I'm dead serious when I say this, I think you have by far the most thoughtful and well rounded reviews (that don't go on for an hour) on this whole site and I swear every single review makes me want to watch the film lol. Thanks for the content.
The contradiction between Jake being rewarded in the ring for his brutal aggression, whereas outside of the ring this aggression makes him a total failure at life. It's poetic.
I remember Roger Ebert once asked Scorsese to choose one shot to represent his career, and Scorsese chose the opening shot of Raging Bull with Jake in the ring in slo-mo, which represents the man's loneliness, greatness, fierceness, isolation all in one shot. (Ebert also asked Spielberg to pick his shot, and Spielberg chose the famous moment in Close Encounter when the little boy opens the door and sees aliens shining red light outside.)
@Gremlin87 It wasn't really a good question from Siskel & Ebert because no one shot can define a filmmaker's career. George Lucas, who appeared on the same show, said it best: his editorial style represented him better than his shots. And that is true for most directors. This was a prime-time special on network TV when S&E was at the height of their popularity, so maybe they felt they needed to ask these laymen's questions. But there were some great questions and answers too, such as those on film restoration. Search RUclips for "siskel ebert future of the movies" to see the show.
As a kid, I knew Joe Pesci from "Home Alone". As a teenager, I sought out Pesci's other work and that's how I found "Raging Bull". It was definitely "Raging Bull" that opened me up to the power of filmmaking, not to mention getting me on the path to film criticism …. and in the 52-year span of Scorsese's feature-length works I still think it's his greatest.
The film also has nice usage of slow motion showing Jake's various POV indicating his unease, fixation, imagination, etc. When he sees his wife kissing other men in slo-mo, he even imagines their dialog ("What a face, what a face!"). The film oscillates between gritty, almost documentary realism to sudden subjective thoughts and sights with tremendous ease and power.
Great review. I agreed with just about everything you said but you made me change my mind on one important thing. As a boxing fan I always hated the fight scenes because they lacked realism. And if watched any of Lamottas fights on film you’d realize he was allot more skilled than that. I always sort of knew the fights weren’t meant to be literal and Scorsese wasn’t much of a fight fan, but I thought they were just played up for drama. This made me realize there was some legit symbolism behind it which I appreciate quite a bit
While don't I rewatch Raging Bull often, every time I do, enough time has passed that I find myself in a new phase of my life, either from the brutal and inexorable march of Time, or some life-changing KO's of my own devising. A recent event which rhymes with The Knack's biggest hit and Miley Ray's surname have put me in an even more open-minded phase. Something you said in this review knocked me out because you struck on something I had never really consciously considered before: Bob DeNiro's Jake LaMotta is okay with the chaos and destruction and CHAOS as long as the chaos and destruction and CHAOS is something he CHOSE. CHOAS=CHOSE "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." The above epigraph to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas could have preceded Raging Bull's amazing title sequence quite fittingly. I appreciate your insight into the film because I've found most viewers of this film are male and are too close, too captive to the erring ring of masculinity that comes from being a contender in the the big fight of "being a man" to necessarily understand what the film is saying to them about what it means to be in The BIG FIGHT of BEING a MAN.
Yes! When I saw it on tv some years ago, it caught me off guard, I felt such a deep connection with it, it’s so fluent, and contrasted its black and white aesthetic with a modern feeling
I just finished watching the film for the first time and went straight to your channel in hopes that had done a video on it. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
This is the second time I've heard someone use the word "extemporaneous" in a sentence. The other time was in the 1987 movie Roxanne. I'm afraid to use big words around my friends because they end up looking at me like I'm speaking Chinese. I hate texting conversations because no one uses punctuation anymore. I don't belong in this world.
I can't believe I've never seen any of your stuff until now, I'm subscribed. I loved the review, there's something so violent and yet poetically beautiful about this film that I don't think most films capture. It's interesting to see how different our takes on the apology scene with Jake and Joey. I will be frank when I say I didn't find it pathetic, I sincerely believed it - and I will admit it's a rare moment in film where I actually did cry while watching it, for personal reasons and what I saw in it. Not to plug myself or anything, but I did my own video essay if you want to see how I feel about this film. Anyway, great review.
