Freud would certainly have had a ball analyzing some of the movie’s greatest lines from its malignantly jealous protagonist. Interestingly, Pesci’s character halfway through “Raging Bull” brutally attacks a mafioso played by Frank Vincent, a scene that would play out again 11 years later in Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”īut, if it isn’t boxing, what is “Raging Bull” really about? Insecurity, perhaps. Although her character becomes, painfully, a prop for Joey’s anger and later on Jake’s abuse, Moriarty, who was barely 20 years old when the film was released in 1980, offers what might be one of the most biting monologues in any movie I’ve seen.Īlso fantastic is Joe Pesci as Joey, Jake’s brother who’s pretty much as repugnant as the protagonist. Catherine Moriarty’s performance as Vicki is incredible in its use of understatement that finally boils over after years of mistreatment. Meanwhile, the titular bull’s wife almost steals the show. The only real training scene we see Jake in, for instance, is when he rapidly wails on his brother Joey (Joe Pesci) shortly after the boxer glimpses a wise guy (Frank Vincent) who may or may not be playing Jake for the cuckold with his teenage wife, Vicki. But, more interestingly: “Raging Bull” is also a very enigmatic movie.įor one, it’s a sports biopic that has little interest in the nuts-and-bolts of boxing. Opening to mixed reviews in 1980, the legendary film - a boxing drama starring Robert De Niro as the middleweight champion Jake LaMotta - is often considered one of Scorsese’s masterpieces.Īnd a masterpiece it is.
“Raging Bull” is a perfect movie that accomplishes each and every brutal task it sets out to do, and it was great getting to see it on the big screen at the second installment of the Sunset Series at Swift House Inn/Summer of Scorsese this past Thursday. I can’t believe this movie was made by Martin Scorsese, the same guy who made the 1977 gem “New York, New York.” Hayden Christenson would have played a more convincing Jake LaMotta than Mr. How about that Robert De Niro guy in the lead? Poorly miscast.
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