Raging Bull Analysis

Juan Ortiz

COMM-3402-01

Raging Bull (1980)

Based on Jake LaMotta’s memoir Raging Bull: My Story

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writers: Jake LaMotta (author of book), Joseph Carter and Peter Savage

Screenplay: Paul Shrader and Mardik Martin

Starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci

Cinematography: Michael Chapman

Box Office: $23,380,203

Accolades: 

Academy Awards: Best Actor- Robert DeNiro 

        Best Editing- Thelma Schoonmaker

Towards the end of 1980 Jake LaMotta’s life would be plastered over the big screen nationwide.  Jake LaMotta is a popular boxer from the 1940s and 50s. After he retired during the late 50s early 60s he became a business owner, actor and author.  In 1970 LaMotta published his own memoir that would become a hit movie entitled Raging Bull: My Story. Ten years later, his book would be adapted to a movie Raging Bull.  The movie depicts the rise to fame of LaMotta up until his retirement, it also depicts . The movie stars Robert DeNiro as Jake LaMotta.  

The movie is rated R because of sexual content and extreme violence. In the movie the violence is depicted strongly.  You see blood and bruises that don’t heal to easily. The movie also shows the trials and turbulations of his relationships, from cheating on his frist wive with his much younger second wive, Vicky.  In the movie LoMotta seems to rely on violence for his insecurities. He is a very jealous man and is very suspicious of his wife Vicky and even of his brother, Joey LaMotta.  In one scene LoMotta accuses of Vicky of cheating on him with his own brother, which is never actually clarified if it happened or not. The movie subsequently also show his insecurities. He is insecure about his marriage and himself. 

Louis Giannetti, author of Understanding Movies, would classify this movie as a realistic film, since it is based of a memoir. The way this film was shot makes is believable as a “bio-pic”.  The film was done in black and white because there were actually clips from LoMotta’s fights in the 40s, which makes the film more believable.  The wardrobe was done to the time period of the movie, Vicky wore the long dresses they used to wear in those times and that all add to the credibility of the film. 

When it came to angles used in the film, Scorsese used various angles. During the boxing fights there were a mixture of middle shots and close-ups and a couple extreme close ups.  During the actual fights where both boxers are in the shot he uses the middle shots.  When one boxer hits the other that is when the extreme close up was used to emphasize the hit and it’s significance. To show the effect of the hit and the bruise and the reaction of LaMotta that’s when the close up was used.  Other shots were used as well, like the long shot and the wide shot during the boxing fights to show the audience and the involvement of the audience. The movie probably required alot of extras, since there were alot of scenes where the main characters were surrounded by other people. There was a party scene, the pool scenes, the club scenes and the fighting scenes, where alot of non-speaking roles were needed. 

Every year there is one big bio-pic and in 1980 that was Raging Bull along with Coal Miners Daughter. The biggest movie that year was Star Wars and that was basically set in future times. No other movie was filmed in black and white and set in the 1940s, which was kind of not seen alot even in today’s films. But what did set this film apart from all others was that it was filmed in black and white. None of the movies that were big that year were done in black and white. The reason it was so big for it to be done in black and white was because it wasn’t that long ago that films were changed from black and white to color formats. But the black and white added to the film and made it believable and Scorsese was able to add actual clips from LaMotta’s fights into it.

Scorsese esplains that the movie is “really a straight, simple story . . . of a guy losing everything, and then redeeming himself. Spiritually,” (Librach, 1992). The movie is a telling of a story.  A simple story about a man who had it all and lost it all. Jake and Joey’s relationship isn’t a typical brother relationship,  “Joey represents at once Jake himself and Jake's own enemy” (Librach, 1992).  Jake seems to be jealous of the amount of time Joey specnds with his wife Vicky. LaMotta goes as far as accusing his own brother of sleeping with his wife. In his review on Scorsese’s work Librach says that for this movie Scorsese “seeks the visual and dramatic equivalents of this experience” (Librach, 1992). The movie is dramatic, and profiles his life as a boxer but ainly deals with his personal life, and his jealousy and insecurities. 

The movies did focus more on his personal life and how that affected his boxing career rather than focusing on how his sport affected his life at home. “Raging Bull is not a film about boxing but about a man with paralyzing jealousy and sexual insecurity,” which is true (Ebert, 1998). In the movie there were alot of scenes that depict his insecurity with women, from the beggining until the end. “Consumed by rage after his wife, Vickie, unwisely describes one of his opponents as ``good-looking,'' he pounds the man's face into a pulp,” which further increases the depiction of his insecurities (Ebert, 1998). LaMotta gets furious after his wife Vicky says that his brother Joey has a bigger penis than Jake. The movie that runs 129 minutes must have at least 90 minutes that show mostly violence, whether it be in the ring or in his own home. 