Great review,! I tend to sometimes forget about Raging Bull when someone ask me which are my favorite Scorsese films, but deep down I know it is his best film, the classic that can be along side The Godfather, Citizen Kane, 2001 and such without any doubts.
My favorite part is the fight when he loses with Sugar Ray, and after the fight he approachs him and says: "Hey Ray, you never got me down" it's so thrilling, you got a man destroyed both mentally and physically, and yet he's only concern was to never been knocked down by his opponet, amazing.
@7:20: Certainly of all hues available to our human eyes - many of which are culturally defined ... black, white, and red are the most cognitively and psychologically striking precisely because they are so obvious and primal, and there's no mistake when you see them, nor are they subject to culturally specific paradigms, like what blue and green are, or if there is even such a thing as pink. And beige seems to have been invented by the French textile industry.
I just saw this for the first time last night, and as good as it is, and as much as I'm still thinking about it a day later, I don't foresee myself coming back to it much because of how "ugly" it is, in a manner of speaking (although I might still find a copy to own for when the mood hits). At the same time, it's that ugliness that makes Jake La'Motta's character exploration so fascinating and gripping. The opening shot really is perfect, and I also love the red of "Raging Bull." There's nobody else in the ring with him. He's just furiously punching air because he's fighting nobody but himself for the entire movie. All of his fights outside of the ring are essentially manufactured and instigated by his own inner demons in his head. When they say that nobody likes him professionally and nobody wants to fight him in the ring, it's very much a reflection of the people in his own personal life. Neither Vickie or Joey want to fight him, but he simply refuses to do himself any favors. Naturally, the obvious and potentially cliche parallel is Rocky, both because they're high profile and beloved boxing movies and because this released in the middle of the ongoing Rocky franchise, but Jake really is the anti-Rocky in a lot of ways, particularly in his character, his values, and how he approaches life and his relationships with others. I imagine Scorsese was trying to actively avoid drawing too many comparisons with Rocky when he made Raging Bul. The existence of Rocky is probably a big reason why he didn't want to make Raging Bull in the first place, but I think it's very easy to hold both films up as companion pieces in some respect. I could very easily see both characters becoming more and more like the other had they both made different life choices. Don't be like Jake. Be a Rocky.
Jake La Motta, the Raging Bull. His brutality brought him endless success as a fighter, but outside the ring it destroys his life and the lives of those around him.
Theresa Saldana (Pesci's wife in this film) was stalked and attacked by someone who obsessed over her after seeing her in Raging Bull. She fortunately survived and went on to have a nice acting career.
One thing you forgot to expand on was " The Mob Influence " on Jake's life they controlled boxing in 30's-60's and they controlled men like Jake he was not in control of his own destiny . In the movie Tommy the local Mob Boss tells Joey Jake can beat all the Sugar Ray leonard's of the world but he will never get a Title Shot without them .
I Watched it again today, after a long time. Sometimes i forget the strenght of this film. The power of art its really beautiful, could touch the whole world. Here i am in Brazil listening to Someone in another country talking about a movie that i Just watched. That is crazy, but really Amazing kkk Thank you for that, it was a great review, i loved! Big hug ✌
Great review! I personally wasn't a huge fan of the movie, as I think it lost me in the third act. But I really appreciate the first two-thirds of it. I also really enjoyed the cinematography, and like how you mentioned the contrast between the theatrical nature of the boxing matches and the stripped down, stark aesthetics of everyday life.
When was this commentator born?? She’s young and she’s demonstrates this . Big words, small words, and a hodge podge. She wasn’t even born when this movie came out. Critic or kittie? Young kid critic.
I find it incredibly overrated. I really didn't like Jake and could care less what happened to him. Him preying on the teen girl made me not like him even more. The other characters I couldn't get into either, though the acting wasn't bad. In fact it was very good. It's odd because I did like De Niro in other Scorsese films such as Goodfellas and Casino even though his character did bad things as well.
You are of course entitled to your opinion but I doubt anyone „liked“ Jake. He’s not only brutal but also stupid, selfish, dull and lacks any kind of redeeming quality. Maybe the difference to Goodfellas and Casino is that there the characters have a lot of charisma.
