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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Raging Bull

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Raging Bull is a 1980 American biographical film directed by Martin Scorsese, adapted byPaul Schrader and Mardik Martin from the Jake La Motta memoir Raging Bull: My Story. It starsRobert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, a middleweight boxer whose sadomasochistic rage, sexual jealousy, and animalistic appetite exceeded the boundaries of the prizefight ring, and destroyed his relationship with his wife and family. Also featured in the film are Joe Pesci as Joey, La Motta's well intentioned brother and manager who tries to help Jake battle his inner demons, and Cathy Moriarty as his abused wife. The film features supporting roles from Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, and Frank Vincent.
Scorsese was partially convinced by De Niro to develop the project, though he eventually came to relate to La Motta's story. Schrader re-wrote Martin's first screenplay, and Scorsese and De Niro together made uncredited contributions thereafter. Pesci was an unknown actor prior to the film, as was Moriarty, who was suggested for her role by Pesci. During principal photography, each of the boxing scenes were choreographed for a specific visual style and De Niro gained approximately 60 pounds (27 kg) to portray La Motta in his early post-boxing years. Scorsese was exacting in the process of editing and mixing the film, expecting it to be his last major feature.
After receiving mixed initial reviews (and criticism due to its violent content), it went on to garner a high critical reputation and is now widely regarded among the greatest films ever made, including Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, renowned British motion picture historianLeslie Halliwell, the American Film Institute, Time magazine, The New York Times, Variety,Entertainment Weekly, Empire magazine, Total Film, Film 4, BFI's Sight and Sound and AMC'sFilmSite. It was listed in the National Film Registry in 1990, its first year of eligibility.

Plot

In 1964, an aging, overweight Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro) practices a comedy balls routine. A flashback to 1941 shows his first loss in a major boxing match, against Jimmy Reeves. Jake's brother Joey LaMotta (Joe Pesci) later discusses a potential shot for the middleweight title with one of his Mafia connections, Salvy Batts (Frank Vincent). Some time thereafter, Jake spots a 15-year-old girl named Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) at an open-air swimming pool in his Bronx neighborhood. He eventually pursues a relationship with her, even though he is already married. Jake defeats Sugar Ray Robinson once in 1943 but loses to him three weeks later when the judges rule in favor of Robinson, whom Joey feels won only because he was enlisting into Army the following week. Jake is married to Vickie by 1947.
As Jake's fears grow about Vickie having feelings for other men, particularly Tony Janiro, the opponent for his forthcoming fight, he shows off his sexual jealousy when he defeats Janiro in front of the local Mob boss, Tommy Como (Nicholas Colasanto) and Vickie. As Joey discusses the victory with journalists at the Copacabana, he is distracted by seeing Vickie approach a table with Salvy and his crew. Joey speaks with Vickie, who says she is giving up on his brother. Blaming Salvy, Joey viciously attacks him in a fight that spills outside of the club. Como later orders them to apologize, and has Joey tell Jake that if he wants a chance at the championship title, which he has control over, he will have to take a dive first. In a match against Billy Fox, Jake does not even bother to put up a fight. He is suspended shortly thereafter from the board on suspicion of throwing the fight, though he realizes the error of his judgment when it is too late. Despite the suspension, he eventually wins the middleweight championship title against Marcel Cerdan in 1949.
A year later, Jake asks Joey if he fought with Salvy at the Copacabana because of Vickie. Jake then asks if Joey had an affair with her; Joey refuses to answer, insults Jake, and decides to leave. Jake directly asks Vickie about the affair and she sarcastically states that she had sex with the entire neighborhood (including his brother, Salvy, and Tommy Como) after he breaks down the bathroom door where she briefly hides from him. Jake angrily walks to Joey's house and brutally beats him up in front of Vickie and Joey's wife and children. After defending his championship belt in a brutal fifteen round bout against Laurent Dauthuille in 1950,[1] he makes a call to his brother after the fight, but when Joey assumes Salvy is on the other end and starts insulting and cursing at him, Jake says nothing and hangs up. Estranged from Joey, Jake's career begins to slowly decline and he eventually loses his title to Sugar Ray Robinson in their final encounter in 1951.[2]
By 1956, Jake and his family have moved to Miami. After staying out all night at his new nightclub there, Vickie tells him she wants a divorce (which she has been planning since his retirement). He is later arrested for introducing under-age girls (posing as 21-year-olds) to men and serves a jail sentence in 1957 after failing to raise enough bribe money by taking the jewels out of his championship belt instead of selling the belt itself. In his jail cell, Jake pounds the walls, sorrowfully questioning his misfortune and crying in despair. Upon returning to New York City in 1958, he happens upon his estranged brother Joey, who forgives him but is elusive. Going back to the beginning sequence, Jake refers to the "I coulda' have been a contender" scene from the 1954 movie On the Waterfront starring Marlon Brando complaining that his brother should have been there for him but is also keen enough to give himself some slack. After a stage hand informs him that the auditorium where he is about to perform is crowded, Jake starts to chant "I'm the boss" while shadowboxing. The film ends on an ambiguous note with the Biblical quote,
"So, for the second time, [the Pharisees]
summoned the man who had been blind and said:
'Speak the truth before God.
We know this fellow is a sinner.'
'Whether or not he is a sinner, I do not know.'
the man replied.
'All I know is this:
once I was blind and now I can see.'
John IX. 24-26
the New English Bible"

