Jake LaMotta:one of the most talented and successful boxers of his time. Also,one of the most turbulent boxers of his time,who's personal life would,eventually,work its way into his career.

And,in "Raging Bull",all of that is covered here. Shortly after "Raging Bull" has opened(the opening scene may be in 1964,but that really doesn't take part until the end of the film),we are taken back to 1941,at the start of(Jake)La Motta's boxing career. Here,it all begins. Back and forth on "Raging Bull",we see several fights of Jake La Motta documented. Everything--the personal part of the fight--the violence and grittiness of the fight--and the fight itself--are rolled up into one. It's really quite impressive. It's like watching an actual fight,De Niro and all of the actors having their complete emotion rolled into it. The suspense and "beauty" really work well here. Not only did Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler(who won the Best Picture Oscar at the 1977 Academy Awards for "Rocky")produce "Raging Bull",the creativity/imagination of Martin Scorsese and the brilliant technique used by Scorsese(only one camera to film the boxing,as opposed to three,the usual method)really help a lot.

The parts that focus on La Motta's personal life stand out quite well,also. With the screenplay,direction,and acting of Robert De Niro,you get to see who Jake La Motta was as a person:violent,angry,and crude,how he preferred to be with people "he liked",and how he preferred to be with people he "didn't like". "Raging Bull" succeeds on focusing on every other person of Jake La Motta's life and giving them enough recognition,without forgetting who the film is about. Joe Pesci can get annoying at times,but otherwise,the acting in "Raging Bull" is richly executed and contributes to the beauty of the film.

It's worth noting that most of(minus about ten-thirteen minutes)of "Raging Bull" is shot in black and white. Some people may be iffy towards actions like this for a film. But,here,it's brilliant. Through the black and white,you get immersed in the 40's,50's,and 60's. You see what the life of Jake La Motta was completely like,the time period for which it was being documented the way it is helping a lot(history fans are in for a treat with this aspect of "Raging Bull"). "Raging Bull" actually has the characteristics of any "old" film from the time period in which it takes place. Yet,it still has the same,modern standards of any film made today.

As you may have noticed,this is the two-disc,special edition of "Raging Bull". The title lives up to itself. The extras(three audio commentaries--one from Martin Scorsese and Editor Thelma Schoonmaker,the Cast and Crew Commentary,and the Storytellers Commentary,four behind-the-scenes feauturettes,and "The Bronx Bull" making-of documentary)really do spread one issue--learning about the making of the film--out. It's a very successful method. The eight bonus feautures let viewers of "Raging Bull" learn every aspect of the film being made(thumbs up for letting the real Jake La Motta have a helping hand),and all offer a fair amount of interesting and intruiging facts. The newsreel footage of Jake La Motta defending his title and the shot-by-shot comparison of Robert De Niro and Jake La Motta are impressive touches. The booklet is also quite nice with fun trivia/facts and some pictures that happen to stand out,while the actual "case" that holds the DVDS has a lot of creative and strong touches to it,as well.

If you are a harcore,American Film institute film fan,"Raging Bull" is one film not to miss.

The acting and the photography of the fight sequences are quite good. The problem lies in the quality of the DVD itself. The first copy I received was not playable and was returned. The second copy played ok, but the contrasts in volume between the conversation parts and the fight sequences were extreme. One could hadly hear the conversation portions and had to turn the volume up near its maximum. When the fight sequences occurred, the volume had to be turned back down. This soon became annoying. I am surprised that the anniversary edition had these problems.
The special features disk was trouble-free and well worth watching.

Raging Bull directed by Martin Scorsese is probably his best film to date. Filmed in gorgeous black and white, Raging Bull tells the story of true-life boxer Jake La Motta played brilliantly by De Niro. He gained a lot of weight for this role, he is truly unrecognizable towards the end of the film, but besides that his blistering performance earned him his second Oscar, his portrayal is both frightening and riveting. This is one film every aspiring filmmaker should see, one of the essentials. Enjoy!

Raging Bull, is a good period piece, it shows why Boxing lost popularity. From the kitchen scene near the start till the end Raging Bull is emotional and believable. The worst beating doesnt come in the ring. The way the fights went made me hate the promoters and Ray Robinson. Its hard to like Jake but....

If there was ever a better film to be included in AFI's 10th Anniversary Top Ten list, I wouldn't believe it. This is filmmaking at it's best. Let me begin with the greatest actor working today.

Whenever Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese get together it's cinematic gold. Only years prior they created the iconic character of Travis Bickle. Now, in 1980, they create another iconic screen character: Jake La Motta. Jake La Motta was a New York boxer known as The Raging Bull and Scorsese and De Niro brought him to screen better than any other boxing character in history. Robert De Niro's dedication to this role really shows as, even to this day, I look past the actor, as legendary as he is, and only see Jake La Motta, a troubled but talented man.

I highly recommend this movie. It shows a character study second to almost none. Each one of Scorsese/De Niro's characters leave you with a different feeling. For eight movies now, (Mean Streets (Special Edition), Taxi Driver (Two-Disc Collector's Edition), New York, New York, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, GoodFellas (Two-Disc Special Edition), Cape Fear (10th Anniversary Edition), and Casino), Scorsese and De Niro have created memorable characters. Jake La Motta just may well top the list.

Plus, you can't go wrong with this DVD. Just as with the Two Disc Edition to Goodfellas, there's a commentary with Jake La Motta himself. And the featurettes are wonderful. Higly recommended

This is more than a 'sports' movie. Robert De Niro's Oscar performance as Jake LaMotta is still one of the best movies made. Scorsese helped bring out a very human side of a temperamental boxer who can't keep it together. The trouble in his personal life soon spills over into the ring. Cathy Moriarty and Joe Pesci also give wonderful talent to this story. The crumbling relationship between the brothers is especially heartbreaking when we realize Joey seems to be the last thin thread keeping LaMotta from unraveling. When that thread is lost, all hope for the brother's emotional recovery is lost as well.

