Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9636 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-11-27
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Black & White, Colour, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
• Dubbed in: French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
While every Martin Scorsese fan has her or his favourite movie, few would argue that Raging Bull is one of his very best. It strikes a near-perfect balance between formal experiment (it's shot in black and white and features heavily stylised, slo-mo fight sequences) and emotional content, delivered through the compelling true-life story of heavyweight boxer Jake La Motta (on whose autobiography it was based), and frequently scores high on critic and audience polls of the best films of the 20th century.

The traditional rise-and-fall biopic structure serves as a vehicle for a brutally tender distillation of most of the director's favourite themes (male violence, sexual jealousy, ambition and failure). Onscreen, it features two of his favourite leading actors, Robert De Niro (whose intense physical exertions and pasta diet for the role won him an Academy Award), and Joe Pesci, as La Motta and his brother Joey respectively. Trapped in a bubble of emotional and verbal inarticulacy, Jake and Joey's constant, repetitive bickering ("Did you fuck my wife?" La Motta asks over and over again in one scene, undaunted by however many times Joey denies it), is counterpointed by Jake's eloquence in the ring, manifestly the only place where he can express himself. As the title suggests, the guy's an animal, a real antihero in satin shorts.

The smouldering, statuesque Cathy Moriarty is on hand as Jake's long-suffering wife Vickie, as are a whole posse of Scorsese regulars. All are aided and abetted by several of Scorsese's most gifted and vital off-screen collaborators: screenwriter Paul Schrader (co-author of Taxi Driver), cinematographer Michael Chapman (Taxi Driver), and the indispensable Thelma Schoonmaker, editor of almost every Scorsese film since his feature, Who's That Knocking at My Door?. They don't come much better than this. --Leslie Felperin

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

'The Film That Became A Legend' beautifully illustrated 16 page booklet offering a detailed insight into the making of the film
Interactive menu and chapter search
Original Theatrical Trailer
Set of 3 collectors' postcards
Plus a second disc containing exclusively commissioned material :-
'The Bronx Bull' 26 minutes (approx) In-depth Documentary exploring the making of this film
Jake's Jokes - a selection of jokes from La Motta's cabaret act
Plus two hidden special features
Widescreen - 1.85:1 version
Dolby Digital Surround
Soundtrack: English/German/Spanish/French/Italian*
Subtitles: English/German/Spanish/Dutch/Finnish/Swedish/English for the hearing impaired*
* applicable to Disc 1 only, Disc 2 English only.

Synopsis
With RAGING BULL, Martin Scorsese's personal approach to filmmaking is taken to a whole new level. Shooting in a crisp black and white, Scorsese tells the story of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, played with incredible intensity by Oscar winner Robert De Niro. As La Motta rises through the ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown, he falls in love with Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), a gorgeous girl from his Bronx neighbourhood. Jake's inability to express his feelings pours out in the ring and eventually takes over his life in his dealings with his brother, Joey (a brilliant Joe Pesci). Irrational jealousy over Vickie, as well as an insatiable appetite, sends him into a downward spiral that costs him his title, his wife, and his relationship with Joey. As the out-of-control fighter, De Niro delivers one of the screen's most unforgettable performances. Pesci is just as intense as Joey, who finally realises that he is unable to tame his animalistic brother. Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman shoot the film with a stylish flair that fills the boxing scenes with boundless energy and adds immediacy to the endless arguments that erupt whenever Jake is outside the ring. Simply put, RAGING BULL is one of American cinema's masterworks.

Customer Reviews

The greatest film ever
I believe its impossible to write a review for this film,it is quite simply the darkest, saddest and most beautiful film ever made. De niros performance is the greatset ever in the history of cinema, This film is only critisied by "normal" people, But i sympathise with La Motta all the way through. The infamous scene in the jail cell screaming "WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? they called me an animal, im not animal, in not that bad, im not that bad" Has me on the brink of tears with every viewing.
Sometimes its good to wallow in depression, and this film takes you to places you dont wanna go. If your shallow and enjoy rubbish teen comedys and cliched movies with everything there soley to entertain, Then dont step into La Mottas, scorcesses and De niro dark world of Raging Bull...

Superbly Acted and Directed, but Often Shocking
This is yet another incredibly convincing performance from Robert Deniro, all the more impressive considering he is playing such an utterly horrible human being.

This film takes the viewer through some of the most turbulent years of the career of Jake La Motta, the famous boxer.

It's just as well that Deniro's acting and Scorcese's directing are of such a high calibre, because Jake La Motta himself was a thoroughly unpleasant man who cheated on his first wife, seduced a fifteen year old girl, went on to marry that fifteen year old girl and the proceeded to knock her about incessantly. He also neglected his career and ended up, as his wife called him, 'a fat pig'.

Scarily, Deniro acts this part with aplomb, and Scorcese's direction gives the usual gritty Taxi Driver/Mean Streets quality. Everything here is shot in black and white, including the fight scenes, which are so powerful they defy belief. At one point during a fight, blood splatters several spectators across the face. This may or may not be there for dramatic embellishment, but it's a powerful effect just the same.

Difficult though it was for me to like Jake La Motta as a person, this film is absolutely worth seeing for the wonderful acting of Robert Deniro, in one of his classic roles.

Example of Brilliant Method Acting
Scorsese is on top form - the use of black and white any have been a quality issue, but he uses it well. The fight scenes are other worldly - exaggerated to the extent that it is breathtaking and more shocking than previous boxing scenes in other movies. My favourite effect is the sound editing in the fights where silence and calm seem to descend just before key moments.....amazing. The relationship stuff is also gripping and Scorsese handles he human cost just as well as he shows us the physical beatings.

De Niro is amazing - the method stuff alone is great, but his whole performance is intense. Similarly Moriaty, Pesci and Frank Vincent are excellent - however they all stand in De Niro's shadow.

Overall - an excellent film on so many levels, as a story, as a examination of masculinity, as a sports film, as a lesson in direction and editing.....this excels in so many ways - may it never drop out of the top ten from the twentieth century!