Motta: [over the phone, when no one answers, not realizing it's Jake calling] Your mother sucks giant elephant dicks!
Joey La Motta: What am I going to hit you with; a table?
Jake La Motta: Did Salvy fuck Vickie?
Joey La Motta: Jack. Jack, don't start your shit. I mean it, don't start.
Jake La Motta: I got these small hands. I got a little girl's hands.
Vicky La Motta: I want a piece of cake.
Jake La Motta: Shut up. You just shut up. I'll fucking take care of you later.
Jake La Motta: It's only a joke if you know it's a joke.
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 7
Impact/Significance: 7.25
Novelty: 7.13
Classic-ness: 4.13
Rewatchability: 4.25
Audience Score: 8.7 (81% Google, 93% RT)
Total: 38.46
Remaining Questions:
Does Jake ever make up with Joey?
Is this De Niro's best performance?
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