Reviews

The story follows boxer Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro) in his quest for a championship belt, while at the same time his unbridled jealousy and anger issues damage all of his personal relationships, including his relationship with his brother Joey (Joe Pesci) and his wife Vickie (Cathy Moriarty).

I thought the boxing scenes were boring and usually those are the best part of a boxing film.

Scorsese follows a fictional version of real-life boxer Jake LaMotta (there are no words that can describe the brilliance of De Niro's acting performance in this film) and deeply analyzes the philosophy and psychology behind the character and his unusual environment.

Raging Bull is certainly in my top 20 favourite films of all time and definitely tussles it out with another '80's masterpiece for the title of "best of the decade".

The film is highly regarded as one of the best films of the 80's, some people will even go further and say one of the best films of all time.

...it definitely deserves the number 4 spot on AFI’s greatest 100 movies ever made.

Second, I think that Scorsese may have been afraid that the film would have been too violent in color and that he wouldn't be allowed to get away with some of the more violent makeup effects during the boxing matches and a few other graphic scenes.

Scorcese displays this rise and fall of LaMotta's life and career so smoothly and brilliantly that we feel that, at times, we are with LaMotta himself. We see the paranoia that he wallows in, his animal and self-destructive ways, and his clueless and ridiculous actions from start to finish, all so wonderfully displayed.

I don't think any other actor can ever top De Niro in Raging Bull.

The level of brutality and honesty in Raging Bull is jarring, but it's also refreshing and amazing...once you allow yourself to become interested in a wholly unsympathetic character.