Raging Bull: 25th Anniversary Edition
MGM
Availabilty: Now
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Cathy Moriarty and Joe Pesci
The Verdict: This boxing classic retains its powerful punch on this 2-disc box set.
Movie: 4 stars our of 4 stars
Extra Features: 3 1/2 stars out of 4 stars
When “Raging Bull” begins its charge, saddening classical music fills the speakers while a fit and resolute De Niro in a leopard-print hooded robe throws slow-mo jabs in an empty ring.
Quickly after the credits roll, a 60-pounds-heavier De Niro spews quasi-poetry circa 1964: “So give me a stage, where this Bull here could rage, and though I could fight, I’d much rather recite: That’s Entertainment.”
Immediately, the blinding flare of this bio-pic takes center stage as the camera switches to an unbending De Niro taking punch after punch in the face during a 1941 boxing match. The bell rings, signaling the end of the round.
And De Niro sits in his corner as Jake La Motta, the legendary middleweight.
Undoubtedly, De Niro rewards all with the most stupendous performance of his career. As a boxer who would never fall and always take unnecessary punishment, De Niro hunches like an anxious predator, ready to explode into a flurry of uncontrolled wrath and primordial assault. As a wanton and paranoid husband, De Niro simmers into fits of psychological dissonance and unbridled crudeness. As a charming and witty showman, De Niro captivates his audience like a modernized Marc Anthony, sharing egotistical commentary with a hint of humbleness; in short, the brazen and ever-changing Jake La Motta is De Niro’s magnum opus, and the Best Actor Oscar for his performance solidified the actor’s precision and hard work.
After the film’s first bout, a bruised yet sturdy La Motta argues with his wife about a burned steak. Jake gets enough of his wife’s bickering and huffily shoves her into the bedroom. The wife shouts curses behind the closed door, and La Motta grins, “C’mon, honey. Let’s be friends.” Yes, our bastard has arrived.
Yet “Bull” switches gears when Joey La Motta (Joe Pesci), Jake’s brother and manager, introduces the boxing brute to Vickie, (Cathy Moriarty) a pallid 15-year-old sex kitten with bouncy blonde hair. Even though Jake basically seduces a minor, he almost seems like a nice guy when the two unstable lovebirds start their divinely sensuous relationship.
Soon the two marry, but due to Jake’s unsteady mental frame and delusional intuition, his loathsomeness blooms when he constantly accuses Vickie of infidelity, slapping her between hurtful assertions. La Motta even tells his brother to keep an eye on his young wife.
Meanwhile, La Motta’s boxing career soars into opportunity as his personal life plummets into a hellish, tumultuous pit. Although beaten by Sugar Ray Robinson, La Motta manhandles fighter after fighter, becoming the leading contender for the middleweight championship.
Indisputably, the boxing scenes hammer the senses like a crushing maul to the forehead. Every time the bell rings, the film’s classical piece looms in the background, and the rational disappears: the carnal violence leaps out, seizing the throat and pummeling unrestrained. Worn gloves rattle jaws. Face wounds open and shoot streams of blood. Sweat drenches the mat. The ropes drip red.
And thanks to De Niro’s animalistic grimace and rigorous training, the “Raging Bull” looks all the fiercer. During a break in one of the film’s matches, De Niro sits and leans forward in his corner, and the trainer squeezes bloody water from a sponge onto the boxer’s back, anointing him as the saint of ruthless pounding. On top of that, De Niro’s opponents were not played by actors but by real fighters according to the filmmakers.
Even crueler, Martin Scorsese’s use of black-and-white film transforms the beastly fights into more sadistic jabfests. If “Bull” had used color, the brutality would have seemed gratuitous or distasteful. Yet by utilizing restraint, the Oscar-denied director creates a deeper, more vicious tone, which emulates La Motta’s gritty personality, fighting and history superbly.
Obviously, Scorsese’s undeniably graphic classic contrasts visceral action with surprising minimalism. During an abusive conflict between Jake and Vickie La Motta, the director allows a view of a picture of Jesus hanging in their bedroom. Even better, Scorsese slows the movement down as La Motta watches his wife take kisses from other men, which creates a pervading aura of paranoid jealousy.
Plus, if any other director had made this film, it would have dragged sluggishly and painfully. Yet throughout “Bull,” La Motta’s personal life and boxing life foil each other in quick, successive episodes; in other words, Scorsese put the film together with small, concise pieces to maintain undivided interest.
Thankfully, Scorsese and De Niro do not rule the picture entirely. Joe Pesci lends his rapid-fire words and short-tempered scowl and demeanor for the viewer’s laughing and flinching pleasures, respectively. The interplay between Pesci and De Niro while the two fix the television’s antenna thrills the ears and tickles the funny bone, but the two magnificent actors smoothly glide into pervading uncomfortability in the same scene.
On the contrary, Moriarty brings more emotional honesty to “Bull.” She could have easily taken the path of many actresses: the “edgy,” rebellious and abused teenage whore. Gracefully, Moriarty avoids this lackluster crock and blends subtle sexuality with regretful insecurity for a complex and believable Vickie La Motta. When quiet breaks in dialogue abound as Jake and Vickie first meet, the performers provide an exquisite nonverbal chemistry for the viewer’s ensnared mind.
Infinitely rewarding, “Bull” never brews conventional film techniques or ridiculous predictability. Since the film is based on a book co-written by the real-life Jake La Motta, the true anger and frustration of a boxer translates on the screen like no other. Whether La Motta succumbs to violent urges or arrogantly displays his endurance in the ring, nothing in this movie resembles the usually stale and drawn-out boxing flick.
“Bull” epitomizes the passionate, risky and sincere vision of Martin Scorsese, and the dedicated Robert De Niro evolves as if he actually boxed his way to the top in the 1940s. This excellent production ranks as the greatest film of the ’80s, the greatest boxing film and the greatest example of De Niro’s brilliance. Simply put, “Bull” will knock your lights out.
Commentary tracks saturate the extras on the first disc. On the first track, the motormouthed Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker explain their artistic vision and creative secrets; for example, Scorsese said he used a fire in front of a camera lens to craft a hazy, mirage effect for one of the Sugar Ray fights. The second commentary track features cast and crew members like producer Irwin Winkler and actor John Turturro. Finally, the most sought after commentary definitely comes from Jake La Motta himself. Among other things, the legend reminisces about beating four undefeated fighters in six weeks and confirms the validity of the film. “He knows more about me than anybody that ever lived,” La Motta said, referring to De Niro.
Second disc extras include four behind-the-scenes features. In “Behind the Fight,” De Niro must convince Scorsese to make the film. During “Inside the Ring,” Scorsese said he received several visual ideas-such as blood dripping from the ropes. “Outside the Ring” mentions the 10-week shooting of the fights and De Niro’s improvisational skills, and “After the Fight” examines the wizardry of sound editing master Frank Warner. Rounding out the second disc: an enjoyable making-of documentary, old footage of La Motta scoring a knockout in the fifteenth round against a determined French fighter and an exciting shot-by-shot comparison of De Niro and La Motta.