Raging Bull
Short description
Raging Bull follows the New York boxer Jake LaMotta, whose ferocious energy in the ring earns him the nickname the Bronx Bull and carries him toward the middleweight title. The same temper, jealousy and suspicion that drive his success spill over into his life at home, damaging his marriage to Vickie and his relationship with his brother Joey, who also trains him. Ties to organised crime and his own instability pull him away from the sport, and he ends up performing as a nightclub entertainer.
Martin Scorsese directed the film, the ninth of his thirty-eight features in chronological order, arriving between The Last Waltz and The King of Comedy. Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin wrote the screenplay, and Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff produced. Robert De Niro plays LaMotta, with Cathy Moriarty as Vickie, Joe Pesci as Joey, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto and Theresa Saldana among a credited cast of 113 and a crew of 71.
Released in November 1980, the film cost about 18 million dollars and took roughly 23 million worldwide, a modest return against its budget. Its reputation has since grown considerably: on IMDb it holds 8.1 out of 10 from around 409,000 votes, on TMDB 7.9 from just under 5,000, while a film critics' rating stands at 9.3 from 151 reviews, noticeably higher than the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- To record the sound of boxing punches, watermelons and tomatoes were smashed, and the sound of gunshots was used for camera flashes. The resulting magnetic tapes were destroyed by the sound engineers to prevent their reuse.
- Robert De Niro deliberately gained 60 pounds for this film. This was a record at the time. It was later broken by Vincent D'Onofrio, who gained 70 pounds to play Private Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket'.
- Hershey's chocolate was used as a blood substitute, as it looked effective when filming in black and white.
- In 1978, when Martin Scorsese nearly died from a drug overdose (he was snorting cocaine), Robert De Niro, visiting the director in the hospital, tried to persuade him to never use drugs again and expressed a wish for Scorsese to make a film about a boxer. Scorsese initially refused (he didn't like sports films), but De Niro eventually convinced him. Many believe that De Niro saved the director's life by insisting on his return to work. Scorsese himself, incidentally, shares this opinion.
- The quote from the Bible ("I was blind, but now I see") is addressed to the professor whom Scorsese studied under. This man died shortly before the film's premiere. Scorsese dedicated the film to his teacher, stating in the credits that he "helped him see."
- During the filming of the fight scene, Robert De Niro accidentally broke Joe Pesci's rib.
- Robert De Niro gained 27 kilograms specifically for this film.
- In preparation for the role, Robert De Niro trained intensely and even participated in three real boxing matches in Brooklyn, winning two of them.
- To better understand his character, De Niro became acquainted with LaMotta, with whom he developed a very good relationship. They remained inseparable throughout the entire filming period. LaMotta told De Niro that he had the makings of a true fighter and that he would be happy to become his manager or trainer.
- After watching the film, LaMotta admitted that it made him realize what a terrible person he had been.
- The film includes phrases and recreates scenes from 'On the Waterfront,' as LaMotta admired Marlon Brando’s character and often quoted him.
- The wedding scene on the roof was directed by Martin Scorsese's father, as Martin himself fell ill during filming.
- The film marked John Turturro's acting debut. Interestingly, Turturro and De Niro later played characters named Billy Sunday in different films. Turturro played such a character in 'His Game,' and De Niro in 'The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'.
- In the scene where Jake shouts something about a steak at his first wife, a neighbor starts yelling back at him. Curiously, there was no neighbor in the script; this man appeared completely by chance, as he hadn't even heard about the filming and didn't recognize Robert De Niro. Notably, the actor, without breaking character, got into a verbal altercation with the 'neighbor.'
- The music featured in the film was not written specifically for it. Scorsese borrowed it from the works of Italian composer Pietro Mascagni.
- The original script included a scene in which LaMotta masturbated in his prison cell.
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