Recently stumbled onto your stuff and am mid rabbit hole.... Very similar taste to mine, would love to hear your take on Gates of Heaven, it deserves a great deal more youtube love imo.
This movie keeps you on edge the whole movie. Scorsesse keeps the pace right where it needs to be the whole movie and you just never know what Jake is gonna do or how he's gonna react. Deniro delivered big time here!!!
Love this film. Awesome review. Will you be reviewing Uncut Gems anytime soon? Would love to hear your thoughts on it. It's my favorite Safdie Brothers film so far that they've made.
Another fantastic boxing film would be Robert Wise's The Set Up. It's not quite as good as Raging Bull, but I feel both films would work in a double feature. As both films do work as parables on a Post WWII America.
The film is outstanding, but some moments are unsettling rather than wrenching. In particular, De Niro’s character struggles to trust his significant other, and the scene where he beats Vicki is especially cringeworthy.
The greatest moment in the movie is when Jake is getting massacred by Sugar Ray Robinson. If not the greatest, then at least the moment that contains all the anguish of the movie.
The Marcel Cerdan scene is my favorite, but it’s inaccurate. Jake never scored a clean knock down of Cerdan. He wrestled Cerdan to the ground to intentionally injure him early in the fight.
Rocky came out a few years earlier,and the thought was 'oh great another boxiing movie'.Well nothing against Rocky,but Raging Bull was on another level.Really enjoy your reviews,hope youre well.
Re-watched Raging Bull not that long ago. Surprised how much I didn't like it. The direction is wonderful, the editing top notch and the acting by De Niro is outstanding but that's about it. The script is not good, AT ALL. Cathy Moriarty's performance was dull as fuck (and I have liked her in almost everything she's been in).
Your review connects with a great experience. i.imgur.com/CTob1uB.mp4 The way how you interpreted the fight sequences is impressive. This might be my favourite Scorsese's movie. De Niro and Pesci gave very good performances.
I'm dead serious when I say this, I think you have by far the most thoughtful and well rounded reviews (that don't go on for an hour) on this whole site and I swear every single review makes me want to watch the film lol. Thanks for the content.
I’d have to agree
Raging Bull is one of the most anxiety-inducing films in existence if you have a history of witnessing domestic violence.
Agree with you here even though I have never been in a domestic violence situation.
It's definitely a hard film to sit through.
'Raging Bull', another movie classic and masterpiece.
Nah not a masterpiece, not at all 🤣
To me, the message of this movie is that someone may be a world-class athlete, but may be terrible at everything else in their lives.
The contradiction between Jake being rewarded in the ring for his brutal aggression, whereas outside of the ring this aggression makes him a total failure at life. It's poetic.
The opening sequence is just amazing. Scorsese is a mastermind
I remember Roger Ebert once asked Scorsese to choose one shot to represent his career, and Scorsese chose the opening shot of Raging Bull with Jake in the ring in slo-mo, which represents the man's loneliness, greatness, fierceness, isolation all in one shot. (Ebert also asked Spielberg to pick his shot, and Spielberg chose the famous moment in Close Encounter when the little boy opens the door and sees aliens shining red light outside.)
@Gremlin87 It wasn't really a good question from Siskel & Ebert because no one shot can define a filmmaker's career. George Lucas, who appeared on the same show, said it best: his editorial style represented him better than his shots. And that is true for most directors. This was a prime-time special on network TV when S&E was at the height of their popularity, so maybe they felt they needed to ask these laymen's questions. But there were some great questions and answers too, such as those on film restoration. Search RUclips for "siskel ebert future of the movies" to see the show.
The feeling I get when I revisit Raging Bull is unmatched by any other movie. The all around feel of the film is so unique. Great review.
I agree next to The Departed it might be my favorite Scorsese movie
As a kid, I knew Joe Pesci from "Home Alone". As a teenager, I sought out Pesci's other work and that's how I found "Raging Bull". It was definitely "Raging Bull" that opened me up to the power of filmmaking, not to mention getting me on the path to film criticism …. and in the 52-year span of Scorsese's feature-length works I still think it's his greatest.