[edit]Cast

[edit]Production

[edit]Development

Raging Bull came about when De Niro read the autobiography upon which the film is based on the set of The Godfather Part II. Although disappointed by the book's writing style, he became fascinated by the character of Jake LaMotta when he showed the book to Martin Scorsese on the set of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as a means to hopefully consider the project.[4] Scorsese repeatedly turned down his offers by resisting the director's chair, claiming he had no idea what Raging Bull was about, even though he did read some chapters of the text.[5] The book was then passed onto Mardick Martin, the film's eventual co-screenwriter, who said "the trouble is the damn thing has been done a hundred times before — a fighter who has trouble with his brother and his wife and the mob is after him". The book was even shown to producer Irwin Winkler by De Niro, who was willing to assist only if Scorsese agreed.[6] After nearly dying from a drug overdose, Scorsese agreed to make the film for De Niro's sake, not only to save his own life but also to save what remained of his career. Scorsese knew that he could relate to the story of Jake LaMotta as a way to redeem himself when he saw the role being portrayed as an everyman that "...the ring becomes an allegory of life" making the project a very personal one to him.[7][8][9][10]
Robert De Niro in training with the real Jake LaMotta
Preparation for the film began with Scorsese shooting some 8mm color footage featuring De Niro boxing in a ring. One night when the footage was being shown to De Niro, Michael Chapman, and his friend and mentor, the English director Michael Powell, Powell pointed out that color of the gloves at the time would have only been maroon, oxblood, or even black. Scorsese decided to use this as one of the reasons to film Raging Bull in black and white. Other reasons would be to distinguish the film from other color films around the time and to acknowledge the problem of fading color film stock - an issue Scorsese recognized.[11][12][13] Scorsese even went to two matches at the Madison Square Garden to aid his research, picking up on minor but essential details such as the blood sponge and latterly, the blood on the ropes (which would later be used in the film).[13]

[edit]Screenplay

Under the guidance of Winkler, Mardik Martin was asked to start writing the screenplay.[14] According to De Niro, under no circumstances would United Artists accept Mardik Martin's script.[15] The story was based on the vision of journalist Peter Hamill of a 1930s and 1940s style, when boxing was known as "the great dark prince of sports". De Niro was unimpressed when he finished reading the first draft, however.[16] Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader was swiftly brought in to re-write the script around August 1978.[16] Some of the changes that Schrader made to the script saw a re-write of the scene with the uncooked steak and inclusion of LaMotta seen masturbating in a Floridacell. The character of LaMotta's brother, Joey, was finally added, previously absent from Martin's script.[15][16] United Artists saw a massive improvement on the quality of the script. However, its chief executives, Steven Bach and David Field, met up with Scorsese, De Niro, and producer Irwin Winkler in November 1978 to say they were worried that the content would be X-rated material and have no chance of finding an audience.[11]
According to Scorsese, the script was left to him and De Niro, and they spent two and a half weeks on the island of Saint Martin, extensively re-building the content of the film.[10] The most significant change would be the entire scene when LaMotta fixes his television and then accuses his wife of having an affair. Other changes included the removal of Jake and Joey's father; the reduction of organized crime's role in the story and a major re-write of LaMotta's fight with Tony Janiro.[17][18] They were even responsible for the end sequence where LaMotta is all alone in his dressing room quoting the "I could have been a contender" scene from On the Waterfront.[18] An extract of Richard III had been pondered but Michael Powell thought it would be a bad decision within the context of a film that was American.[10] According to Steven Bach, the first two screenwriters (Mardick Martin and Paul Schrader) would receive credit but since there was no payment to the writer's guild on the script, De Niro and Scorsese's work would remain uncredited.[18]