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

Based on LaMotta's memoirs and filmed in gorgeous black-and-white, Martin Scorsese's gritty, no-holds-barred drama--possibly his greatest--tackles the familiar theme of redemption with blunt force. Oscar winner De Niro, who famously packed on 50 pounds to do the "fat" scenes, is riveting as the brutish Jake, whose primary talent lies in the amount of punishment he can take in the ring. The fight sequences--raw, sweaty, and savage--are bravura pieces of filmmaking. "Raging Bull" may be hard for some viewers to sit through, but Scorsese ultimately leads his protagonist, and us, to a state of grace.

Greatest film about the boxing business...DeNiro is terrific as 'Jake LaMotta'...do I like a raging bull like LaMotta....NO...the boxing game and all its warts are stripped naked in this film...it's nothing but a dirty racket of fresh meat on the hoof...winner take all...I recall LaMotta in boxing's halycon years from Madison Square Garden, NYC...he had grit and the killer instinct and made some money at his gladiator art...gripping tale on his true life adventure of just waking up...very insecure manic/depressive type [LaMotta] was portrayed masterfully by a fine actor, Robert DeNiro...excellent supporting cast reinforces this movie of impact on a gruesome 'sport'..Wham!!-Bamm!!...7-8-9-10, you're out!!...DeNiro and Scorcese pair up into one hellava Boxing movie [DVD]....SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

I don't think I could say a single thing about "Raging Bull" that someone else hasn't said before me. Even though it's acclaimed frequently as one of the greatest films of all time (rightfully so), it's unjustly billed as a sports film. A boxing movie. It's because of this that it took me so long to see it in the first place. Sure, it's a biopic about a boxer and boxing plays a big part in the film but it's not a sports film. It's a film about a troubled man and his sexual insecurities disguised as a boxing movie. Robert DeNiro (who won the Oscar for the role) plays boxer Jake La Motta; a man who lost a few matches but was never knocked out. A man who would take hundreds of punches just to land one. La Motta, who is vying for the championship, soon meets the 15-year-old blonde bombshell Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) whom he soon marries. Problem is, Jake doesn't trust her (or really anyone around him) and is constantly paranoid about what his wife does. In one pivotal scene, when Vickie mentions that a boxer Jake is about to fight is cute, he beats the boy to a pulp causing a man to lean over to his friend in the audience and say "he ain't pretty no more." Even Jake's brother Joey (Joe Pesci, who should've beat Timothy Hutton for the Oscar) falls prey to Jake's paranoia. Anyone who says DeNiro's performance is incredible is understating it massively. This film displays the best performance I've ever seen by DeNiro and, easily, one of the best performances ever. The things he does for this role are absolutely incredible; From the way he makes his body look from the beginning of the film to the end of the film, to his fake nose, just everything about it...Tour de force has never been a used more appropriately than to describe his performance. Martin Scorsese is a magnificent director who has a long filmography filled with masterpieces, but I wouldn't be stretching the truth by suggesting that "Raging Bull" may very well be his best film. It's no wonder The American Film Institute ranks it as the 24th best film of all time and the reason it is still talked about today. It seems that even though "Ordinary People" beat it out for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, I'm almost positive that years from now "Raging Bull" will most be remembered. If you've never considered seeing "Raging Bull" because it doesn't seem like your type of movie, than you have no idea what you're missing. If you hadn't had a chance to see it yet, but want to, you should see it not. It's a masterpiece of cinema and truly deserves to be called one of the one hundred best films of all time.

GRADE: A

"Raging Bull" stands out as an all-time classic, easily director Martin Scorsese's greatest work. The film chronicles the life and times of 1940's middleweight boxer Jake Lamotta. In stark contrast to Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky", this film is more visceral and even ugly at times. LaMotta's personal demons are exorcised in gritty black-and-white, his struggles and rage fleshed out with unflinching realism.

The performances in this film are so relaxed, the viewer sometimes feels as if he/she is watching a documentary, a black-and-white reality show set in 1940's Bronx. Frequent improvisation on the part of the actors also contributes to a sense of captured reality. This style of film-making has been widely imitated ever since; such realism in film was virtually non-existent at the time "Raging Bull" came to the screen.

Robert DeNiro gives the performance of his career as the iconic LaMotta. His performance earned him an Oscar for Best Actor. As the "Bronx bull", DeNiro is tough and passionate. The viewer is drawn to care about this character primarily because of the strong personal connection formed as a result of the realistic, and totally original Scorsese exhibition. Witness the brutal odyssey of a struggling fighter, shot through with flashes of rage and violence. Jake's condition is all too human, his personality illustrated through various conversations and fight sequences. It is an angry and impatient portrayal, Jake simply wants to win, and to do so with his two fists and burning heart. Outside the ring, Jake is restless, impatient and defiant against the rigged establishment that keeps him from getting his title shot. Respect is paramount in Jake's world, any perceived sleight against him is returned with fiery anger. These issues of respect and retribution are instinctive to male viewers, every man can identify with another's struggle for respect and identity, as well as adolescent testosterone flare-ups and territorial immaturity in relationships. All of these essentially male experiences are magnified by Jake's boiling anger, which he unleashes in the ring with nothing short of ferocity.

This film avoids clear-cut resolutions. Jake's struggles continue long after his exit from the ring, through physical decline as well as divorce, his peace and happiness remains elusive as he plummets to a variety of lows throughout his retirement. The Mascagni score is passionate and this music provides a steady comfort throughout the peaks of Jake's life, creating an emotional and bittersweet counter-balance to his sad decline.

