By Todd Garbarini
Widely considered by many to be the best film of the 1980’s, Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull is a film that Mr. Scorsese didn’t think he could make. Mired in a self-destructive lifestyle following the box-office disappointment that was New York, New York in 1977, Raging Bull is the film that saved Mr. Scorsese’s life and career while destroying the onscreen life of its protagonist, heavy weight champion Jake LaMotta, by the latter’s own hand.
In hindsight, to think that Mr. Scorsese was anything less than completely self-assured in his direction of the film is almost unfathomable. In a maneuver that would repeat itself several more times in his career until The Departed (2006), the film lost to Robert Redford and Ordinary People at the Academy Awards for best director and best picture, respectively, although Mr. Scorsese’s personal editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, won the Oscar for best editing (she always felt that it was his Oscar since he storyboarded and planned the film shot-for-shot). It’s also difficult to overlook the irony that the 1981 Oscar presentation had to be rescheduled to March 31 due to John Hinckley’s attempted assassination of President Reagan following his obsessive viewing of Mr. Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), and his infatuation with actress Jodie Foster.
Few filmmakers have reached the heights of greatness that Mr. Scorsese has achieved, and he is arguably America’s greatest living film director. While those unfamiliar with the film might be put off about a “movie about boxing,†Raging Bull is no more a film about prize fighting than Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris (1972) is about a weekend boinkfest between a middle-aged man and a young woman. The former is about redemption, and the latter is about need.
From its opening shots of Robert De Niro in slow motion to the strains of Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana to its closing shots of Mr. De Niro hitting the stage 58 pounds heavier, Raging Bull tells the story of a man who destroys his family and almost himself by his own insecurities. What would normally be an interminable film to sit through in the hands of a lesser director is instead a masterwork of modern filmmaking with all involved working at the height of their powers. Michael Chapman’s stunning black and white photography eliciting the chiaroscuros that permeated the film’s greatest influences, among them Abraham Polonsky’s Force of Evil (1948), has become a textbook of great cinematography. The fight scenes are among the most challenging ever shot for a motion picture, LaMotta’s inner rage and self destruction complemented by the animalistic screams mixed into the soundtrack. Joe Pesci is excellent as Jake’s younger brother, Joey, as is Cathy Moriarity as Jake’s wife, who must contend with his ceaseless, if unfounded, suspicions of infidelity. The scenes of domestic life gone to hell are among the most realistic that contemporary cinema has recorded outside of a documentary.
Originally released on Blu-ray in 2009, the new MGM 30th anniversary edition adds a few new extras to the mix, including a second DVD of the film in standard definition:
- Three commentaries: Director Martin Scorsese and Editor Thelma Schooonmaker, cast and crew, storytellers
- Four new featurettes: Marty & Bobby; Raging Bull: Reflections on a Classic; Remembering Jake; Marty on Fockers
- Cathy Moriarty on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, March 27, 1981
- Raging Bull: Fight Night--four-part feature-length documentary
- The Bronx Bull--Behind-the-scenes featurette
- De Niro vs. La Motta--Shot-by-shot comparison in the ring
- La Motta Definds Title--Vintage Newsreel Footage
Seeing Raging Bull again makes us realize that it’s status is secure as one of the great films of our time.
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