"Raging Bull" (1980) watch along
Added 2024-07-22 16:00:18 +0000 UTCI believe this is a special film due to its remarkable cinematography and the story structure. Combine that with a violent yet vulnerable and immensely flawed character of "Jake LaMotta", whose deep inner turmoil is brilliantly portrayed by the incredible Robert Deniro which IMHO is a performance of a lifetime. Add in the amazing direction by Martin Scorsese, and you have the masterpiece "Raging Bull." The ensemble cast is outstanding and grounded, featuring another iconic performance from Joe Pesci. It’s topped off with an incredible score and exceptional sound design/editing. Those fight sequences still have me in AWE! This movie was difficult to watch at times because it delved so deeply into the life of a painfully flawed man and the abuse and mistreatment of woman. It was unbearable at times I had no words. He had passion for his sport but lacked the ability to avoid self-destruction, obsession, and paranoia. Too bad he was so self involved and lost the few people around him that truly loved him. After watching I was left feeling ill, yet so sad for Jake and his experience and after the movie ended I had so many emotions that still lingered. To me that's what makes movies and storytelling so powerful. I loved it.
I wanna thank AJ for the BLURAY and making this watch a long possible 😂❤️🇵🇹
xx
ames
Comments
Thanks John, I always enjoy reading your comments as well! Someday I'd like to start a blog, but that's a long way off (and no money probably, LOL) Pesci was great -- very nuanced and balanced, and perfect chemistry with De Niro. Nobody else could nail that role!
JM63
2024-07-27 18:52:41 +0000 UTCRaging Bull was a difficult first watch for me, Ames! Not because I personally resonated with the story, but because I was watching a slow descent into hell; one I could see coming from a hundred miles (or 160 kilometers) away. Jake really couldn't get out of his own way and would constantly self-sabotage! He was truly his own worst enemy and was always pushing away the people who were closest to him. One of the measures of a film's effectiveness is how strongly it makes you feel something, whether those feelings are inspirational and uplifting or disturbing and depressing. Like many first time viewers, I'm sure, I started out in Jake's corner (so to speak), wanting him to be successful in his fights and in his life. But without self-awareness, emotional maturity and understanding, Jake was doomed to self-destruction. While I felt bad for him, Jake clearly deserved everything that happened to him. It wasn't pretty to watch! And there came a time when those closest to him needed to get away for their own safety and sanity. I really like what JM said in one of his comments, "this film inspires awe and grudging admiration rather than affection". That is certainly true for me! (JM, you could do film analysis and commentary for a living!!) It's difficult to watch someone throw away all of the things in their life that should be most important to them! De Niro was frighteningly good, and Cathy Moriarty as Vickie did a great job, but I was blown away by Joe Pesci's performance! So good! Not one of my favorites, but definitely a powerful and disturbing film!
John Courtright
2024-07-27 06:29:00 +0000 UTCWow! This is so good JM ! I feel so green and how dare I have a YT channel compared to all your guys’ insights!!! I love it!
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-24 01:50:18 +0000 UTCWow so well said Shawn ❤️
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-24 01:49:35 +0000 UTCI also find this one to be very similar in theme to Taxi Driver. It may not be The Life & Times of Travis Bickle, Part II, but it continues the examination of the type of man who is so self-involved (and in this case ambitious) that he is unable to effectively process any heightened human emotion. Violence is how he experiences life, at first through circumstance of the neighborhood and upbringing, then through professional necessity, then finally by choice or preference, even repeatedly telling his brother to punch him in the face. Joe Pesci is great here. It's easy to see how this was a breakthrough role for him. Ames said it perfectly: "Jake can't get out of his own way." Every moment of his day is spent stewing in anger, suspicion, jealousy, sexual insecurity, and attempts to deny his own self-doubt and pursue control that he will never obtain. "I'm not an animal. I'm not that guy. I'm a winner. You never got me down, Ray." He is obsessed with not accepting a public perception that there is anything imperfect in his private life. This leads directly to everyone he knows noticing those imperfections more often, as well as the emotional breakdown where he is unable to physically break down the walls.
Shawn Goforth
2024-07-24 00:49:34 +0000 UTCThis film is the spiritual sequel to Taxi Driver. It stretches Scorsese's TD cameo into a feature-length depiction of rage, self-hate, and sexual jealousy. The artistic high point comes during the final fight with Sugar Ray Robinson. Scorsese uses a Vertigo shot (dolly-zoom) to put the viewer in Jake's shoes. Then the stark, intense lights frame Robinson as the angel of death as he delivers the final punishing blow that staggers, but doesn't knock down, LaMotta. DeNiro and Pesci are rightly lauded for their performances, but to me Cathy Moriarty steals the show. Cybill Shepherd was perfect for Taxi Driver -- her eyes and face have a warmth and friendliness that play well against Bickle's aloof, alien personality -- but she would have been totally wrong for Raging Bull. OTOH Moriarty, at just 18-19 years old, has a hard, icy gaze that regards Jake as either a worm or, at best, an irredeemable and pitiful misbehaving child. She stands toe-to-toe with DeNiro and comes out on top in most of their scenes. (Pity her career was derailed by an auto accident.) I really enjoyed revisiting this classic. I can't deny that this is a great film, but for some reason I never connected with it the same way I did with Scorsese's other early works. Like LaMotta himself, this film inspires awe and grudging admiration rather than affection. But it certainly belongs on the AFI 100 list.
