After suffering his first box office bomb and critical disappointment with New York, New York, Martin Scorsese came back with one of his greatest films, 1980’s Raging Bull. Widely considered to be the legendary filmmaker’s magnum opus, Raging Bull put Scorsese back in the good graces of Hollywood with critical praise, audience adoration, and a cabinet’s worth of awards.
Scorsese’s bleak, brutal biopic of boxer Jake LaMotta is still just as difficult to watch – and just as emotionally rewarding – as it was when it hit theaters more than four decades ago, and certain elements specifically stand out to this day.
Robert De Niro’s Raw, Warts-And-All Performance As Jake LaMotta
Robert De Niro has given some of the best performances of his career in Scorsese movies, but arguably the finest acting he’s ever done in one of the director’s films is his raw, warts-and-all portrayal of Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull.
For capturing the intensity of LaMotta’s anger and the increasing anguish of having driven everyone he loves away, De Niro deservingly walked home from the Oscars with a Best Actor trophy.
Contrasting Minimalist Domestic Scenes With Cinematic Fight Scenes
Scorsese shoots Raging Bull’s domestic scenes in a minimalistic style with an almost documentary-like realism capturing snapshots of flawed human beings’ lives. As a sharp counterpoint to these scenes, the director pulled out the cinematic playbook for the boxing matches, utilizing all kinds of time-tested filmmaking techniques.
Throughout the movie, Scorsese defines a unique visual style that separates the flashy visuals of Raging Bull‘s boxing fight scenes from the harsh realities of LaMotta’s personal life, and it remains as unique as ever.
Michael Chapman’s Black-And-White Cinematography
Scorsese chose to shoot Raging Bull in black-and-white so that boxing gloves would read on-camera, but the monochromatic visuals ended up going hand-in-hand with the rough, uncompromising subject matter.
Michael Chapman’s understated cinematography is well-matched with the rawness of the material. The drab look of black-and-white film pairs perfectly with harrowing scenes of bar brawls and domestic violence.
De Niro’s Believable Sibling Relationship With Joe Pesci
While LaMotta’s troubled relationship with his wife Vickie takes center stage in Raging Bull, the second most important character dynamic in the movie is his strained relationship with his brother Joey, played by Joe Pesci, who managed his early career.
De Niro and Pesci share such impeccable on-screen chemistry that Jake and Joey are fully convincing as brothers. The actors’ tangible sibling closeness makes it all the more heartbreaking when Jake finally pushes Joey too far and he refuses to even speak to him.
The Home Movie Montage At The Midpoint
In the middle of Raging Bull, there’s a montage of 16mm home movies of the LaMotta family that makes up the only color section in the movie. This sequence perfectly recreates the look of scratchy old home movies, with images of a happy family offering a stark contrast to the aggressive screaming matches and jaw-breaking punches that the rest of the movie has to offer.
The nostalgic home movie montage provides a brilliant segue from the first half of the movie (LaMotta’s rise) into the second half (his downfall), as it demonstrates everything LaMotta is about to throw away.
Thelma Schoonmaker’s Flawless Editing
Thelma Schoonmaker has been Scorsese’s go-to editor since his debut movie, and she won her first of three Academy Awards for Best Editing for her work on Raging Bull. Schoonmaker’s editing in this movie is, as always, flawless.
The editing of Raging Bull has well-placed cuts in the fight scene – like the front-row spectators being splattered with blood after a particularly hard punch – and it lingers on longer takes if a performance warrants the audience’s full attention, like LaMotta punching the walls of his prison cell and eventually breaking down in a heart-wrenching single take.
Scorsese’s Portrait Of The Destructive Nature Of Anger
All of Scorsese’s biopics focus on one key weakness of their subjects that eventually become the downfall of their personal life, like Henry Hill’s addiction in Goodfellas or Jordan Belfort’s excessive lifestyle in The Wolf of Wall Street.
In Raging Bull, LaMotta’s anger and jealousy end up driving everyone he cares about to leave him. Scorsese’s framing of these explosive emotions – not to mention De Niro’s portrayal of them – creates a definitive cinematic portrait of the destructive nature of anger.
Cathy Moriarty’s Heartbreaking Turn As Vickie LaMotta
De Niro gives a powerhouse performance as Jake LaMotta, but Cathy Moriarty offers a poignant counterpoint as his downtrodden wife Vickie. Moriarty ended up being nominated for Best Supporting Actress for one of the most acclaimed debut performances of all time.
Moriarty’s portrayal of an abused spouse slowly growing to hate her husband is extremely powerful, especially considering she had no previous acting experience.
Keeping LaMotta Unsympathetic
Biopics tend to deify their subjects and whitewash the darker parts of their story, but Raging Bull makes no attempt to endear the audience to LaMotta.
It offers a rough, gritty portrait of an angry, violent husband and father and leaves the audience to draw their own conclusions. His edges are softened in his later years, but he remains unsympathetic to the bitter end.
The Closing “I Coulda Been A Contender” Monologue
In the final scene of Raging Bull, an older LaMotta waits in his dressing room to be called up for a nightclub show. He repeats Marlon Brando’s “I coulda been a contender” monologue from On the Waterfront to himself in the mirror. The monologue is about a washed-up boxer wishing his brother had watched out for him more.
De Niro’s performance of this scene has multiple layers – he’s playing LaMotta impersonating Brando playing Terry Malloy – but the quote itself perfectly sums up the tragic saga we just witnessed.
