Raging Bull

Now we come to the second entry of Scorsese/De Niro month, the 1980 boxing epic, “Raging Bull.” I bet you all were expecting “New York, New York,” but I haven’t seen that one. So let’s get started with “Raging Bull,” which is another one of my absolute favorites.

He is as tough as nails in 1941, a real comer in boxing. But no one wants to fight him. This is none other than The Bronx Bull himself, Jake La Motta, played by Robert De Niro. His brother Joey, played by Joe Pesci, is his manger, who takes all of the insults, moods, and rages. The Mob wants a piece of that action but La Motta insists on being his own man. He is addicted by wanting to be middleweight champion of the world. The Bull snorts. The Mob perseveres. Once La Motta tells one of the Mob members, Salvy Batts, played by Frank Vincent, the will throw a fight to get a shot at the title, the Mob becomes happy. In 1948, La Motta wins the title.

In the ring he takes all of the punches and returns them twofold. People call him a cruel fighter. His first wife cannot take this violent man. La Motta falls in love with a 15-year-old girl named Vickie, played by Cathy Moriarty. Vickie is a blond beauty that men desire to be with and speak in hushed tones about her behind her back. Both of them marry and have a family, giving La Motta the power of being seen with a classy woman. However, that recognition isn’t enough, since he becomes jealous. He constantly is abusing her verbally and physically that she is sleeping around with other men behind his back. When Joey tries to reason with Jake, Jake turns against his brother, and their relationship is tarnished over this anger.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat stated in their review of this film, “Anger is a fury that is hard to extinguish once it is loose. Jealousy is a worm that eats away at the innards.” “Raging Bull” is more than a screen biography of Jake La Motta, more than an intense look at the sport of boxing, more than a sociological inspection of the Italian Catholic setting of the Bronx. The screenplay by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin is about a giant passion – the complex, wild, crazy ones which bring a person to discover the worst that is in them.

Once La Motta climbs to the top, he loses it all. Sugar Ray Robinson, an opponent and enemy of his that he has boxed before, played by Johnny Barns, beats him positively. La Motta then quits boxing and becomes the manager of a shady nightclub in Miami. Vickie leaves him and he gets thrown in jail for moral charges. He is finally caged, deserted by everyone. All alone with his own self, self-destructed, he bangs his head up against the wall crying, “Why? Why? I’m not an animal!”

Jake then gives himself a rebirth, going beyond his own death. In a closing scene, he is now some sort of a philosopher, preparing for a 1964 appearance at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel Theatre where he does passages from Chayefsky, Schulberg, Shakespeare, and others. This is also where De Niro quotes Brando from “On the Waterfront.”

“Raging Bull” is not an easy film to watch with its bloody fight sequences, rough martial arguments, and quiet environments. It doesn’t give you that good feeling that “Rocky” did. Actually, it’s pretty much the polar opposite of “Rocky” when you think about it. However, the performance of De Niro deserves an Academy Award. He really knows how to dig deep into the elemental strength of an unlikable character and carries the audience up to the point where the unwilling respect for the man’s determined spirit is given. Scorsese has given another award winning quality performance from Joe Pesci as the brother. He also deserves credit for making Cathy Moriarty’s acting debut a positive one. “Raging Bull” also deserves a 10+.

Check in next week for the third entry of this month.