JM63
2024-07-23 22:55:23 +0000 UTCFor me the best choice Scorsese made was to film in black and white. I think it magnifies the drama. Amazing performances all around. But an 18 year old Cathy Moriarty holding her own against DeNiro? Awesome! For a sad, albeit funny, postscript to the Jake LaMotta story; check out Doug Stanhope's "Lady and the Champ" story on YouTube.
James Rogers
2024-07-23 21:53:17 +0000 UTC😂😂😂 I watched Diogo's 3 for 3 saves on replay that day all day LOLOLOLZ
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-23 04:42:02 +0000 UTCEveryone please thank Ames for picking this movie but she should be thanking the 22 average Italian footballers and 1 awful coach that showed for Euro 2024. And Diojo Costa.
AJ
2024-07-23 04:12:56 +0000 UTCgreat write up Robert. It's a hard one to watch for sure.
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-23 02:23:44 +0000 UTCTo a certain degree, I've always wondered why Scorsese and De Niro wanted to make this movie. It's brutal and ugly and, outside of his pugilistic tenacity, there is absolutely nothing redeemable about Jake LaMotta. But it's also undeniable. It's tough to get through for a lot of viewers as there is no candy before the medicine ie an exhilarating ascent before the brutal and inevitable downfall as in say Goodfellas or Casino. So, why tell this story at all? I've heard them talk about it, yet I'm still not entirely sure why. Nevertheless, I'm so glad they did, because I can never, ever look away. Marty's second best, for me.
VivendoBem
2024-07-22 22:30:25 +0000 UTCWow
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-22 21:45:11 +0000 UTCRight!
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-22 21:44:16 +0000 UTCCathy Moriarty is incredible in this movie. Not one false moment. She's as tough as he is!
Toc
2024-07-22 21:19:29 +0000 UTCOne of the truly great American films. It seems reductive to use the word biopic in relation to Raging Bull, because how many films in that benighted genre have dared to reach so deeply into the soul of their protagonist and present him warts and all for our judgement, our understanding, and our empathy? Scorsese refused De Niro’s pleas to make this film throughout the 70s, but having spent years destroying himself with drugs, he had a near-death experience that shook him up and made him understand the heart of a story that had been impenetrable to him. There aren't many American studio films that combine raw honesty and impeccable artistry in such a potent way, and Raging Bull moves me more deeply every time I revisit it, a little older, hopefully wiser, but more conscious of the mistakes and insecurities that can scar a life. I have always liked this passage from Steven Bach’s indispensable book Final Cut, on the very first screening of the film for the studio executives, where everyone was incredibly fearful of the reaction it would prompt from United Artists President Andy Aleck: “The passion that got the movie made showed in every frame. I glanced across in the dark of the Magno screening room at Andy Albeck, sitting stiff and straight in his seat, attentive and expressionless as the violence on the screen reflected brightly on his spectacle lenses. His reaction was impossible to read. I turned back to the screen, where De Niro was not acting but inhabiting his role, in what seemed to me the most compelling performance I had ever seen on film. The lights came up slowly in a room full of silence, as if the viewers had lost all power of speech. Nor was there the customary applause. Martin Scorsese leaned against the back wall of the screening room as if cowering from the silence. Then Andy Albeck rose from his seat, marched briskly to him, shook his hand just once, and said quietly, “Mr. Scorsese, you are an artist.” He turned and left and walked back to 729 and to work.”
Henry Graham
2024-07-22 21:03:11 +0000 UTCin my outro... i said i am not ready to choose yet.... LOL.. The deer hunter russian roulette scene sticks with me the most. i think this is a role of a lifetime. but I LOVE his portrayal of Travis Bickle and all of Taxi Driver... its to hard. I need to re watch them .. what about you??
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-22 19:50:49 +0000 UTCOk.. Now that you've seen BOTH? Which DeNiro performance is better in your opinion. DEER HUNTER or RAGING BULL? BTW? This was chosen by film critics as the BEST MOVIE OF THE DECADE...
RFK Fan
2024-07-22 19:41:51 +0000 UTCThanks to MEEEE hahaha
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-22 18:46:19 +0000 UTCHoly Christmas! Raging Bull? Now? Wow! Sure! Yeah!!! Thanks! And thanks to AJ! Wow. First last week....now this week! Amazing! :D
Toc
2024-07-22 18:31:46 +0000 UTCLFG!
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-22 16:33:34 +0000 UTCYes it’s coming to the channel for SURE
Amalia Wolf
2024-07-22 16:33:23 +0000 UTCTonight!
AJ
2024-07-22 16:23:36 +0000 UTC@ames don't you want to Dances with Wolves?!?
Randolph Tirazona
2024-07-22 16:14:25 +0000 UTC