[edit]Casting

One of Scorsese's trademarks was casting many actors and actresses new to the profession, which on this occasion there would be no exception.[19] De Niro, who was already committed to play Jake LaMotta, began to help Scorsese track down unfamiliar names to play his on-screen brother, Joey, and wife, Vickie.[20][21] The role of Joey LaMotta was the first to be cast. De Niro was watching a low budget television film called The Death Collector when he saw the part of a young career criminal played by Joe Pesci (then an unknown and struggling actor) as an ideal candidate. Prior to receiving a call from De Niro and Scorsese for the proposal to star in the film, Pesci had not worked in film for four years and was running an Italian restaurant in New Jersey. Pesci initially claimed that it would have to be a good role for him to consider it, and he later accepted the part.
The role of Vickie LaMotta, Jake's second wife, would have interest across the board, but Pesci who suggested the actress, Cathy Moriarty, from a picture he once saw at a New Jersey disco.[21] Both De Niro and Scorsese believed that Moriarty could portray the role after meeting with her on several occasions and noticing her husky voice and physical maturity. The duo had to prove to the Screen Actors Guild that she was right for the role when Cis Corman showed 10 comparing pictures of both Moriarty and the real Vickie LaMotta for proof she had a resemblance.[21] Moriarty was then asked to take a screen test which she managed—partly aided with some improvised lines from De Niro — after some confusion wondering why the crew were filming her take. Joe Pesci also persuaded his former show-biz pal and co-star in The Death Collector, Frank Vincent to try for the role of Salvy Batts. Following a successful audition and screen test, Vincent received the call to say he had received the part.[22] Charles Scorsese, the director's father, made his film debut as Tommy Como's cousin, Charlie.[22]
While in the midst of practicing a Bronx accent and preparing for his role, De Niro met both LaMotta and his ex-wife, Vikki on separate occasions. Vikki, who lived in Florida, would tell stories about her life with her former husband and also show old home movies (that would later inspire a similar sequence to be done for the film).[12][23] Jake LaMotta, on the other hand, would serve as his trainer accompanied by Al Silvani as coach at the Gramercy club in New York getting him into shape. The actor found that boxing came naturally to him; he entered as a middleweight boxer, winning two of his three fights in a Brooklyn ring dubbed "young LaMotta" by the commentator. According to Jake LaMotta, he felt that De Niro was one of his top 20 best middleweight boxers of all time.[12][21]

[edit]Principal photography

The filming of the boxing scenes with director, Scorsese (center left, with beard) and the director of photography, Michael Chapman (center right, with white shirt).
According to production mixer, Michael Evje, the film began shooting at the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium on April 16, 1979. Grips hung huge curtains of black duvetyne on all four sides of the ring area to contain the artificial smoke used extensively for visual effect. On May 7, the production moved to the Culver City Studio, Stage 3, and filmed there until the middle of June. Scorsese made it clear during filming that he did not appreciate the traditional way in films to show fights from the spectators' view.[13] He insisted that one camera operated by the Director of Photography, Michael Chapmanwould be placed inside the ring as he would play the role of an opponent keeping out of the way of other fighters so that we could see the emotions of the fighters, including those of Jake.[21] The precise moves of the boxers would be done as dance routines from the information of a book about dance instructors in the mode of Arthur Murray. A punching bag which sat in the middle of the ring was used by De Niro between takes before aggressively coming straight on to do the next scene.[21][24] The initial five-week schedule for the shooting of the boxing scenes took longer than expected, putting Scorsese under pressure.[21]
According to Scorsese, production of the film was then closed down for around four months with the entire crew being paid, so De Niro could go on a binge eating trip around Northern Italy and France.[12][24] When he did come back to the United States, his weight increased from 145 to 215 pounds (66 to 97 kg).[21] The scenes with the heftier Jake LaMotta — which include announcing his retirement from boxing and LaMotta ending up in a Florida cell — were completed while approaching Christmas 1979 within seven to eight weeks so as not to aggravate the health issues which were already affecting De Niro's posture, breathing, and talking.[21][24][25]
According to production sound mixer, Michael Evje, Jake's nightclub sequence was filmed in a closed-down San Pedro club on December 3. The jail cell head-banging scene was shot on a constructed set with De Niro asking for minimal crew to be present - there wasn't even a boom operator.
The final sequence where Jake LaMotta is sitting in front of his mirror was filmed on the last day of shooting taking 19 takes, with only the thirteenth one being used for the film. Scorsese wanted to have an atmosphere that would be so cold that the words would have an impact as he tries to come to terms with his relationship with his brother.[10]

