Starring: - Robert De Niro
- Cathy Moriarty
- Joe Pesci
Description:
Martin Scorsese's brutal character study incisively portrays the true rise and fall and redemption of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, a violent man in and out of the ring who thrives on his ability (and desire) to take a beating. Opening with the spectacle of the over-the-hill La Motta (Robert De Niro) practicing his 1960s night-club act, the film flashes back to 1940s New York, when Jake's career is on the rise. Despite pressure from the local mobsters, Jake trusts his brother Joey (Joe Pesci) to help him make it to a title bout against Sugar Ray Robinson the honest way; the Mob, however, will not cave in. Jake gets the title bout, and blonde teenage second wife Vickie (Cathy Moriarity), but success does nothing to exorcise his demons, even as he channels his rage into boxing. Alienating Vickie and Joey, and disastrously gaining weight, Jake has destroyed his personal and professional lives by the 1950s. After he hits bottom, however, Jake emerges with a gleam of self-awareness, as he sits rehearsing Marlon Brando's On the Waterfront speech in his dressing room mirror: "I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody." Working with a script adapted by Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader from La Motta's memoirs, Scorsese and De Niro sought to make an uncompromising portrait of an unlikable man and his ruthless profession. Eschewing uplifting Rocky-like boxing movie conventions, their Jake is relentlessly cruel and self-destructive; the only peace he can make is with himself. Michael Chapman's stark black-and-white photography creates a documentary/tabloid realism; the production famously shut down so that De Niro could gain 50-plus pounds. Raging Bull opened in late 1980 to raves for its artistry and revulsion for its protagonist; despite eight Oscar nominations, it underperformed at the box office, as audiences increasingly turned away from "difficult" films in the late '70s and early '80s. The Academy concurred, passing over Scorsese's work for Best Director and Picture in favor of Robert Redford and Ordinary People, although De Niro won a much-deserved Oscar, as did the film's editor, Thelma Schoonmaker. Oscar or no Oscar, Raging Bull has often been cited as the best American film of the 1980s.
DISC 1:
1. Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo - Orchestra Of Bologna Municop Thetra
2. Jersey Bounce - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra
3. Prisoner Of Love - Russ Columbo/Nat Shilkret Orchestra
4. Just One More Chance - Bing Crosby/Victor Young & His Orchestra
5. Cow-Cow Boogie - Ella Fitzgerald/The Ink Spots
6. Vivere - Carlo Buti
7. Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees) - The Ink Spots
8. Two O'Clock Jump - Harry James & His Orchestra
9. Drum Boogie - Gene Krupa & His Orchestra
10. All Or Nothing At All - Harry James & His Orchestra/Frank Sinatra
11. Flash - Harry James & His Orchestra
12. My Reverie - Larry Clinton & His Orchestra
13. Stornelli Fiorentini - Carlo Buti
14. Webster Hall - Robbie Robertson
15. Big Noise From Winnetka - Bob Crosby & His Bobcats
16. Frenesi - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
17. Do I Worry? - The Ink Spots
18. Turi Giuliano - Orazio Strano
DISC 2:
1. Silvano Barcarolle - Orchestra Of Bologna Municop Thetra
2. Stone Cold Dead In The Market - Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Jordan
3. Nao Tenho Lagrimas - Patricio Teixeira
4. Heartaches - Ted Weems & His Orchestra
5. New Kind Of Love, A - Robbie Robertson
6. Till Then - The Mills Brothers
7. Mona Lisa - Nat "King" Cole
8. That's My Desire - Frankie Laine/Mannie Klein's All Stars
9. Guglielmo Ratcliff Intermezzo - Orchestra Of Bologna Municop Thetra
10. Bye, Bye, Baby - Marilyn Monroe
11. That's Entertainment - Robert DeNiro
12. Blue Velvet - Tony Bennett
13. Scapricciatiello (Infatuation) - Renato Carosone
14. Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra
15. Medley - Louis Prima/Keely Smith
16. Lonely Nights - The Hearts
17. Prisoner Of Love - Perry Como/Andre Kastelanetz Orchestra
18. Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo - Orchestra Of Bologna Municop Thetra
19. At Last - Robbie Robertson
Raging Bull
