Jake Lamotta has had a hard life, mostly of his own making.

Rating: Null/10 (22 October 2014)

Even though this movie came out over 30 years ago I only got around to seeing it currently, the recently released Blu-Ray copy from my public library. And as we would expect the picture and sound are perfect. De Niro won the Oscar for Best Actor and it is easy to understand why.
How this movie came about is just as interesting as the movie itself. De Niro is a boxing fan and after reading Lamotta's book figured it would make a good movie. Scorsese was NOT a boxing fan and resisted. But Scorsese was also having personal issues, with drugs, and Di Niro's visit to him in the hospital in 1978, urging him to get himself clean, and also to make the movie. Scorsese did and credits Di Niro with saving his life.
Also, in preparation for the role Di Niro trained as a boxer and actually won 2 of the 3 boxing matches he participated in. And for the later life of Lamotta gained a reported 60 pounds.
Since the movie is based on Lamotta's book, and Scorsese works hard to make accurate movies based on real people, the story we see, of a paranoid and jealous Lamotta, is probably very accurate. But upon seeing the movie and Lamotta asking his former wife if he was really like that, her response was "You were worse."
he got the name "Raging Bull" for his fighting style, just getting low and barging in and beating up opponents. But as we see the story of his life there always was a "rage" inside of him. Because of his paranoia and jealousy he had no good relationships, both his wife and his brother had to leave him to escape his wrath.
Robert De Niro of course is Jake La Motta and the story starts in 1941 when he was a young fighter just about 20. He meets his eventual second wife, Cathy Moriarty who plays Vickie La Motta, when she was just 15 and they married a year later. It was a bit disconcerting because Moriarty looked much older even though she in fact was still a teenager when filming.
And Joe Pesci, still a relative unknown, is remarkably good as the brother and business manager, Joey Lamotta, until Jake's rage drove him to estrangement.
The fight scenes are recreated very believably, and in the late 1950s after his boxing career came to an end Lamotta became an entertainer of sorts, usually a comedian in night spots and bars. His life was hard, and he spend some time in jail, but it was all of his own making.