“Raging Bull”

Movie Review

Martin Scorsese's American biographical sports drama film Raging Bull was produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, and it was based from Jake LaMotta's 1970 autobiography Ranging Bull: My Story by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin. The movie stars Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, an Italian-American middleweight boxer whose relationships with his wife and family were ruined by his self-destructive and obsessional wrath, jealousy, and animalistic desire. Joe Pesci, who plays LaMotta's brother Joey, and Cathy Moriarty, who is making her acting debut, both appear in the movie. Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent, and Nicholas Colasanto all have supporting appearances in the movie, and John Turturro debuts in a role that is uncredited.

LaMotta suffered his first defeat in a crucial boxing contest against Jimmy Reeves in 1941. One of his Maia contacts, Salvy Batts, and Jake's brother Joey explore a prospective middleweight title fight, but Salvy Batts consistently declines the mafia's assistance. Later on, Jake sees Vickie, a fifteen-year-old girl from his Bronx neighborhood, at an outdoor pool. Despite the fact that he is already married, he finally seeks a relationship with her. After defeating Sugar Ray Robinson in 1943, Jake faced him again three weeks later. Despite Robinson winning the fight handily over Jake, Joey believes Robinson only prevailed because Jake was enrolling in the Army the following week. Jake marries Vickie in 1945.

Vickie's statements on Tony Janiro, Jake's opponent in his upcoming fight, in particular, cause Jake constant worry that she harbors feelings for other guys. When he viciously defeats Janeiro in front of Vickie and the neighborhood mob boss Tommy Como, his resentment is clear. Joey is interrupted as he speaks with reporters at the Copacabana about the triumph as Vickie walks over to a table with Salvy and his team. Vickie, who Joey speaks with, claims she has given up on his brother. Joey accuses Salvy of the altercation, and when it spills outside the club, he savagely assaults him. Later, Como demands an apology from them and instructs Joey to inform Jake that he must first take a dive in order to have a shot at winning the championship title, which Como controls. After momentarily pummeling his opponent in a contest against Billy Fox, Jake doesn't even attempt to put up a fight. He is accused of staging the fight and promptly removed from the board, though he only realizes his error of judgment after it is too late. After being eventually reinstated, he defeats Marcel Cerdan to win the middleweight belt in 1949.

Jake queries Joey a year later about if Vickie was the reason for their altercation at the Copacabana. Jake then inquires as to whether Joey had an affair with her; Joey declines to respond, belittles Jake, and departs. When Vickie tries to escape from Jake in the bathroom, he knocks down the door, forcing her to jokingly admit that she had sex with everyone in the neighborhood out of weariness and asking, "What do you want me to say!?" Vickie is confronted by Jake directly about the affair. Vickie and Jake stomp angrily over to Joey's house, where they attack Joey in front of Lenora and their kids before Jake knocks Vickie out.

When Joey assumes Salvy is on the other end and starts criticizing and cursing at him, Jake hangs up the phone. In 1950, he had just won his title belt back following a hard fifteen-round fight against Laurent Dauthuille. Being estranged from Joey causes Jake's career to slowly deteriorate, and in their final match in 1951, Sugar Ray Robinson defeats him to claim the title.

Jake and his family relocated to Miami in 1956. Vickie informs him that she wants a divorce and sole custody of their children after he spends the entire night there at his new nightclub. Additionally, she makes a threat to contact the police if he approaches them in any way. He is later taken into custody for introducing minors to guys at his club. Instead of selling the championship belt, he makes a failed attempt to bribe his way out of his felony situation using the diamonds from the belt. He enters prison in 1957 while bemoaning his misfortune and sobbing in despair. When he returns to New York City in 1958, he runs into Joey, who is understanding but evasive.

Jake now quotes the line "I coulda been a contender" from the 1954 movie On the Waterfront, in which Terry Malloy bemoans the fact that his brother should have been there for him but is also willing to give himself some credit. This is Jake's second time using this line in 1964. Jake begins to chant "I'm the boss" while shadowboxing after a stagehand alerts him to the crowded nature of the theater where he will be performing.

Although Martin Scorsese initially expressed reluctance to take on the film, he finally warmed to LaMotta's narrative. Martin's original screenplay was revised by Schrader, and Scorsese and De Niro combined to make uncredited changes after that. Prior to the movie, neither Pesci nor Moriarty, whom Pesci proposed for her role, were well-known actors. Each boxing scene in the movie was choreographed throughout production for a certain visual look, and De Niro put on about 60 pounds to play LaMotta in his later post-boxing years. Given that he believed this might be his final big motion picture, Scorsese was meticulous in the editing and mixing processes.

The movie Raging Bull was first presented on December 19, 1980. Upon its premiere, the movie got mixed reviews; while De Niro's acting and the editing received widespread praise, the movie also drew criticism for its brutal subject matter. Despite the negative reviews, the movie received eight Academy Award nominations for the 53rd Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and took home two of them: Best Actor for De Niro and Best Editing.

After its debut, Raging Bull received a lot of positive reviews and is today regarded as one of the best movies ever created. It was the first movie to be chosen by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in its first year of eligibility for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, and the American Film Institute ranked it as the fourth greatest American film of all time.

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