Joe Pesci's portrayal of Jake's brother Joey is also memorable. Joey's own bursts of anger echo those of his brother and Pesci's brilliant performance is a preview of his character Tommy in Scorsese's "Goodfellas".

Cathy Moriarty also shines as Jake's girlfriend (and later wife), Vickie. Scenes between Moriarty and DeNiro reveal genuine, and crucial chemistry between the two.

Above all, "Raging Bull" is a biopic brought to life by Scorsese's genius as a filmmaker. Alongside film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, Scorsese's cuts are imaginative and clever, action in the ring is captured up close and personal and shots are beautifully interchanged to create the right mood for each sequence. As mentioned before, the theme music for this picture is the Intermezzo by Mascagni, a gorgeous Italian piece which accents the bittersweet nostalgia of Jake's career and personal peaks, as well as underlining the sadness of his low points.

"Raging Bull" continues to endure as a classic film as well as a milestone in movie-making. This picture is all heart.

Good movie ... unfortunately one of the many good movies brought to screen by hollywood but ruined with a script brimming with obscenities & filthy language. Makes you sick - very annoying why a good story cannot be told in a manner that will allow you to enjoy it with kids & the entire family. Now that requires a rare talent that big name hollywood directors are yet to master. I may be wrong but to the best of my knowledge such obscenties & language would not be permitted in most american homes. But maybe it is for film folks from Hollywood where broken marriages and dysfunctional familes are the norm.

Good Movie but I cannot allow such filth into my home ...

Deniro is one of the best actors of all time. Most all of Scorcese's films are jewels. But...
I couldn't get through this film in one sitting. An overdose. The script seemed ad-libed and overfull. It was boring. It was depressing from start to finish with no sense of salvation for any of the characters, nor did they deserve it.
I bought the special edition and absolutely enjoyed the special features, though it won't drive me back to watch the film again.
"Mean Streets" and "Taxi Driver" did the same thing to me,,so perhaps I'm peculiar.

One of my favorite movies. great acting, great directing, and great story. The true story of La Motta who is played by Robert De Niro who is possibly the best actor of his generation. Co-starring Joe Pesci as De Niro's brother; he has a great performance. Great film. Highly recommended!!!!

You have a great screenplay, great direction, and some outstanding actors. All together, it makes one of the greatest films of the 80's and a top ten of all time for me. The story of Jake LaMotta is fantastic because Jake is such an interesting character. Brutal and sad at times, you never know whether you should hate Jake or feel sorry for him. This is Deniro's finest performance. The actual boxing scenes aren't always as realistic as I would like, but that is the only minor quibble I have.

I went into this film expecting a lot, since it was voted the best movie of the 80s, not to mention that it had Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. But I can't say that was all that impressed with this film. First off, I couldn't find myself rooting for De Niro's character in the film. Maybe that was the point that the Scorsese was looking for, but I found myself not really caring for the Jake La Motta character. The character almost seemed like a schizophrenic at times, becoming angry, paranoid, and abusive for no apparent good reason. If this was the way the real Jake La Motta was, then I think he should've been in an insane aslyum. Also, I must say, that I think that Pesci has the better performance out of the two, in the film. But props to De Niro for gaining all that weight to play an out-of shape, aging boxer towards the end of the film. I seriously was shocked with De Niro's appearance. I also give credit to the filmmaking by Scorsesse. The choice to film in black and white was a good one. Their are some excellent shots during the boxing sequences, the one that stands out in my mind the most is the blood dripping off the rope of the ring. But to say that this movie is one of the best movies ever made is a huge overstatement. Really, its good, but not THAT great. I don't really understand what separates the "classic" films from just the "average" films. How do some many people connect to a film that I feel was maybe a bit better than average? Maybe you have to have an aquired taste to really appreciate movies like this one, maybe I need to watch it a few more time, or maybe I was just overexpecting too much, whatever the reason, at this time, I just don't see why this movie is so greatly praised.

Voted best film of the 1980s', Martin Scorsese's 1980 boxing tour de force "Raging Bull" is indeed one of the best movies ever made. Covering the life of famed boxer Jake La Motta (portrayed by Robert De Niro, whose physical transformation throughout the movie is as impressive as his performance, which is a contender for his best). Spanning 25 years through Jake's life, we see his rise and fall well documented. We see his struggle to keep his title, to stay fit, to maintain a solid family life as well as his relationship to his brother Joey (Joe Pesci). This is what true filmmamking is all about.

The two disc special edition dvd is excellent, and I recommend this movie to all major film buffs, as it is a must have.

I made it 20-something years without seeing this film, and I finally caved and bought it on the cheap. It's good enough to spend $10 on, but I can't see anybody watching it more than 2 or 3 times, tops.

The film follows the life and career of an Italian boxer in the 40's and 50's. It is filmed in black and white, and the visual style is solid. The boxing scenes (and one of my biggest disappointments is that there aren't enough of them) are very exciting. Although I have no idea if this played a part in Scorcese's decision to film in b&w, I suspect that if it were in color the boxing would have been too gruesome for most viewers. LaMotta is basically squirting fluid all over the place in his last fight against Sugar Ray.

In addition to covering LaMotta's career, the film follows his relationship with his brother, Joey, and his wife. His levels of jealousy regarding his wife border on the inconceivably insane, and consequently that entire dimension of the film is unbelievable. Quite frankly, LaMotta would have to be mentally disabled to act that stupid.

The film also suffers from a slow start. We eventually do care about LaMotta, but it takes awhile.

But ultimately, why do we really care? We never see a single scene that shows us why he loves his wife, nor one that shows why his wife loves him. They date, they fool around, they marry (in a montage), they fight, and then after all the bad times are apparently behind them she does something she should have done years ago. Their relationship makes absolutely no sense.

