‘Raging Bull: THRs 1980 Review
On December 19, 1980, Martin Scorsese entered the ring with the 206-minute drama “Raging Bull.” The film received eight Academy Award nominations and won two for Best Actor, Robert De Niro , and Editing. Original Hollywood Reporter review below.
Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull , starring Robert De Niro as boxer Jack LaMotta , is perhaps Hollywood's least romantic biopic. United Artists by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff offers an extreme cinematic look at the world of professional boxing and is very graphic in terms of language and violence, which may be problematic for some viewers. De Niro is great, though, and his performance should be a top contender for this year's Oscars.
Based on La Motta's autobiography written with Joseph Carter and Peter Senior , the screenplay by Paul Shader and Mardic Martin does not seek to glorify the warrior's life. It's a pessimistic study of a man whose only concern is winning the middleweight championship and whose irrational jealousies and violent humor alienate everyone around him. There is only a brief moment in the film where La Motta breaks down and cries after pleading for his chance at the Scudetto, where the character is very sympathetic. Otherwise, it's completely unpleasant.
The film consists of scenes of La Motta preparing for a recital in New York in 1964. From this opening we move to 1941 and the loss of Jimmy Reeves (Floyd Anderson), then move on to analysis of the events. In the life of La Motta. And his most important fight. However, Scorsese goes too far in his attempt at naturalism and the biopic lacks dramatic structure. Much of the film has an improvisational quality, which makes the story very real, but also quite disturbing.
On the contrary, the fight sequences are very stylized, where the director's technique is very clear. These scenes are short but very intense and focus on the brutality of the sport, with blood pouring from eyes and noses in stunning detail (luckily the film was shot in black and white). The undeniable tension of these sequences, however, only adds to the surprising lack of energy in the rest of the film.
But the power and artistry of De Niro's performance cannot be denied. It took courage for Scorsese and De Niro to focus so deeply on a negative character without trying to soften his personality. And rarely has an actor immersed himself so much in a characterization. De Niro 's makeup by Frank Westmore and Mike Magee is incredible and makes the actor almost unrecognizable as himself; It bears a striking resemblance to La Motta . It's also breathtaking in De Niro's final scenes, with which he gained 50 pounds during his two-month hiatus from filming.
Joe Pesci is excellent as La Mota's brother manager, but Cathy Moriarty is generally lazy as La Mota's second wife, Vicki's Kim Novak. Otherwise, the film is full of interesting faces and performances that fit perfectly with Scorsese's overall style.
Technically, the film is amazing in how it captures the different time periods involved. Michael Chapman's black and white photographs are stunningly compositional and create great visual impact. A small amount of color footage is used to depict home films apparently related to La Motta and his family. However, this is never explained and the sudden appearance of the color sequence may be confusing to some viewers. Special credit goes to production designer Gene Raffold of New York, art directors Alan Manser and Kirk Axtell of Los Angeles, and production designers Fred Weiler and Phil Abramson for the realistic environment and look. - Ron Pennington, originally published November 10, 1980.
