Scorsese's Finest Hour

Rating: Null/10 (16 March 2004)

Raging Bull is a biographical movie about the life of middleweight boxing champion, Jake La Motta (Robert DeNiro). It covers his rise to fame in the early 1940's as a physically tough fighter who held a rivalry with Sugar Ray Robinson, to the middle 40's where he became a champion, and his later days of being a retired boxer club owner. But the movie is not just about him being a boxer. It shows his downward spiral of life as fame, jealously, and resentment took over. The movie begins with a fight between La Motta and Sugar Ray Robinson. After fighting each other for ten intense rounds, the judges must chose their pick, and they vote Robinson being the winner. Naturally, this ticks La Motta off and he goes off into his own world of oblivion, taking out most of his anger on his wife. Jake's brother and manager is Joey La Motta (Joe Pesci), a foul-mouthed little guy who has mob connections. The mob really likes Jake and bet on him, make money, and of course, try to help him in his rise to fame. The only problem is, Jake hates them. He doesn't respect them. And he even shows a loss of respect for his younger brother who hangs around with them. Jake's life begins to turn around when he meets the beautiful Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), a young girl who hangs out with the whole mob crew. Jake finally gets the courage to meet with her, and they instantly fall in love. The movie skips a few months and Jake and Vickie are married, and Jake's boxing career is starting to unfold in a good way. He fights Sugar Ray Robinson again, but this time he wins. The public is starting to recognize Jake. As his boxing career starts to get better, his personal life is getting worse. He becomes extremely jealous about his wife, and at the same time, angry about the mob who now wants him to take a fall in his next match.
The movie is filmed in a beautiful black and white and the only color scenes are when Jake and his family are on vacation, which I found the color to be totally out of context. The soundtrack is great filled with an Italian score. Robert DeNiro once again proves he is an excellent actor. He even put on some weight for the later part of the movie. This film also showcased the talent of Joe Pesci, who was a struggling actor at the time and was about to retire from the film business. Raging Bull showed his immense talent and now is one of today's most recognized actors. As far as directing goes, I really can't say I've ever been disappointed with Martin Scorsese. Of all of his movies I've seen, I've enjoyed every one. Raging Bull is no exception. It's at some parts sad, exciting, comical, brutal, and most of all: real. The movie doesn't hold anything back, as far as language and violence goes. The hits to the face in the boxing matches look real as can be, as well as the blood, which was chocolate syrup, so it would appear better in black and white.
In conclusion, Raging Bull is one of those pictures that I can't believe I haven't seen already. Some parts were dragged out and boring, but notice I said `some'. The movie isn't a mystery or doesn't keep you guessing. It just flat out tells you how Jake La Motta was and doesn't hold anything back. Considered a classic in modern cinema, this one is defiantly going in my DVD collection as soon as a Special Edition is released.