In the end, we see LaMotta (in a scene most younger viewers will think was lifted from the end of "Boogie Nights") quoting verbatim a lengthy monologue from a much better movie, "On the Waterfront". That's a good point, I must admit... why didn't I spend the last 2 hours watching "On the Waterfront" instead?

This movie is mad crazy! De Niro's best movie produced.

Raging Bull is #24 in the 100 Best American movies ever, and it is among the 1000 Best Movies on DVD by Peter Travers. Later on was named the best movie of the decade (80's), which I think is true. I rate this movie 5 stars or 9.5/10. It was nominated for eight 1980 Oscars, but won only two: De Niro for Best Actor, and Thelma Schoonmaker for her editing (the Academy seems to have a problem with Scorsese). Schoonmaker appears on one of the audio commentaries of the movie, along with Martin Scorsese, producer, the real LaMotta and others. This DVD is exactly what we collectors like about special edition DVDs. The package is beautifully done (Yes! The package matters a lot), containing a small booklet with some short essays and pictures of the movie. Then, this special edition comes with a second DVD full of special features, such as 4 behind-the-scenes featurettes, a making of documentary, trailers, and some other very interesting stuff.
This movie is a masterpiece. The acting is perfect, and I don't only mean De Niro, who got the Oscar for this role and is in my opinion one of the best actors ever, but Joe Pesci, who is as always sensational, and Cathy Moriarty in the role of Vickie. The shooting in black and white is a very wise decision, the photography by Michael Chapman, the music (Cavalleria Rusticana fits perfectly), the editing that got an Oscar is also a great job well done, the story, the screenplay, and even the fight scenes are just absolutely amazing (and I just hate violence ...). As The New York Times put it "Though it's a movie full of anger and nonstop physical violence, the effect or Raging Bull is lyrical".
I recommend this movie to absolutely everybody. You will like it for sure. If you can, get this special edition (though while I am writing this review, it looks it is not available anymore at amazon).
P.S. If you like my review vote YES. You can read all my other reviews if you wish to. I modestly write them to help people form an opinion about movies, music and books, but if nobody reads them (if you don't vote I do not know if you did) there is no point in writing them :-)

Raging Bull is possibly the finest boxing film that you can see, and have to see. The feature was released in 1980 and was directed by Martin Scorsese, with Paul Schrader(also wrote Taxi Driver) and Mardik Martin with the writing credits. The film won two oscars, one for Robert De Niro and one for Thelma Schoonmaker for best editing. Both were rightly deserved wins, but one of the most outrageous decisions from the acadamy was the best director award, Scorsese was robbed once again, but I'll speak about that later. This is considered Martin Scorsese's best feature, and possibly his most popular and most acclaimed film to date. This film is shot in a beautiful black & white picture and also has colour footage in only one segmant of the film.

Raging Bull is a film that depicts the rise and fall of Jake LaMotta's boxing career, which spanned from the 1940's to the 1960's, the film doesn't just follow his boxing life, but it also follows his life after boxing, when he retired. The film starts off with Jake(De Niro) in the 60's as an overweight man reciting some words for an upcoming show he is preparing for(you find out what the "show" is in the movie), emediatly after his last words and a puff of his cigar, we are thrown into the 40's with a gritty boxing match. He's taking a beating, but turns around to knock out the other fighter. He leaves his opponent dazed and confused, but still loses the fight. His brother Joey(Joe Pesci) who is also his boxing managertells him to stay in the ring, all the spectators and Joey think that Jake was the victor and that he won the fight fair and square. Eventually a riot breaks out at the fight and we are hurled into a chaotic moment in the film. Afterwards we see Jake's marriage and living problems at home, him and his wife spark an argument which leads into a fight. Later on he meets a young girl named Vickie(Cathy Moriarty), who he dates and eventually marries during the film, the rest of the film follows his troublesome life with boxing, weight, his brother, and his family. The film is a telling of his rise and fall of the boxing world and his personal life. Remember, this is all based on true events, and is all from a book based on Jake LaMotta's boxing career.

The cast and crew's efforts to make brilliance are accomplished with a brilliant performance by De Niro, where he put on weight, trained with Jake LaMotta and could've actually been a professional boxer, he was wonderful as LaMotta and definately deserved the oscar for best actor. Joe Pesci's excellent performance as Jake's supportive brother Joey is not a weak performance at all, their chemistry on screen is wonderful to watch, and you get a clear idea of how they got along and how they fought in their personal lives involving boxing, family, friends, and Vickie, Joe Pesci was nominated for best supporting actor as Joey. Cathy Moriarty is Vickie, Jake's young girlfriend and, later on, wife. She is also a stunning example of fine acting when under pressure with great actors and a great director on board. She is another actress that's showed great chemistry on screen with her fellow actors and their characters, she is actually the perfect Vickie, a brilliant casting choice, she was nominated for best supporting actress as Vickie. The script is a great piece of writing and storytelling, with character writing and story plot that creates tension, love, loyalty, betrayel, and distrust between the characters. The cinematography is an eye opener here, and keeps you focused and inlove with the film, plot, and it's characters, with brilliant camera work in the boxing scenes(only used one camera in each fight scene), and an excellent switch from black & white to colour during the home video footage of them. Thelma Schoonmaker's editing is some of the finest editing ever, with complex fight scenes put together, and just carefuly put together with a love for the film. Scorsese's direction is indeed noteworthy, he managed to guide inexperienced actors like Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty through a tough task of a very technical and important film. His imagination for the perfect fight scenes, visuals, and performances caused stressful problems, especially the boxing sequences with one camera, but paid off with his most perfectly made film that will be remembered in cinema history for generations to come. It is radiculous that he did not win the oscar for best direction, instead it went to Robert Redford for Ordinary People, Scorsese's brilliance and tireless effort isn't rewarded once again. But for someone this good, you don't need awards to prove that he's brilliant. The music is classical music that gives the film another beautiful edge to it, finishing off the film's perfection.