Raging Bull tell the story of boxer Jake LaMotta and his issues in and outside of the ring.  The violence and the language in the movie was a bit extreme. I understand that it was to reflect the time period the movie was set in, but I think the violence could have been downgraded maybe a little.  For this movie, I would have to give it a not so positive review.  Although it was interesting to see the life of an athlete and see how they lived in the 1940s, but I do have to say the movie only reflected on the negatives of his life.  There weren’t alot of positive or good times. The way the film was done and developed was good, the set and costume design was fit for the movie. Scorsese scored! 

Librach, R. (1992). The last temptation in mean streets and raging bull. Literature Film Quarterly, 20(1), 11.

Ebert, R. (1998, May 18). Raging bull (1980). Retrieved from http:// rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980510/ REVIEWS08/401010354/1023

IMBD. (1981). Raging bull (1980) imbd. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081398/

Scorsese, M. (1980). Raging bull [Theater].

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

1. (     )  I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 
2. (    )  If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
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7. (     )  I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.   
8. (      )  I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper. 

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D.J.Ederp,h .D. Copyrigh@t 2 Ot2 deder@siue.edu

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for the following points:

l. ( ) An introductoryp aragraphc learly introducest he subject.A topic statementi s evident

within the paragraphT. he positiont akeni s clear.I f thep ositioni s unclearp, ut a question

mark in the margin.

2. ( ) The next two paragraphse achh avea single or main claim. Note eachc laim in the

margin n a3-4 word phrase. If you can't identift the claim, put a question mark in the

margin. Iftwo or more claims exist and tend to diverge from a coherent thought, put a

question mark in the margin.

3. ( ) The samet hing holds for the next two paragraphso n the opposites ideo f the issue.

4. ( ) rne four paragraphsa bovea ll focus on thelssie at hand;t irly do not wandero ffinto

irrelevant tenitory. If any paragraph wanders, put a question-r"ri. in the marlin.

5. ( ) The sixth paragraph weighs the conflicting claims from the nut p*ugt"pis above and

arrives at a conclusion.IlTty some evidence is-inore convincing than ltheievidence is

explained. The ensuing conclusion is clearly stated. Circle it. liyou can't find the

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6. ( ) The finalparagraphr eturnst o what was statedi n the first paragrapha nd, in light ofthe

evidencep resenteda nd weigheda bove,c onvincin$y rephraseit hJposition statement.t f

the conclusione xpectedb y the assignmentis to be.tinesiedj,u stifring statementsfo r the

variancem ust appearh erea nd flow from the explanationi n ihe sixthiaragraph of your

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Consider all question marks appearing in the margin and fix those that need fixing.

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7. ( ) Is eachc laim in paragraph2s -5 supportedb y evidence?A re therea ny nakedc laims

supportedo nly by variationso f "I believe..."?If so,p ut a big X in the marginb esidet hat

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consider any X appearing in the margin and lix those that need fixing.

Another thing:

9'd( ) Doest hep aperd o moret hans imply but gloriouslyr estateth e question? Examine the

case study and cross out all ideas that uppeu. in boththe case study and in your paper.

What remainsu ncrossedo ut is your analysisI.t shouldc onstituteit re ma.loiityo iyou,

paper.I f it doesn'ty, ou haven'td onea n analysis.

 D,J.EderP, h.D, Copyrigh@t 2 0t2 deder@siue.edu

Rewrite as necessatTW. hen you've finished,l et it sit at least one night befored oing the

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Up to now, you'veb eenw orkingo n substancea ndt hinking.N ow, on the final morning over

breakfast on the day the paper is'due, check out the mechanics. Sweep your paper with a

spell checkera ndc omb it for the cornmonf atale rrorsi n the list below.I f you find sucha n

error, put a check in the box.

10.( ) A sentenclea ckse itheras ubjectorav erb;a sentencdeo esn ot beginwitha capital

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I l. ( ) A sentenceb eginsw ith a relativep ronoun sucha s Which, Who, That, Where,a nd

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13.( ) A pronouno r verb fails to agreew ith its antecedenitn number;t hat is, a singlep erson

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14.( ) A sentencer uns-ono r usesa commat o splicei ndependenitd east ogether;t hat is,

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The five check boxes in the list above should be empty. If not, Iix the erronr.

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