Raging Bull (1980)
95%RT Audience Score: 93%
Awards & Nominations: Won 2 Oscars
24 wins & 28 nominations total
Arguably Martin Scorsese’s and Robert De Niro’s finest film, Raging Bull is often painful to watch, but it’s a searing, powerful work about an unsympathetic hero.
Raging Bull is a knockout of a movie! Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro team up to bring us the story of Jake La Motta, a boxer with a complex personality and a lot of issues. De Niro’s performance is nothing short of amazing, and it’s no wonder he won an Oscar for it. The film is visually stunning, and the violence is not gratuitous but serves to comment on the nature of violence itself. Sure, some critics may find fault with the film’s structure or Scorsese’s obsession with masculinity, but who cares? This movie packs a punch and will leave you reeling long after the credits roll.
Production Company(ies)
Chartoff-Winkler Productions,
Distributor
United Artists
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1980
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby Stereo
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 8m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jan 1, 1980 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 8, 2005
Genre(s)
Biography/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Jake LaMotta, Joseph Carter, Peter Savage, Paul Schrader, Mardik Martin, biography, drama, box office, budget, reviewed by Ron Pennington, Bruce McCabe, Gary Arnold, Kathleen Carroll, Leonard Maltin, Keith Uhlich, George Anderson, Brian Eggert, Q.V Hough, Eve Tushnet, Sarah Brinks, Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler, MPAA rating R, middleweight boxer, Bronx, downward spiral, unsympathetic hero, violent undertones, masculinity, character study, psychological destruction, jealousy, violence against women, emotional immaturity, toxic masculinity, champion boxer, eroticism, black and white, slow motion, self-destruction, defeat, haunting, powerful, stellar performances, brutal honesty
Worldwide gross: $23,402,427
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $87,954,257
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,079
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 9,591,522
US/Canada gross: $23,383,987
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $87,884,953
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 814
US/Canada opening weekend: $128,590
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $483,285
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,418
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $18,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $67,650,104
Production budget ranking: 621
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $36,429,581
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$16,125,428
ROI to date (est.): -15%
ROI ranking: 1,480
Cathy Moriarty – Vickie La Motta
Joe Pesci – Joey La Motta
Frank Vincent – Salvy
Nicholas Colasanto – Tommy Como
Theresa Saldana – Lenore
Director(s)
Martin Scorsese
Writer(s)
Jake LaMotta, Joseph Carter, Peter Savage, Paul Schrader, Mardik Martin
Producer(s)
Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 2 Oscars
24 wins & 28 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Editing Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (80) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (75) | Rotten (5)
Scorsese goes overboard in an attempt at low-keyed naturalism, however, and there is little dramatic structure to the biographical overview… But there’s no denying the power and artistry of De Niro’s performance.
December 26, 2018
Ron Pennington
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
This is a masterpiece. It proves that a film can have violent undertones and overtones, but still illuminate and comment upon violence in a moving, poetic and profound way.
April 26, 2018
Bruce McCabe
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
Martin Scorsese’s obsession with a dubious mystique of masculinity turns “Raging Bull” into a ponderous work of metaphysical cinematic bull.
May 5, 2017
Gary Arnold
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
“Raging Bull” ultimately has a numbing effect on the brain as if one’s head had been pummeled by La Motta’s so-called “girlish” fists.
November 13, 2015 | Rating: 2.5/4
Kathleen Carroll
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
The other night, my wife and I sat down to watch the new 30th Anniversary Blu-ray edition of Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull. I could scarcely believe it’s been three decades since…
April 21, 2011
Leonard Maltin
leonardmaltin.com
TOP CRITIC
When has a performer as fully and uniquely sacrificed himself to the moving-picture cause as De Niro?
November 3, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Keith Uhlich
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
There is unquestionable ugliness in Raging Bull, but there is astonishing power, too. It may shock you; it will definitely drain you. You won’t soon forget it.
June 16, 2022
George Anderson
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Jake La Motta, driven by jealousy, self-hatred, and complexes enough to enthrall any Freudian theorist, comes to life through Robert De Niro’s greatest performance.
March 20, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Raging Bull a complex character study about methods and codes of conduct all too often gets reductively tagged as Martin Scorsese’s toxic masculinity sports movie that allowed Robert De Niro to lose (and gain) weight in pursuit of an Oscar.
February 18, 2022
Q.V. Hough
Vague Visages
I like this; I like movies where remorse changes people, but I like also the occasional one that reminds you that it doesn’t have to, remorse isn’t magic, nothing’s inevitable inside of you…
September 13, 2021
Eve Tushnet
Patheos
Robert De Niro’s performance as Jake La Motta is certainly worthy of the Academy Award he won for it. He captures the type of character someone would have to be in order to be a champion boxer.
April 1, 2021
Sarah Brinks
Battleship Pretension
For a film about violence, it’s incredible that boxing remains at second sight. The life of Jake La Motta was a turbulent one, and De Niro literally becomes him. Visually stunning. [Full review in Spanish]
March 1, 2021 | Rating: 8/10
Victor Pineyro
Seventh Art Studio…
Plot
Raging Bull is a biographical drama about a middleweight boxer who rises through the ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown, but falls in love with a girl from the Bronx and struggles to express his feelings, leading to a downward spiral that costs him everything.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Robert De Niro’s performance in Raging Bull is considered by many to be one of the greatest in the history of cinema.
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