The cast and crew's blood, sweat and tears are rewarded with a film that pleases audiences with rivetting performances, stunning visuals, brilliant direction, and absolutely breathtaking cinematography. The use of drama and exilarating boxing scenes blend well with dialogue, story, and beautiful music. A beautiful film in every aspect, and will bring you back time and time again to crave your lust for more black & white films you don't get too often, and makes you wonder why Scorsese hasn't won an oscar yet. This is a film anyone can enjoy, and will find a place in your heart. This is an inspiring film that you should definately watch and add to your DVD collection. The opening sequence alone is another reason to purchase this. A Must-see.

This "Ultimate Edition"(special edition) is definately worth buying, It has all the facts the film enthusiast needs to know, and every other person that is interested to learn about the film's grueling process. It has a highly detailed, but greatly awarded commentry by all the people who were involved in the film(including Scorsese and Jake LaMotta), it has a feature called "Before the Fight", which is another rewarding doc about the casting, writing and preproduction of the film, with how they started the idea to adapt LaMotta's biography. "Inside the Ring" contains the highly detailed look at how the actors trained and prepared for each carefully planned boxing fight, as well as the extremely tough shooting of each fight that was carefully planned and expertly finnished. "Outside the Ring" is simply a behind the scenes look at the film, and all the interesting stories and facts that happened on the sets and production period. "After the Fight" is a look at the impact that the film made on audiences, and a look at how the sound and music were carefully planned together. "The Bronx Bull" is the making of documentary, bassicly everything before that is summed up into a 30 minute doc.
"De Niro vs. LaMotta" is shot by shot comparison with De Niro and the real LaMotta in the ring, this bassicly follows the accuracy of the film. There's also newsreel footage of Jake LaMotta and the original theatrical trailer. This is the definitive edition of Raging Bull, and is a brilliant set with an excellent film and brilliant extra features. The film: 4.5/5 The extras: 5/5

Raging Bull" has been called the greatest film of the 80s. After seeing this film last night I would say it is one of the most powerful films of all time. De Niro, was also at the top of his game here, as Jake LaMotta, the infamous boxer known for his abusive life style and somewhat paranoid delusions during his reign as world middleweight boxing champion, 1949 - 1951. Throughout the film, he beats his wife (played expertly and convincingly by the 19-year-old Cathy Moriarty), convinced that she is cheating on him, and that is more or less what the film is truly about. The boxing is just what he does for a living, and could be considered as a way to release some of his deeper, harbored anger.

The film is most often compared to "Rocky," more than any other, apparently because they both concern a certain level of boxing. As much as I absolutely adore "Rocky," "Raging Bull" is a deeper, more realistic film. But whereas "Raging Bull" is raw, "Rocky" is inspiring. The only connecting thread is the apparently central theme of boxing, which is used as a theme in "Rocky," and a backdrop in "Raging Bull." They're entirely different motion pictures -- one uplifting, the other somewhat depressing -- and the people who try to decide which is better need to seriously re-evaluate their reasons for doing so. They both succeed splendidly well at what they are trying to do, and that's all I have to say about their so-called connection.

The boxing scenes easily rank with the most brutal and violent moments ever put on film, shot in stark, unadorned black and white and utilizing unlikely sounds including shattering windows and animal cries to great effect. Thelma Schoonmaker's jarring, discordant editing in these scenes also deserves special mention. The scenes of domestic violence are not for the faint of heart, but there is really no other way to tell this story.

This is certainly one of the most intense films Scorsese has directed, and one of the most important of his career. Along with "Taxi Driver," it is an iconic motion picture that will stand the test of time for years and years to come.

this was a fine film back in 1980 in its original form.Like many fine dramas of that era it has since fallen victim to politically correct censorship, which is done to gut the films of realism and power.La mottas racial attitudes and taunting have been removed, along with racial street talkof other Italian American characters of the time and place that render the film far less autentic than the original cut. This kind of thing has been done to many films of the past. It appeared tobegin Post Reagan and is now worse than ever.can't recommend censored art work-we already saw the original cuts.

I am sick and tired of some peoples critical knit-picking! This movie is an all time classic and De Niro is at his best!! This movie shows the lifestyle of Jake Lamotta and the warrior he was in the boxing ring! I don't really care how Jake Lamotta got his problems or how he was as a kid, whether he was good in school or bad in school like some critics would like to know! I am not a phychologist nor do I want to be! Lamotta was a true tough guy in the ring that beat Sugar Ray Robinson as some say is the greatest ever! "YOU DID'NT KNOCK ME DOWN RAY....YOU DIDN'T KNOCK ME DOWN!!"

The best thing about this tiresome mess is the stunning cinematography and Scorsese's knowledge of New York personalities. But the film utterly fails to capture the magnetism of boxing in its heyday, or provide a fascinating insight into a driven contender from the streets.

From the all-too-obvious movie references to the overweening sentimentality, Scorsese tries to make an Elia Kazan-esque masterpiece and fails miserably. DeNiro's performance as LaMotta is a lot of what we would see from him in later years --monomaniacal mumbling, zero charisma; an almost self-congratulatory exercise in the excesses of dramaturgy.

Who was Jake La Motta? Why was he this way? What was his background? What did he hope to achieve? On the Criterion Laserdisc of this film, La Motta himself in three minutes gives more insight into these things than Scorsese and Schrader's drama does in over two hours. To me, that's BAD filmaking.

