This is not infact the best film of the 80s or indeed the 70s, it is just simply the greatest film ever made. I am not writing that on a whim, I have not just seen it and got carried away, I have seen this movie on a number of separate occasions over the years each time picking it apart, looking for faults but finding none. Hours of research have gone into this review.
The film was set back int the fifties, back in the day when men were men and all that rubbish your grandad told you. Jake La Motta, the star of this true story has though been well chronicled as a man who could give and take a proper beating. He could be any one of those ’hardmen’ your grandad told you about. The film is about his rise to fame and resulting demise and it tells the story of his life during these times, giving you an insight into the character and those around him. Although probably not the best part of this film, a number of my friends felt it was hard to get into and did not maintain there attention, the plot is both intriguing and exciting at the same time. The start of the film follows the young La Motta as he struggles to work his way into a mafia dominated sport while at the same time containing his aggression from hurting those who try to help. The film then follows him through his peak as a champion and subsequant tragic decline to an overweight night club owner while at each point reflecting on how his character copes with his successes and failures.
The film was directed by Martin Scorcese when he was at his creative peak. It came shortly after the release of Taxi Driver and continued his collaboration with Robert De Niro which was already widely acclaimed. The pressure was on him to come up with anouther masterpeice, something that he did in style. This film is a little different to those that Scorcese had directed before and has since. He usually enjoys complete artisitic freedom to create has characters and develop his basic concept (Taxi Driver, Ga
ngs of New York) but in this film he is restricted to a true life story. In fairness he did choose this character for a specific reason and Lemotta is a quite incredible personality but he still has to work within the restraints of a real person, who is still alive, to acheive his goal of exploring the weaknesses of a strong, proud and passionate man. It is still however a joy too watch the various techniques he uses to emphasise his characters and the situations they find themselves in. To produce the film in mostly black and white was both risky (as this usually seems unnattractive to the public) and technically difficult to utilise properly. He does however pull this off with flying colours and the amazing fight scenes really do have to be seen in atmospheric black and white to be appreciated. It is also the little things that show his class, he actually built a bigger ring for Lemotta to fight in during his final days to emphasise the state of the character while his timely use of colours is also class. To see La Mottas red blood dripping from the rope really brings the brutality of the sport home.
As far as I am concerned though the real hero of the film is De Niro. It may have been Scorcese he brought this brilliance out of him but he has pulled off countless stunning perfomances with or without his help (Taxi Driver, The Dear Hunter). It is DeNiro who plays the character La Motta himself. I usually take little notice in someones acting but in this film you can’t help but appreciate what an exceptional talent Deniro is. Scorcese has asked De Niro to bring out all the rage and passion from inside La Motta while at the same illustrating his frailties and torment, something he does in style.To see the character break down in a flood of tears is genuinly poignient and emmotive having only just seen the courage and character of the man. Deniro must have worked for months to gain the figure of a young Jake La Motta. I love the way he can bring out the cocki
ness and aggression of the character, whatching him bludgeon the ’pretty boy’ Janiero is somewhat unnerving and his defiant cry of ’you never put me down Ray’ to a victorious Sugar Ray Robinson during the last of their six epic and pivitol confrontations wil surely go down in cinema history. He continues to be able to emphasise the character during his domestic life as well as he struggles contain the aggression that he thrives off inside the ring in his home. Again DeNiro had to really work again at putting on weight and getting into the ageing Lemottas character, something he does faultlessly making him appear both proud and at the same time tragic. De Niro makes you both love and hate, fear and pity this character at the same time and I believe that it is his acting that really makes this film.
Apart from the pivotal Scorcese - De Niro partnership there are a number of other performances that make this film special that have to be mentioned in any review. Cathy Moriarty plays a great part as the long suffering wife Vicky who suffers at the hands of the characteristics that attract her to Lemotta. Anouther key character is the ever excellant Joe Pesci who plays LeMottas brother and manager. He also suffers from the very characteristics in Lemotta that he is trying to exploit. The cinematography is beutiful, the sound levels excellant and the music inspired, heck I bet even the sandwiches on set tasted great.
This is a truly remarkable film. Even if you are not attracted to this type of movie then I would still reccomend you to watch it because it is a work of art. Reguardless of the acting, the directing, the plot or the sandwiches this film is the closest thing you can get to poetry on screen and you should just sit back and enjoy the experiance.