Raging Bull
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- The Raging Bull is also a revolver.
Template:Infobox Film Raging Bull is a 1980 film directed by Martin Scorsese, and written by Paul Schrader, and Mardik Martin. It stars Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, a temperamental and paranoid but tenacious boxer who alienates himself from his friends and family. Also featured in the film are Joe Pesci (who earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor) as La Motta's brother and manager, Joey, and Cathy Moriarty as his abused wife. The film features strong supporting roles from Nicholas Colasanto (who was eventually to play the character "Coach" on the TV sitcom Cheers), Theresa Saldana, and Scorsese regular Frank Adonis.
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Overview
Image:Wifebeater.jpg The film was distributed by United Artists; studio executives were initially reluctant to finance the project as they feared that the extreme profanity and violence in the screenplay would draw an "X" from the MPAA ratings board. However, Scorsese and De Niro reworked the script and were able to proceed. Because of his lifelong asthma, accompanied by depression (due to the critical and commercial failure of his big-budget musical New York, New York) and a serious cocaine addiction that he had only recently overcome prior to making the film, Scorsese was convinced that he would never make another movie and, therefore, he put his heart and soul into making Raging Bull the best film he could.
Robert De Niro won the Academy Award for Best Actor, his first (and only, to date) for a leading role. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Editing for Thelma Schoonmaker, whose revolutionary style was far different from fight scenes in other boxing films, such as the Rocky series. Raging Bull was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Director, and Best Picture.
In a memorable scene in the film, Jake La Motta quotes "I could've been a contender..." from On The Waterfront. Coincidentally, both Raging Bull and On The Waterfront received Academy Awards for Best Actor.
The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. It is 24th on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American movies and listed 5th on the Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.
Synopsis
The film begins with Jake LaMotta late in his life practicing his stand-up comic routine and then flashes back to his early boxing career.
LaMotta (DeNiro) is a strong, tenacious vicious fighter from the Bronx and his brother Joey (Pesci) is his manager. LaMotta slowly climbs the ladder to the top of the boxing world as he courts a relationship with Vicki (Moriarty) a girl he meets in his neighbourhood. After his first wife leaves he starts a relationship with her which eventually leads to marriage and children. However after his marriage, he becomes increasingly paranoid and obsessive about his wife and ultimately suspects her of infidelity.
Later, he believes that his brother has had a relationship with his wife behind his back and acting out on his explosive rage, he lashes out violently on his brother who leaves him. LaMotta finally loses his title to his arch-rival Sugar Ray Robinson and retires from boxing a few years later due to his weight problems and becomes a stand-up comedian and night club owner. However at this point, his wife finally arranges her affairs and divorces Jake, taking custody of his children while LaMotta ends up in prison for allowing minors to drink alcohol.
Later on, after being released from prison, Jake meets Joey and hugs him in apology. The film ends at the opening with Jake practicing his routine in front of the mirror beginning his path to redemption.
Production
Raging Bull was a project brought to Martin Scorsese by his friend and collaborator Robert DeNiro. DeNiro discovered the book upon which the film is based and wanted to play the title character. The initial screenplay adaptation was written by Scorsese's friend Mardik Martin, who had co-written Mean Streets. It was reportedly a Rashomon-style drama with many different points of view being presented. In the end, this approach was abandoned in favor of a more straightforward narrative written by Paul Schrader, who had written Taxi Driver. The final draft of the screenplay was written, uncredited, by DeNiro and Scorsese themselves.
Scorsese has acknowledged that he was deeply involved in drugs before the making of the film. He has stated that Robert DeNiro saved his life by insisting on Scorsese's continued involvement in the production. Scorsese has also claimed that the raw emotional quality of the film and its theme of redemption were a result of his struggle to recover his life through the production of the film.
The movie was shot in two parts. The majority of the film, including all the boxing scenes, was shot first. Following this, the production was shut down for several months, during which Robert DeNiro gained the weight necessary to play Jake LaMotta in the latter part of the film. According to Scorsese, these scenes were shot quickly and with a minimum of takes because the physical strain they caused DeNiro was so evident. DeNiro's extreme method acting would become one of the most famous physical metamorphoses in modern cinema.
Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman shot the film in black and white. This was done for reasons of period authenticity and to differentiate the film from several other boxing pictures which had recently been released, most especially the Rocky series. Scorsese drew every shot of the boxing sequences on paper before the shooting, and both he and Chapman have commented on the difficulties caused by the elaborate setups.
The film was edited in Scorsese's apartment in New York City, mostly at night. Reportedly, Scorsese was obsessively fastidious during post-production. His friend, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, was working with him for the first time and the two labored an unusually long time over the editing and the film's complex soundtrack. The unusual care dedicated to post-production caused considerable friction with the film's producers, who felt Scorsese was being unnecessarily slow.
Scorsese has claimed that he took unusual care during post-production because he was convinced that Raging Bull would be his last film and he did not want to compromise what would be his final project. However, Scorsese has also commented on the film as a kind of cinematic rebirth. He chose to end the film with a personal dedication to his college film professor, Haig Manoogian, "with love and resolution." Manoogian had helped produce Scorsese's first feature film.
Reception
Raging Bull was initially given a mixed reception. Many critics were repelled by the film's violence and its unsympathetic central character. Although its cinematography and editing were universally praised, some saw the film as an empty exercise in style. It was not a box office success and its gritty realism seemed out of place in a cultural atmosphere in which the fantasy films of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas dominated the film industry.
However, several prominent critics, such as Roger Ebert, declared the film to be an instant classic and the consummation of Scorsese's earlier promise.
Although nominated for several Oscars, the film won only for editing and for Robert DeNiro's lead performance. Scorsese lost to Robert Redford for best director.
By the end of the 1980s, however, Raging Bull had cemented its reputation as a modern classic. It was voted the best film of the '80s in numerous critics polls and is regularly pointed to as both Scorsese's best film and one of the finest American movies ever made.
Analysis
Raging Bull is a thematically rich film. Roger Ebert in his Great Movies entry called the film the greatest film to ever deal with envy and even called it an 'othello for our times'. [1]
The film as Ebert and many others note has several similarities with William Shakespeare's play Othello. Jake LaMotta constantly suspects Vicki of being unfaithful to him and later in the film suspects his own brother Joey of taking up with her. Unlike the play however, there is no Iago to deceive him. In his place, Jake has his own insecurity, envy and paranoia.
Other critics have seen it as a critique on masculinity. The film deals with a boxer which has long been regarded as a man's sport. Jake and to a lesser extent Joey are domineering in their marriages. LaMotta discards his first wife and marries a younger and beautiful woman. He treats Vicki respectfully at first but later constantly suspects her fidelity to him. Ultimately, Vicki leaves Jake and Jake even alienates his own brother.
The film can also be taken in the literal context of the title. LaMotta who's a vicious boxer in the ring and who is stubborn and bullish outside can be seen as a 'Raging Bull'. A wild untamed force who in the boxing ring as an outlet of his rage and despair. In this context, the boxing ring can be seen as symbolical to the jungle where animals thrive in their habitat and are constantly at odds with each other. This is further validated in the final thirty minutes of the film which chronicle his life after his retirement from boxing. LaMotta is unable to find success as a stand-up comic and a nightclub owner. Later in the film, LaMotta is charged with allowing underage patrons alcohol in his nightclub and is imprisoned in jail. In arguably the most powerful moment in the film, he angrily punches the prison walls in a fit of rage chiding himself for his stupidity. This famous scene is a symbol of LaMotta's inability to fit in with society and his realization that unless he changes he would never be redeemed.
External links
- {{{2|{{{title|Raging Bull}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- Fresh Air interview with Thelma Schoonmaker
- Jake La Motta Posterde:Wie ein wilder Stier
es:Toro Salvaje fa:گاو خشمگین fr:Raging Bull nl:Raging Bull ja:レイジング・ブル pt:Raging Bull sv:Tjuren från Bronx zh:愤怒的公牛 ru:Бешеный бык (фильм, 1980)