I have heard from film snobs that much of Raging Bull's fascination lies in the significance it holds in the oevre of Scorsese. He had just failed miserably with New York, New York and this was almost a religious purging of his soul. I suppose if you want to read into it, be my guest. I consider that self-absorption. I have also heard the patronizing "it's funny" angle regarding LaMotta. I do not think this was Scorsese's intention and I do not find the serious issue of spousal abuse very amusing.

Interestingly, Raging Bull is very similar to a film Scorsese made shortly thereafter, "The King of Comedy". I am a bigger fan of the later film, but it similarly masks a depressingly pathetic idiot under the near-impenetrable cloak of "satire". Neither one of these films is very honest with its characterizations or its ironic conclusions; if anything they are total indulgences born of a hubris wholly unique to little "Marty".

After making the classic and thoroughly joyous rock-jam film The Last Waltz with marvelous `guest' performances from Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Neil Young backing up The Band & good friend Robbie Robertson, Martin Scorsese took a two-year break from moviemaking, during which he was wed and divorced to actress Isabella Rossellini. Their falling out left him in a state of deep depression, from which 1980's Raging Bull emerged. Like Travis Bickle's gruesome homicidal explosion at the end of Scorsese's modern-urban-Dostoyevskian masterpiece Taxi Driver (1976), making Raging Bull was Scorsese's personal catharsis, which he apparently used to empty every negative and self-destructive aspect of himself onto celluloid.

Shot in stark, merciless black-and-white to reproduce the urban grittiness of Little Italy circa 1940, Scorsese's film pays tribute to champion boxer Jake La Motta's primitiveness. Much like British director Mike Leigh's movie Naked (1993), Scorsese presents a reprehensible, brutal main character sympathetically, as if his paranoid, cruel and violent behavior is utterly beyond his control - as if it's the corrupt society in which the character lives which deserves the blame for this abhorrent behavior, but certainly not the character (or the simple-minded storytellers). It's the old `absolute product of the environment' dramatic scheme which argues against the existence of characters' having any access whatsoever to personal choice; Jake La Motta is Scorsese's embodiment of the human being as total animal, nothing more, who behaves solely as `nature' dictates.

Stylistically, Scorsese's self-described "kamikaze" style of filmmaking, of throwing himself at the material, here bears both the exhilarating highs and wretched lows of free-writing. The boxing sequences are the greatest ever put on film: Scorsese's camera pinwheels, pirouettes, dollies in and counter-dollies, and he has Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker provide ample freeze frames, slowdowns and speed-ups of the footage; all to create a searingly Expressionist depiction of La Motta's destroy-or-be-destroyed P.O.V. in the ring. (Frank Warner's sound design in particular helps to lend the sequences an added bit of surrealism: for example, when La Motta bears down on Sugar Ray Robinson, the shrieks of a condor closing in on its prey can be heard in the background.)

Yet in the dramatic sections, the film is bland, stale, stagnant. Scenes drag on endlessly, like dialogues in a later Kubrick film; only Scorsese uses improvisation, and gets repetition and anticlimax. (That anticlimax is all too literal when De Niro pours a pitcher of ice water (!) down his boxer shorts right after fooling around with girlfriend Vicki (the stellar Cathy Moriarty) - La Motta's got a fight coming up, and he wants the additional tension of sexual frustration to use as fuel in the ring.) Self-pity suffuses Raging Bull, and is actually its unstated (and very likely unconscious) central theme. Scorsese's and star Robert De Niro's concept of Jake's character is a strictly one-note affair: Robert De Niro's monotonous, quasi-autistic performance as La Motta says over and over again, "I'm dumb, I don't know any better, therefore I deserve your sorrow." This `new' form of non-acting was awarded with the Best Actor Oscar of 1980 (an honor that De Niro deserved infinitely more for his extraordinary performance as the haunted Travis Bickle five years earlier, which still stands next to Brando in Last Tango in Paris, Orson Welles in Citizen Kane, Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot, etc., as perhaps one of the twenty greatest performances in movie history).

While Joe Pesci as Jake's brother Joey is individually funny, charismatic and winning, his scenes with De Niro go nowhere; he says something, then De Niro asks him to repeat what he just said. Also, the movie's ending is beyond ponderous: after Vicky, then his wife, finally comes to her senses and ditches him (looooong after we've started rooting for her to do so), La Motta winds up in a lousy nightclub, telling lousy jokes. (It wasn't enough for us to see his lousy behavior, so we've got to be witness to his lousy sense of humor too?) Whether or not these scenes are genuinely biographical is irrelevant; they aren't dramatic, because there's no conflict, no sense of going anywhere...which very unfortunately might be Scorsese's ultimate, self-indulgently depressive point. We have here a movie where mundanity itself is the subject, a movie which prefers to childishly implore for the audience's sympathies in regards to its self-defeatism, rather than intelligently deal with its issues. Jake doesn't want inner health, he hasn't the vaguest notion of what that means - he wants power and control, and when he doesn't have it he cries like a baby and pounds his head against a wall. Scorsese's lingering on him screaming "I'm not an animal!" again and again isn't visually psychologically fascinating, it's the definition of cinematically banal (and maybe the most overwrought temper tantrum in movie history). It's the visual equivalent of Scorsese the movie-director-who-also-wanted-to-be-a-priest grisly administering himself lashings as penance, with us the audience as his spectators. (If you happen to be a secular movie viewer, as I am, the sight of all this gratuitous, almost medieval self-flagellation and punishment can be an especially head-scratching and unpleasant experience.)

