"The man's got a head of rock".

Rating: 9/10 (16 April 2011)

You can take Tommy Como's (Nicholas Colasanto) description (above) of Jake La Motta a couple of different ways. La Motta could take a punch like no one else, evidenced by the kitchen scene when he had brother Joey (Joe Pesci) bang away at him trying to prove a point. On another level, La Motta was savaged by his inner demons, making him a tortured, animalistic man who inveighed his wife (Cathy Moriarty) with repeated abuse. Something as picayune as choosing between a cheeseburger and a piece of cake was enough to set him off the deep end. It's Robert De Niro's depiction of La Motta's life outside the squared circle that makes "Raging Bull" such a triumph of film making. Not so much a boxing picture as one with boxing in it, the movie explores the depths of one man's depravity and deep seated insecurity that makes him an animal both inside and outside the ring.
Without the boxing however, the film would be an incomplete biography. Tracing La Motta's history from his 1941 loss to Jimmy Reeves on a nine count save at the bell, up to the loss of his Middleweight Title to Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951, the film explores the Raging Bull's turbulent history as an athlete as well. The picture gives a hint of the criminal element involved in fixing matches, and recounts the infamous 1947 Garden match he tanked against Billy Fox. Though they're never mentioned by name, this favor to the Mafia along with a payoff of twenty thousand dollars eventually got La Motta a middleweight title shot against Marcel Cerdan which he won.
Aside from his visceral portrayal of La Motta, Robert De Niro fully went the extra mile gaining sixty pounds to play La Motta in retirement. It just amazes me that an actor would put that much into his craft to achieve that kind of realism, which is just one more reason De Niro is considered one of the best of all time. Interestingly, check it out and see if you agree, in the scene of La Motta having his breakdown in the Dade County stockade he bore an uncanny resemblance to actor William Bendix.
In support, Joe Pesci gives one of the truly amazing performances of his career as well. You know, I don't particularly care for gutter language in film, but when done by Pesci, the colorful use of the F word almost rises to the level of high art. Along with Cathy Moriarty's depiction of wife Vickie, "Raging Bull" offers a compelling portrait of a man racked by personal insecurity and inner torment, who's brutal nature could only find release in a sport as physically demanding as boxing.