Movie Review: Raging Bull (1980)

When I was small I used sports like boxing and wrestling as a means of excuse to beat my friends or pick a fight with them. My parents used to stop us and lie that everything shown in there is false, was it really false? I used to wonder. If I had seen Raging Bull at that age, provided that I also know it’s a true story, I would have had known the actual truth.

Yes, Raging Bull, released in 1980 and directed by Martin Scorcese  was a true story about a boxer named Jake La Motta who was also known as “The Raging Bull” and “The Bronx Bull”. The film was adapted by Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader into a screenplay from Jake La Motta’s memoir ‘Raging Bull: My story’.

The film starts with showing an aging and overweight Jake La Motta practicing a comedic routine. The rest of the film then shows in flashbacks starting from his first loss in 1941 from Jimmy Reeves to his arrest in 1958 for introducing underage girls to men in a club he owned in Miami. The movie basically shows the character of Jake La Motta, his relations with his brother Joey La Motta and wife Vikki LaMotta. How he lost everything due to his rage and sexual jealousy was what this movie intended to convey.

 He hated it when he saw his wife talking to other people, and frequently slapped and scolded her. One of the important reasons for his victory in the ring was his jealous rage against his wife which he used to take out on his opponents, the most important being Tony Janiro whom he had brutally beaten up after his wife had made an offhand comment about him that he has a pretty face. His jealousy became more and more violent day after day, he started to slap her and beat her and eventually also started to suspect his own brother Joey La Motta to have had intimate relation with her.  After a long argument about this matter with Joey, which also forms an iconic scene of this film, Jake’s suspicion makes Vikki sarcastically shout that she had sex with Joey and other men, Jake brutally beats Joey up at his own house, in front of his wife and children, when Vikki tried to stop him, she was slapped too. He later regretted his action and was able to convince his wife about not leaving him but was alienated away by his brother. After defeating Laurent Dauthuille in 1950, he tries to make contact with his brother for reconciliation but to no success. By 1956, Jake and his family had moved to Miami where he has grown overweight, and owns a nightclub La Motta’s. 

After he stays out all night, Vickie informs him that she wants a divorce; he is later arrested for introducing underage girls to men in his club. He tries to bribe his way out by using the jewels from his championship belt but is jailed in 1957 after which he sorrowfully punches the wall and crying in despair over his misfortune. In 1958 he is back in New York and lands upon his brother Joey, he asks for forgiveness constantly; Joey elusively forgives him. The film cuts back to where it started and ends with a biblical quote.

There is no need to comment about the movie’s screenplay and Martin Scorcese’s direction, me not being a fan of sports also enjoyed the movie. The film stars one of the best actors in the history of cinema, Robert De Niro and one of my favorite comedians Joe Pesci. Needless to mention about Robert De Niro’s acting, and Joe Pesci as his brother succeeded to obtain himself the tag of one of the best supporting actors in history. I think somehow somewhere Martin Scorcese also knew that some of his characters can be best portrayed by Joe Pesci and now realize that his super hit collaboration with Robert De Niro in movies like Raging Bull, Casino and Goodfellas is incomplete without the support of Joe Pesci.