The film also has nice usage of slow motion showing Jake's various POV indicating his unease, fixation, imagination, etc. When he sees his wife kissing other men in slo-mo, he even imagines their dialog ("What a face, what a face!"). The film oscillates between gritty, almost documentary realism to sudden subjective thoughts and sights with tremendous ease and power.
14:00 one of my favorite shots in film of all time. Love raging bull I watched taxi driver and raging bull back to back when I was 17.
Excellent review! I always appreciate your thorough and meticulous attention to the film being reviewed!
Great review. I agreed with just about everything you said but you made me change my mind on one important thing. As a boxing fan I always hated the fight scenes because they lacked realism. And if watched any of Lamottas fights on film you’d realize he was allot more skilled than that. I always sort of knew the fights weren’t meant to be literal and Scorsese wasn’t much of a fight fan, but I thought they were just played up for drama. This made me realize there was some legit symbolism behind it which I appreciate quite a bit
Just came across this channel when I wanted to find a review on raging bull. Really loved the review, great work!
I think this film and King of Comedy are unapologetic about a disturbed psyche of people
While don't I rewatch Raging Bull often, every time I do, enough time has passed that I find myself in a new phase of my life, either from the brutal and inexorable march of Time, or some life-changing KO's of my own devising. A recent event which rhymes with The Knack's biggest hit and Miley Ray's surname have put me in an even more open-minded phase. Something you said in this review knocked me out because you struck on something I had never really consciously considered before: Bob DeNiro's Jake LaMotta is okay with the chaos and destruction and CHAOS as long as the chaos and destruction and CHAOS is something he CHOSE.
CHOAS=CHOSE
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."
The above epigraph to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas could have preceded Raging Bull's amazing title sequence quite fittingly.
I appreciate your insight into the film because I've found most viewers of this film are male and are too close, too captive to the erring ring of masculinity that comes from being a contender in the the big fight of "being a man" to necessarily understand what the film is saying to them about what it means to be in The BIG FIGHT of BEING a MAN.
Yes! When I saw it on tv some years ago, it caught me off guard, I felt such a deep connection with it, it’s so fluent, and contrasted its black and white aesthetic with a modern feeling
I just finished watching the film for the first time and went straight to your channel in hopes that had done a video on it. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
This is the second time I've heard someone use the word "extemporaneous" in a sentence. The other time was in the 1987 movie Roxanne. I'm afraid to use big words around my friends because they end up looking at me like I'm speaking Chinese. I hate texting conversations because no one uses punctuation anymore. I don't belong in this world.
🤣🤣🤣
I can't believe I've never seen any of your stuff until now, I'm subscribed. I loved the review, there's something so violent and yet poetically beautiful about this film that I don't think most films capture.
It's interesting to see how different our takes on the apology scene with Jake and Joey. I will be frank when I say I didn't find it pathetic, I sincerely believed it - and I will admit it's a rare moment in film where I actually did cry while watching it, for personal reasons and what I saw in it. Not to plug myself or anything, but I did my own video essay if you want to see how I feel about this film. Anyway, great review.
After rewatching this movie, I gotta say I think it’s probably Scorsese’s best.
Never heard a female take on Raging Bull, so that alone was interesting. But this is the best breakdown of the movie I've ever seen. Well done!
Great review,! I tend to sometimes forget about Raging Bull when someone ask me which are my favorite Scorsese films, but deep down I know it is his best film, the classic that can be along side The Godfather, Citizen Kane, 2001 and such without any doubts.
Even taxi driver
My favorite part is the fight when he loses with Sugar Ray, and after the fight he approachs him and says: "Hey Ray, you never got me down" it's so thrilling, you got a man destroyed both mentally and physically, and yet he's only concern was to never been knocked down by his opponet, amazing.
I think your analysis of the film is spot on.
@7:20: Certainly of all hues available to our human eyes - many of which are culturally defined ...
black, white, and red are the most cognitively and psychologically striking precisely because they are so obvious and primal, and there's no mistake when you see them, nor are they subject to culturally specific paradigms, like what blue and green are, or if there is even such a thing as pink. And beige seems to have been invented by the French textile industry.