Raging Bull has been acclaimed one of the twenty greatest movies in history by most of the major critics' and directors' polls (Sight and Sound, etc.), and it's proven to have been deeply influential to future generations of moviemakers. Whether or not that influence has produced movies of quality is open to debate; personally, I think Raging Bull's unique and very unfortunate aesthetic combination of chaotic-urban-emptiness-as-divine-holiness has inspired as many terrible and amateurish takes on this theme (think the majority of Abel Ferrara's movie career) as Tarantino's profoundly more entertaining Pulp Fiction later did for the ironically-wisecracking-hitman genre. Some moviegoers may indeed pray at screenings of Raging Bull, but I think they're bowing their heads to a false idol. To me, Raging Bull is nowhere near as thematically imaginative or psychologically complex - or directorially and cinematically ingenious - as Scorsese's Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, The Last Temptation of Christ, GoodFellas, The Aviator, or his brilliant short `Life Lessons' from the New York Stories movie anthology. It's these works, plus his masterful documentaries The Last Waltz, My Personal Journey Through American Movies, My Voyage To Italy and the recent No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, that stand as the very finest examples of Scorsese's most vital, creative, passionate and rewarding work in the movies.

What makes a movie great? What are you looking for in a movie? The answers to those questions will determine your reaction to this movie.

There's a lot of realism here, though not in the boxing scenes. I haven't yet seen a realistic boxing scene in a movie. I've watched maybe hundreds of boxing matches, but I've never seen boxing done accurately in a movie, and it is nowhere near accurate here. It is laughable here, as usual. Overly dramatic, the punches way too noisy, the reactions of the fighters way too stupid and unrealistic, like LaMotta standing along the ropes with one hand on the ropes, neither hand even trying to protect his head, while Robinson pummels him. Yeah, right, whatever. No effing way. And that moment with Robinson raising one fist slowly. Spare me. That was just stupid, boxing for non-fans in a dream world. Maybe you think this bit of unrealism is artistic, but if you are a boxing fan you see it for what it is, overdramatic nonsense that doesn't look anywhere near real.

If you enjoy that scene because it shows how the hero ignored his own safety and opened himself up to pain, and you like identifying with that macho behavior, well go have a beer and picture yourself as this character. To me, it's just baloney. It's like that silly Rocky nonsense, completely unreal, a macho fantasy, a little kid thing.

But the rest of this movie, pseudo-boxing scenes aside, is too real. It is about a guy who makes a mess of his life. There's a lot of agita in this movie as the lead character behaves like a jealous and paranoid violent dictatorial jerk. That's not easy to watch and it's not enjoyable to watch either.

There was a Bogart film noir film like this one. Bogart played a jealous and violent guy who messes everything up. I didn't like that movie either. It was like cod liver oil. You watch it, you realize that the main character has a lot wrong with him that is painful to watch, you applaud it for being realistic because some people are that way, and when the movie is over you are glad it's over and you don't have to go through it anymore.

It's hard, as a reviewer, to realize that other people have other things they are looking for in a movie. Look at this site. So many people are calling Raging Bull one of the greatest movies ever made. I don't get it. Why? What are they looking for in a movie? To me, this was just a lot of agita with no payoff. This didn't deliver what I'm looking for in a movie. It just basically annoyed me from start to finish.

I didn't get the female character at all. I don't know what her game was. It wasn't fleshed out. She was a cardboard wife, pretty much. I didn't see a real person there. I think one weakness of Scorsese as a director is that he doesn't understand women on screen. They don't really matter either. They are just props. This isn't about them. They are just there to be the lover, the cheater, fill one role or other in the lives of the men.

So it seems to me that all the rave reviews on this site are kidding themselves. This movie really isn't Great with a capital G. No, it isn't. And since I didn't enjoy following this crazy man's messed up life, since I was happy when they started showing the credits and I could be free of this annoying and messed up man's problems, I can't even give it three stars.

Actor Robert DeNiro and director Martin Scorcese portray heavyweight champion Jake LaMotta as a man consumed by his fear of women, the vulnerability they can instill in him, and the ferocity of his resulting rage. He uses the boxing ring as an arena for expressing that rage and, occasionally, atoning for his sins. This extraordinary film shows us how an inarticulate brute makes a shambles of his life but reaches a degree of self-awareness that redeems him. The final sequences, in which we see him making his living by reciting from literature before small audiences, have a kind of squalid sadness to them but also a quiet dignity. A man who once lived by his fists and animal instincts alone now makes his living with his mind, and we can sense that he has learned the value of patience and forgiveness.

This film is one of American Cinema's finest works. This tragedy that is Jake LaMotta's life is brilliantly brought to life by Robert De Niro. Martin Scorcese's film of a lifetime, and arguably the best film ever made. Excellent performances by Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarity. The story is heartrending and heartwrenching at the same time. Highly recommended, and highly regarded by virtually every motion picture critic, in spite of the Academy's unjustified snub, only awarding two Oscars. This is an epic film that will...."for years, it'll remain in my thoughts." In conclusion, the screenplay is authentic in the best sense of the word, and in my opinion, Robert De Niro delivers the best performance, by an actor in a leading role, in the history of American Film.

How this movie lost to "Ordinary People" at the Oscars is beyond me. Comparatively speaking, "Ordinary People" sucked. And Bobby Deniro should have won the award for "Best Actor"...not to mention most of the supporting cast winning awards also.

Nonetheless, being heralded as the best movie of the 80's is a well-deserved accolade. Movie aficianodos who don't have this film in their library....need to find a new hobby.

