Jake LaMotta

**Jake LaMotta** is the titular main protagonist, as well as antagonist of Martin Scorsese's 1980 drama film, *Raging Bull*. He is a middleweight boxing champion, whose self-destructiveness and selfishness ruins his relationship with his family. He was based on the real life boxer of the same name.

He was portrayed by Robert De Niro, who also played Johnny Civello in *Mean Streets*, Travis Bickle in *Taxi Driver*, Jimmy Doyle in *New York, New York*, Rupert Pupkin in *The King of Comedy*, Jimmy Conway in *Goodfellas*, Max Cady in *Cape Fear*, Ace Rothstein in *Casino*, Frank Sheeran in *The Irishman* and William Hale in *Killers of the Flower Moon*.

## Biography

### Early life

Giacobbe LaMotta was born on July 10, 1922 in Manhattan, New York to Elizabeth and Joseph LaMotta. Jake grew up in New York City along with his younger brother, Joey.

### 1940's

In 1941, Jake is now a middleweight boxer living in The Bronx, who has just lost to Jimmy Reeves, with his brother, Joey as his manager. Joey eventually starts discussing a potential shot for the middleweight title through his association with Salvy Batts, a man with connections to the Mafia, but Jake dismisses. Later, Jake spots a fifteen-year-old girl named, Vickie LaMotta, who he starts an affair with, despite being married to a woman named Irma. In 1943, Jake defeats Sugar Ray Robinson, but loses their rematch, which Joey claims is due to Robinson enlisting into the Army the following week. Two years later, Jake marries Vickie, where he starts becoming extremely controlling and overprotective of her, with him also being paranoid over the idea of Vickie having an affair. During his next match, Jake beats Tony Janiro ruthlessly in front of Vickie and mob boss, Tommy Como. After Como forces Jake to get the championship title through which Como's controls, Jake purposely loses to Billy Fox, to which Jake is suspended shortly thereafter from the board on suspicion of throwing the fight. Afterwards, in 1949, Jake beats Marcel Cerdan and wins the middleweight championship title.

### 1950's

One year later, Jake becomes more and more paranoid over the idea of Vickie having an affair. Later, Jake asks Joey if he has been having an affair with Vickie, which disgusts and enrages Joey. Afterwards, Jake pressures Vickie in sarcastically confessing the affair, which causes Jake to barge into Joey's house and beat Joey viciously. After beating Laurent Dauthuille, Jake tries to apologize to Joey over the phone, but stays silent. This causes Joey to think that Salvy is on the phone, where he insults him before hanging up. Eventually, Jake's career starts decline due to his distance from Joey, which causes Jake to lose to Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951. Five years later, Jake is now retired and overweight and has moved with his family to Miami, Florida. After a long night at Jake's nightclub, Vickie tells Jake that she is getting a divorce and taking custody of their children. Eventually, Jake is arrested for introducing under age girls to some men at his club, and attempts to bribe the cops with the jewels from his championship belt. In 1957, Jake is arrested, where he cries and has a mental breakdown over his morality and ignorance. After being released from prison a year later, Jake tries to rekindle his relationship with Joey, who reluctantly embraces back.

### 1964

By 1964, Jake now has a career as a small-time stand-up comedian. The film ends with LaMotta preparing backstage by shadowboxing a repeatedly chanting "I'm the boss", where he then takes the stage.

## Personality

On the outside, LaMotta seems to be nothing but a monster who beats his wife and ruins all of his relationships with the people he loves. He yells at people, manipulates them, beats his fellow boxers brutally and sees nothing wrong with what he does until the end of the film. LaMotta is also seen as very egotistical, as shown when he makes various comments while working at his nightclub, as well as when he chooses to lose a fight because the mob are helping him win. Jake is also shown to be driven by sex, as he cheats on his wife with a very young woman, introduces a very young girl to pimps that he has connections with and thinks woman are nothing but something he can have sex with. However, on the inside, Jake is an extremely insecure and paranoid man. During the beginning of the film, Jake is shown to truly care for his brother and only becomes paranoid after hearing about Joey beating Salvy after it was implied Vickie was going to have sex with him. Not to mention, throughout the entire film, Jake is shown to only do the masculine things in order to prove to other people how aggressive and tough around other people. However, the most important part of LaMotta's character is his inability to express his anger, which is should throughout the entire film, thus the name, "Raging Bull". The best example for this side of LaMotta, is when he is put in prison and the only way to get rid of his anger is by punching the wall and screaming, until he gives up, sits on his bed and cries the words, "I'm not an animal" as well as "I'm not that bad!" Overall, LaMotta is most definitely the most complex character in a Scorsese film, with both trying to show his anger to other people, despite not being able to control his anger.

## Gallery

Jake and his brother, Joey.Jake and Vickie.Jake while fighting Sugar Ray Robinson."You never got me down, Ray."Jake in prison."Go get 'em champ."
## Trivia

* When the real Jake LaMotta saw the movie, he said it made him realize for the first time what a terrible person he had been as a younger man. When he asked his wife, "Was I really like that?", she replied, "You were worse."
* Robert De Niro won the awards for Academy Awards' Best Actor, Golden Globe Awards' Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, Boston Society of Film Critics' Best Actor, Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Best Actor, National Board of Review's Best Actor and New York Film Critics Circle's Best Actor for his role as Jake LaMotta.