Raging Bull is one of the best acted cinemas of all time, actor can give his best only when Director has the vision Martin Scorsese a genius maverick director. Robert De Niro & martin both have Italian blood maybe that’s the reason whenever they comes together screen blows apart. I won’t say its all time best boxing flick because there is more in it other than boxing ring. It’s biopic of middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta played by legendry (De Niro), It shows the violent, disturbed life of Jake La Motta, nicknamed the Raging Bull, who reached the peak of his career in 1949 when he was crowned as the middleweight champ of the world. It’s a vicious flick about a fuming self-destructive macho man who conducts like an animal & compares everything with violence, including sex & marriage. It’s based on the book ’’Raging Bull-My Story’’ by Jake La Motta with Joseph Carter & Peter Savage. Screenwriters Paul Schrader& Mardik Martin turn in a moving, intelligent screenplay, literally took the pages into screen with blood dripping.
La Motta’s fall staunched not from outside pressures but inner weaknesses, stunningly realised in De Niro’s immense performance, both he & Martin gave their best I can’t believe anyone else could have done better. The story is told in flashbacks, framed by Jake’s preparations for an appearance at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel Theatre in 1964 in ’’An Evening with Jake La Motta, ’’ with readings from Paddy Chayefsky, Budd Schulberg, few others. It wanders around Motta’s early days in 40’s & his efforts to get a title fight, how during this period he was surrounded by gangsters & was banned from the ring for throwing a fight for his gangster friends, his healing & return to win the crown, his last defeat at the hands of the great Sugar Ray Robinson which I think he did intentionally because he feels guilty about fight with his Brother. What followed was a failing life as a nightclub celebrity comedian, getting fat unfit, & becoming increasingly less sensible charged for molesting underage girl , thrown into a Miami jail on a morals charge. What is great about it is that the flick is in black & white during the time of 80’s when one can use colours but Martin deliberately chooses Black & White so that it can show the era of 40’s 50’s when Motta raised & failed. A huge risk taken by Martin, which ultimately delivers what he wanted & now it is classic. De niro got Oscar for it unfortunately Martin got nomination for his each flick but he get the Oscar for an adapted story Departed from Infernal Affairs. De niro deserved the Oscar for his portrayal of Motta, no make ups he gained weight when Motta retires from boxing looks slim fit as boxer at his peak too much hard work done by De niro.
Basically it got three main characters around which whole story revolves Jake Motta , his brother & for a time being manager Joey(Joe Pesci) & Motta’s suffering wife Vickie(Cathy Moriarty). Motta thinks that his younger brother cheated him by sleeping with his wife in one scene Vickie comes & kisses Motta & Joey there Motta’s doubt rises & after an argument with his brother he brutally bashes him in Joey’s house front of his wife & children, which later he regrets. Joe Pesci plays Jake’s younger brother Joey to perfection Joe is a great actor unfortunately he never got such roles to show his calibre. Vickie loves Motta at same time she fears him because when he become violent only he knows somehow she adjusts till a point. It was Cathy’s debut & she did a great job to justify her character. Rest is all about De niro as I already written about his acting he is just mind blowing.
The other great aspect of Raging bull is its cinematography. Michael Chapman’s stunning, crisp black- & white cinematography throughout the entire film except for the home video parts that provide bridges within the narrative slanted camera used innovative techniques including slow-motion, worthy camera angles for various fight scenes. The lighting was deliberately made harsh, to provide an expression looks of Motta & to feel the brutality inside the ring. Raging Bull moves back and forth between the objective point of view & same time the subjective contrast that is Motta’s life.
Director Martin Scorcese, with his D.O.P, Michael Chapman, & editor, Themma Schoonmaker, & great dialogues made a magnum opus with scenes both shocking & beautiful. With the clothes, hair styles, & dark way of life of with boxing players, Martin masterfully captures the cruel ambiance of the crowded apartments, tight-fisted gyms, boxing arenas, the night clubs that were the world of Jake La Motta, a human cask of dynamite which repeatedly detonated with the slightest of knock, damaging all around him especially himself. Combined with scenes of intense brutality rude, rough, Scorcese gives glorious cinematic beauty with complete mastery of light, shadow & focus. The film is a breathtaking that will leave an absolutely stunning mark in its inspiring perfection. Each work is in detail which shows the research of Martin like clothes as mentioned. It is a bull created by Martin & De Niro with ease but full of rage. A complete master piece. In Blue ray Motta’s narration is there with Martin’s Making of Raging Bull. Grab DVD’s Blue ray’s for complete story how to make classic cinema.
Hat’s off to De Niro & Martin with his company of associates. Few Dialogues I like to attach-Though I’m no Olivier / I would much rather... And though I’m no Olivier / If he fought Sugar Ray / He would say / That the thing ain’t the ring, it’s the play. / So give me a... stage / Where this bull here can rage / And though I could fight / I’d much rather recite /... that’s entertainment.
2.I knocked him down. I don’t know what else I gotta do. I don’t know what I gotta do 3.You didn’t get me down, Ray.In climax he says in front of mirror famous line was like a peak you reach, and then it’s downhill. It was you, Charley. You was my brother. You should’ve looked out for me a little bit. You should’ve looked out for me just a little bit. You should’ve taken care of me just a little bit instead o’ making me take them dives for the short-end money. You don’t understand. I could have had class. I could’ve been a contender. I could’ve been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am. Let’s face it. It was you, Charley. It was you, Charley.