Generally, I am not a huge fan of special edition - extra DVD editions. However, Raging Bull's special edition is an exception. In this age where movie scripts seem jerry-rigged over night and movies tend to rely so heavily on celebrity recognition and special effects, the inside perspectives of those who made "Raging Bull" is so refreshing. Commentaries by Martin Scorsese (director), Frank Warner (supervising sound effects editor), and Thelma Schoonmaker (editor) are especially revealing as to the attention to detail and meticulous care that went into "Raging Bull." After hearing their interviews, you can truly feel that these artists went through emotional and professional growth over the production of this film. Schoonmaker literally cries while describing the emotional effects the movie had on her. Warner ceremoniously burns the tapes of his sound effects after the movie, because he feels they belong to the movie and should never be used again.

With respect to the actors, Cathy Moriarty and Joe Pesci provided the most interesting angles. Pesci, a childhood actor, had given up on acting and was working in a restaurant when approached by DeNiro and Scorsese to do the film. Obviously, his career was rejuvenated after his role as Jake's brother. Also, Raging Bull took Moriarty from being just a neighborhood girl to an Oscar-nominated celebrity for her role as Vickie LaMatta. Previously, she had had some undefined aspirations to be an actress, but had no professional experience; only high school and dinner theater. DeNiro does provide interviews, but his comments are the least inspired, despite the entire project being made primarily at his persuasion.

As for the movie itself, it is a masterpiece. Made in the enthusiasm for boxing movies in the wake of 1977's "Rocky," Raging Bull puts the sport into a much less glamorous light. Unlike Rocky Balboa, who had a soft loveable side outside the ring, Jake LaMatta was a tyrannical, paranoid, hostile tragic hero outside the ring as well as inside. On a self-destructive path, he destroys everything that is important to him. Although Rocky depicted some of boxing's gruesome side ("cut me Nick"), Scorsese clearly showcases boxing at its ferocious and savage worst. Blood spurts, noses get crushed. Between rounds, Jake is sponged off with bloody water. Frank Warner uses animal sounds during punches to accentuate the bestial nature of the sport.

Great movie. Nobody can swear as well as DeNiro, and he lets them fly throughout. Gory, graphic and tragic, but somehow lyrical, emotional and deeply provoking, Raging Bull is an all time masterpiece. Despite what is in the theatres nowadays, this movie reminds you that movies can still be artistic and made with loving care. Not to be just another notch on each participants "filmography," the special edition reveals how much this movie changed the lives of the people involved. In today's movie industry, it is hard to foresee another movie like this being made. If you feel jaded about contemporary movies, then "Raging Bull" will rejuvenate your interest in movies as an art form again.

This movie was voted best movie of the decade for a reason. De Niro is perfect. The supporting cast is perfect. The fight scenes are perfect. I didn't cringe during Goodfellas, but some of the fight scenes here are just brutal.

The picture on the DVD is perfect, as nothing is lost in the black and white. The only issue with the DVD is the fact that the sound drops alot between fights. De Niro sounds like he's mumbling occasionaly, but that can be fixed by turning up the sound on your TV a little bit louder than normal.

Some great scenes where Jake really goes ballistic. I like the scene where he shows up at his brother's house with the sole purpose of beating the living daylights out of Joe Pesci who definitely is deserving of a whooping for fooling around with Jake's wife. Cathy Moriarty as the petulant wife does a good job working Jake into a lather.

This is the best movie I have ever seen. Its really compelling to see the way the characters interact with one another and all the things they go through. The black and white is a good format. It also has the funniest scene in history when Joe Peci smashes that dudes head in the car door. Its really a great movie.

I really want to give this 2 stars, but because the acting and cinematography is superb, I'm giving it 3.

The big problem with this movie is that there is absolutley no character development whatsoever. The viewer is denied any chance to understand any of the characters. It is as if the writers have completely dehumanized the cast of characters and are portraying them more as animals. Man is not an animal. Man has feelings, thoughts, emotions, memories, a conscience. To portray a person as an animal is down right insulting. By the end of the movie, I was led to believe that the Jake LaMotta character was mentally insane which is not an accurate depiction by any means. The writers should have stuck with Jake LaMotta's story. It was his story, afer all, even if they didn't seem to like it. Maybe it's a good thing the actors and Scorsese didn't stick completely to the script.

An alright movie with lots of boxing shots (too gruesome for me , however) and local color, that will however not allow you to connect with the characters.

Another Scorsese/De Niro/Pesci film, this time a Black & White piece about boxer Jake La Motta. Robert De Niro plays La Motta, a paranoid, jealous man with a violent temper. Pesci plays his brother, Joey La Motta, a good guy that's trying to set Jake straight. Newcomer Cathy Moriarty plays Vickie, Jake's love interest for the film.

I'll just get this out of the way right now: Raging Bull is the best boxing movie ever. The direction is suberb, as they put amazing detail into the fights. Each match was mimicked, punch for punch, from the real bouts that took place in the 40's. The B&W only adds to the gritty feeling, and makes you feel like you're really watching an old boxing match. The cinematography and editing are top-notch.

But the thing that really shines in Raging Bull is the acting, especially De Niro, in what could quite possibly be the best performance of his career. The scene at the end with La Motta in jail is one of the best acted scenes in movie history. It's so simple, yet the raw emotion and regret from Jake makes it so incredibly powerful. Showing extreme dedication to his work, De Niro actually gained 60 lbs. for his scenes as the older La Motta (he could've used a fat suit, but he wanted to go all out and make it as real as possible). There's just not enough good things I could say about De Niro here. The best actor ever, in his prime, and giving one of his best performances ever. That's all you need to hear. Pesci is his usual brilliant self here, and Frank Vincent is quite good as well. The only drawback here is Cathy Moriarty, who shouldn't have received a role this large (especially considering she had never been in a movie before). A lot of her early scenes are kind of boring, and she comes off as un-charismatic and slightly wooden. However, she does get a little better as the film progresses.

Raging Bull was voted as the best movie of the 80's for a reason. While the plot may be simple and straight-forward, this is brilliant filmmaking at it's best.