Boxing B picture gets a big budget makeover.

Rating: 8/10 (18 April 2003)

Bio pic of controversial and troubled boxer Jake La Motta.
Hard to say quite why a La Motta bio-pic should be the "pet" project of Martin Scorsese (director) and Robert De Niro (lead), but clearly it was, so a great deal of time and effort was spent over a character the world had not only forgotten about, but only the most ardent sports fans knew about in the first place!
While La Motta was clearly a world class boxer (even middleweight World Champion for a short while), he was hardly one of the all-time greats and had a fighting style that involved more bravery than skill. His habit of walking through a jab was almost a lesson in how "not" to box!
Out of the ring his habit of articulating emotion with his fists, rather than his mouth, was well known, but here he is turned in to a fully formed psychopath to accommodate De Niro's acting abilities.
Certainly the young La Motta was a wild criminal and occasional mugger (something that the film makes no reference to - despite being mentioned in his autobiography, the inspiration for this film), but it is hard to believe what we see on film.
The film was conceived and written for De Niro to go clean over-the-top and for people that don't know any better to mistake it for great acting.
(In this he was successful - as he won the Best Actor Oscar.)
De Niro got himself fit and then got himself fat for this film, but so what? Anyone can box for short takes on film, it is boxing for 15 rounds with only 30 second breaks that the public can't do. As regards getting fat for the later scenes - so what again? Has anyone else ever got praise for eating two dinners a day in France?
The strange thing about this picture is how much it is like those old B pictures. Not only are we mostly in B&W (colour for a single home movie), but also spend extended periods in medium shot. The fights are announced in subtitles, and then we are in to the boxing clichés that involve point-of-view, the blood, the slow-motion, the ringside cigars, the flashbulbs. Scorsese seems to think that we don't know that boxing is legalised violence and need it pointing out to us then underlined for good measure.
The strange thing is that La Motta wasn't (and isn't) a dullard or a patsie, but quite a canny guy who later worked as a second rate comedian (shown in the film) and even after dinner speaker, but here he appears a bit slow, tongue tied and withdrawn. To this day (at 80 plus) he is a machine gun of wisecracks and mini-jokes, yet is portrayed here as a sullen introvert. I can't marry the two images.
(Given his involvement in the film and having read the script I cannot see why he would sanction this. Maybe he thought the film was just a piece of passing nonsense and objected - even to the point of talking about legal action - when he realised that this gave him a false image?)
It is interesting to note that the scene where De Niro attacks his brother-in-law (in a fit of paranoia) was not rehearsed. Pesci was not told what was going to happen and the surprise on his face is real, not acting!
The film effects people because violence is very cinematic and despite all the disclaimers most of us enjoy short bursts of it. The dialogue (by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin) is good and truthful, but drags after a while. The characters expose their limits early and have only to play them out for the rest of the time.
Having seemed doubting and questioning it may surprise you that I like the picture and recommend it. It is very compulsive and has something that you can't put your finger on. Despite being violent and sometimes unpleasant you can't help routing for the guy and hope he can find happiness somehow.
Maybe this is because I take my hat of to all boxers, they have bravery, dedication and courage that even twenty million dollar a picture actors envy and want to wear the clothes of.