Raging Bull (1980)

Raging Bull

• Director- Martin Scorsese
• Starring- Robert Di Nero, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriaty
• Date Released- December 19, 1980
• Budget- Approximately $18 million /Gross- $23,383,987 (USA)
• Locations- California and New York


Raging Bull is a 1980 film director by Martin Scorsese, about a young boxer Jake LaMotta, played by Robert Di Nero, whose rage and inner demons bring a downfall to his boxing legacy. Joe Pesci plays the brother of Jake, who throughout the film attempts to help him overcome his demons and gain him the title shot he deserves. Later on in the film Jake accuses his bother of having an affair with his wife, which causes his life to take a turn for the worse.

The filming style that Scorsese used was very intriguing as he used many slow motion shots. In the ring Scorsese has many shots where blows to the face and body are slowed down for contact. He also uses a lot of wide-angle shots to show a true feel of the ring.

The film was made during the times of the late 1970’s but the actual time period for the film was the 1940’s and 50’s. Women rights were no such thing and they were the woman and that’s it. They had no say in what to do. The abuse of women was high and not to many people fought to end the problem because they were afraid of consequences. Scorsese uses this aspect when he has LaMotta beating up his wife.

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C06E6D71238F937A25752C1A966948260

In this Ny Times article, written by Vincent Canby, states the talent and skills that go into making this film. The critic’s article, which is released prior to the opening of the film, thinks it will be a great film. The article puts this film on the achievement list.

http://genderandmedia.qwriting.org/files/2010/09/Pam-Cook1.pdf

In this article, Pam Cook says that Raging Bull is considered New Hollywood film style. It was good for Hollywood to get a new perspective of things and brilliance of this film. It also says it was a great touch that he released it in black and white because it gave a bit of the past meets future feel.

In my opinion, Raging Bull was a great film made by a brilliant and talented director. The way he illustrated such scenes in the ring and how he included family struggles was pure brilliance. I think it was insane how Di Nero put on so much weight for this part as well. That shows true dedication to your career, which is very inspirational. I would suggest this film to everyone and I am glad we had the chance to watch it in class.