I just saw this for the first time last night, and as good as it is, and as much as I'm still thinking about it a day later, I don't foresee myself coming back to it much because of how "ugly" it is, in a manner of speaking (although I might still find a copy to own for when the mood hits). At the same time, it's that ugliness that makes Jake La'Motta's character exploration so fascinating and gripping. The opening shot really is perfect, and I also love the red of "Raging Bull." There's nobody else in the ring with him. He's just furiously punching air because he's fighting nobody but himself for the entire movie. All of his fights outside of the ring are essentially manufactured and instigated by his own inner demons in his head. When they say that nobody likes him professionally and nobody wants to fight him in the ring, it's very much a reflection of the people in his own personal life. Neither Vickie or Joey want to fight him, but he simply refuses to do himself any favors. Naturally, the obvious and potentially cliche parallel is Rocky, both because they're high profile and beloved boxing movies and because this released in the middle of the ongoing Rocky franchise, but Jake really is the anti-Rocky in a lot of ways, particularly in his character, his values, and how he approaches life and his relationships with others. I imagine Scorsese was trying to actively avoid drawing too many comparisons with Rocky when he made Raging Bul. The existence of Rocky is probably a big reason why he didn't want to make Raging Bull in the first place, but I think it's very easy to hold both films up as companion pieces in some respect. I could very easily see both characters becoming more and more like the other had they both made different life choices. Don't be like Jake. Be a Rocky.
isnt it crazy how the film kinda makes you feel bad and relate to him a bit BUT the pedo stuff was just really weird and nasty
Jake La Motta, the Raging Bull. His brutality brought him endless success as a fighter, but outside the ring it destroys his life and the lives of those around him.
I love how real you review
What a beautiful girl !
All of Martin Scorsese's movies are must sees, but especially 'Raging Bull'.
Not all
Kosta Jovanovic yeah Hugo was a total misfire.
@@madnero5508
Hugo was great. You're delusional. Aviator on the other hand...
De Niro had one of the greatest acting performances of all-time in Raging Bull
Theresa Saldana (Pesci's wife in this film) was stalked and attacked by someone who obsessed over her after seeing her in Raging Bull. She fortunately survived and went on to have a nice acting career.
One thing you forgot to expand on was " The Mob Influence " on Jake's life they controlled boxing in 30's-60's and they controlled men like Jake he was not in control of his own destiny . In the movie Tommy the local Mob Boss tells Joey Jake can beat all the Sugar Ray leonard's of the world but he will never get a Title Shot without them .
Best opening credits of any film ever for me
The scene where Jake meets Vickie was improvised, I don't know if any other scenes were though. Great review.
One of my favorite films. B&W really makes a performance stand out.
I Watched it again today, after a long time. Sometimes i forget the strenght of this film. The power of art its really beautiful, could touch the whole world. Here i am in Brazil listening to Someone in another country talking about a movie that i Just watched.
That is crazy, but really Amazing kkk
Thank you for that, it was a great review, i loved! Big hug ✌
Great thorough review for this classic film.
Great review! I personally wasn't a huge fan of the movie, as I think it lost me in the third act. But I really appreciate the first two-thirds of it. I also really enjoyed the cinematography, and like how you mentioned the contrast between the theatrical nature of the boxing matches and the stripped down, stark aesthetics of everyday life.
When was this commentator born?? She’s young and she’s demonstrates this . Big words, small words, and a hodge podge. She wasn’t even born when this movie came out. Critic or kittie? Young kid critic.
I clicked so fast on this one.
just watched it for the first time a couple hours before this review dropped. great timing and great movie!
One of the best films ever made.Great review
can you review Y Tu Mama Tambien by Alfonso Cauron!!
I find it incredibly overrated.
I really didn't like Jake and could care less what happened to him. Him preying on the teen girl made me not like him even more. The other characters I couldn't get into either, though the acting wasn't bad. In fact it was very good.
It's odd because I did like De Niro in other Scorsese films such as Goodfellas and Casino even though his character did bad things as well.
