The Best Movie of 1980, and Even of the 1980-89 Decade

Rating: 10/10 (15 February 2012)

During World War II, when death and destruction are rampart, a different kind of war rages inside the mind of an American boxer. Jake LaMotta, perhaps more comfortable inside the ring than outside, has personal demons to battle. For his nature is one of insecurity and jealousy and self-destructiveness. It is by rage, and by rage alone, that drives the great fighter. Look at his ring rejoinder after his second wife Vickie states that a particular fighter (Tony Janiro) is "good-looking." Wham! There was another, external quandary: the rackets. They controlled who fought whom. And boxing decisions are often problematic. In Raging Bull's first fight scene, we see the undefeated Jake LaMotta crushing Jimmy Reeves in the ring but not getting the decision, apparently because of a fix (1941). In a subsequent fight he would knock out Reeves (1943). Nevertheless Jake LaMotta had to relax his own ring "moral" standards (!) and play ball with the mob as urged by his brother. Only after he throws a fight to Billy Fox in 1947 (TKO in the 4th) and paid some cash, was he given a shot at the Middleweight title. He made the most of it when he defeated Marcel Cerdan (1949). But then again, a new problem arose: Would he have the hunger to maintain the belt? By the way, LaMotta's career did not end with his last loss to Sugar Ray Robinson (1951), as he had ten more fights. When he did retire in 1954, he had lost his title, wives, and money, although he had his jokes (and there would be more wives). It was his stand up comedy routine which later sustained him.
While Raging Bulls' boxing scenes are brutal enough, look at LaMotta's deep-rooted internal turbulence when he deals with members of his own family. The man's conflict continues long after his retirement. For one thing, his words and persona remain pugnacious. To LaMotta, women always seem to be either nuns or whores, and there was little middle ground for an equal marriage partner. Thus there is domestic violence. Then we see LaMotta morph from a tough lean and mean boxer to an overweight joker, still missing a few principles (DeNiro actually gained 60 pounds for the role). What is amazing is that LaMotta is alive and well in his 90th year as of this writing. Maybe he has finally outlived his old demons. One tough dude indeed!
Director Martin Scorsese has brilliantly captured the flavor of living in the teeming tenements of New York. Note how wonderfully he pays attention to detail and sets the 1940s mood. There is the grittiness, the noir, the black and white feel of the period. Inside the apartment we hear the external sounds of crying children and automobile horns. For it is a noisy and crowded and hot city that emanates through open apartment windows that lack modern air-conditioning. In the ring we bear witness not only to the precise choreography (including the sound effects) of the fight scenes – the sweat and blood of it all – but also to the claustrophobic nature of the ring itself.
Besides the lead, the casting is splendid all around. To mention a few, Joe Pesci is Jake's mentor brother, Joey LaMotta, who managed and organized his bouts. Cathy Moriarty is convincing as a sensual Vicki, LaMotta's second wife. Nicholas Colasanto and Frank Vincent are appropriate as mob bosses. Robert DeNiro as Jake La Motta deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Scorsese was robbed of the Academy Award for Best Picture, no question about it. Does anyone really think that Ordinary People was better? Total Film Magazine named Scorsese the second greatest director of all time, ahead of Steven Spielberg and behind the master, Alfred Hitchcock. But it took years for Scorsese to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (2006). See Raging Bull, which is now number 4 (!) on AFI's Top 100 all-time movie listing (2007). Where does Ordinary People rank?