You are of course entitled to your opinion but I doubt anyone „liked“ Jake. He’s not only brutal but also stupid, selfish, dull and lacks any kind of redeeming quality. Maybe the difference to Goodfellas and Casino is that there the characters have a lot of charisma.
Recently stumbled onto your stuff and am mid rabbit hole.... Very similar taste to mine, would love to hear your take on Gates of Heaven, it deserves a great deal more youtube love imo.
This movie keeps you on edge the whole movie. Scorsesse keeps the pace right where it needs to be the whole movie and you just never know what Jake is gonna do or how he's gonna react. Deniro delivered big time here!!!
This movie is a masterpiece.
Hi, can you review Days of Heaven (1978)? Would love to see that. It's one of my all time favourites.
"It is quite subtle, I was surprised at how subtle it was..." Raging Bull is a lot of things...but "Subtle"?
Love this film. Awesome review. Will you be reviewing Uncut Gems anytime soon? Would love to hear your thoughts on it. It's my favorite Safdie Brothers film so far that they've made.
Review Schindler's list please...
Please!
Review Birds of Prey ive never seen you mad or impatient about a Dumb movie before lol
Can you review Apocalypse Now?
Another fantastic boxing film would be Robert Wise's The Set Up. It's not quite as good as Raging Bull, but I feel both films would work in a double feature. As both films do work as parables on a Post WWII America.
ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS EVER MADE! MY #1 SCORSESE FILM!
The best way to read this film, imo, is through the lens of the quote that ends it
I cant believe it , I started to watch this film one day before you did the review lol , What a coincidence!!!!!! Greetings from Brazil 😘
Please review The Prestige by Christoper Nolan
One of my all time favorites in my top 3 for sure
My teacher wrote Event Horizon. Can you review it?
Best boxing movie: Raging Bull
My favorite: Rocky IV
You convinced me this is a film I want to watch with my Dad
I enjoy ur reviews…..I need a girl in my life that enjoys film as much as you
The film is outstanding, but some moments are unsettling rather than wrenching. In particular, De Niro’s character struggles to trust his significant other, and the scene where he beats Vicki is especially cringeworthy.
don't overcook it. you overcook it, it's no good. defeats it's own purpose. BRING IT OVAAAAHH!! IT'S LIKE A PIECE OF CHARCOAL!!
The greatest moment in the movie is when Jake is getting massacred by Sugar Ray Robinson. If not the greatest, then at least the moment that contains all the anguish of the movie.
The Marcel Cerdan scene is my favorite, but it’s inaccurate. Jake never scored a clean knock down of Cerdan. He wrestled Cerdan to the ground to intentionally injure him early in the fight.
Please review Punch-Drunk Love!
Glad your reviewing this it is a true masterpiece
Dose raging bull make you want to box
Raging bull is a masterpiece scorsese was clearly robbed of the Oscar this was the best film of 1980
Great review
Make Review of "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" (1948) by 'John Huston'... Lovely Film😌
Rocky came out a few years earlier,and the thought was 'oh great another boxiing movie'.Well nothing against Rocky,but Raging Bull was on another level.Really enjoy your reviews,hope youre well.
Am i right maggie that your turning 30 this year
Re-watched Raging Bull not that long ago. Surprised how much I didn't like it. The direction is wonderful, the editing top notch and the acting by De Niro is outstanding but that's about it. The script is not good, AT ALL. Cathy Moriarty's performance was dull as fuck (and I have liked her in almost everything she's been in).
She is so awesome!!!
I love the way De Niro treats women in this movie.
De Niro is playing the role of 'Jake LaMotta' in this Film.
Review La Haine!
Well done
i want to talk movies with u
Your review connects with a great experience.
i.imgur.com/CTob1uB.mp4
The way how you interpreted the fight sequences is impressive. This might be my favourite Scorsese's movie. De Niro and Pesci gave very good performances.
tis the anti rocky film
There will be blood is a rip off of citizen kane
Hot kitchens, body odor, blood and sweat. As usual, desperate people.
❤️
This movie makes me so uncomfortable
You are tip tio mgoo.
Hi beautiful