[edit]Post-production

The editing of Raging Bull began when production was temporarily put on hold and was completed in 1980.[24][26] Scorsese worked with the editor, Thelma Schoonmaker to achieve a final cut of the film. Their main decision was to ditch Schrader's idea of LaMotta's nightclub act intervening with the flashback of his youth and instead just follow along the lines of a single flashback where only scenes of LaMotta practicing his stand-up would be left "bookending" the film.[27] A sound mix arranged by Frank Warner was a delicate process taking six months.[26] According to Scorsese, the sound on Raging Bull was difficult because each punch, camera shot, and flash bulb would be different. Also, there was the issue of trying to balance the quality between scenes featuring dialogue and those involving boxing (which were done in Dolby).[24] Raging Bull went through a test screening in front of a small audience including the chief executives of United Artists,Steven Bach and Andy Albeck. The screening was shown at the MGM screening room in New York around July 1980. Later, Albeck praised Scorsese by calling him a "true artist".[26] According to the producer, Irwin Winkler, matters were made worse when United Artists decided not to distribute the film but no other studios were interested when they attempted to sell the rights.[26] Scorsese made no secret that Raging Bull would be his "Hollywood swan song" and he took unusual care of its rights during post-production.[7] This caused some friction with Irwin Winkler, who accused Scorsese of doing the editing process "inch by inch". Scorsese threatened to remove his credit from the film if he was not allowed to sort a reel which obscured the name of a whisky brand known as "Cutty Sark" which was heard in a scene. The work was completed only four days shy of the premiere.[28]

[edit]Reception

[edit]Box Office

The brew of violence and anger, combined with the lack of a proper advertising campaign, led to the film having a modest box office intake of $23 million. Scorsese became concerned for his future career and worried that producers and studios might refuse to finance his films.[29]According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed $23,383,987 in domestic theaters.[30]

[edit]Critical Response

Raging Bull first premiered in New York on December 19, 1980 to mixed reviews.[26][27] Jack Kroll of Newsweek called Raging Bull "the best movie of the year"[26] Vincent Canby of The New York Times said that Scorsese "has made his most ambitious film as well as his finest" and went on to praise Moriarty's debut performance as "either she is one of the film finds of the decade or Mr. Scorsese is Svengali. Perhaps both."[29] Time praised De Niro's performance since "much of Raging Bull exists because of the possibilities it offers De Niro to display his own explosive art".[29] Steven Jenkins from the British Film Institute's (BFI) magazine, Monthly Film Journal said "Raging Bull may prove to be Scorsese's finest achievement to date".[29] Many critics however were repelled by the film's violence and its unsympathetic central character. For example, Kathleen Carroll from The New York Daily News criticized the character of Jake LaMotta as "one of the most repugnant characters in the history of the movies"; she also faulted Scorsese because the movie "totally ignores [LaMotta's] reform school background, offering no explanation to his anti-social behavior".[26]

[edit]Top Ten Lists

[edit]Awards

Raging Bull was nominated for eight Academy Awards (including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor,Cinematography, Sound, and Editing) at the 1980 Academy Awards.[29][37] The Oscars were held the day after President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr., who did it as an attempt to impress Jodie Foster, who played a child prostitute in another of Scorsese's famous films, Taxi Driver[38].Out of fear of being attacked, Scorsese went to the ceremony with FBI bodyguards disguised as guests who escorted him out before the announcement of the Academy Award for Best Picture was made - the winner being Ordinary People. Nevertheless, the film managed to pick up two awards including Best Actor (De Niro) and Best Editing (Schoonmaker).[29]
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association voted Raging Bull the best film of 1980 and best actor for De Niro. The National Board of Reviewalso voted best actor for De Niro and best supporting actor to Pesci. The Golden Globes awarded another best actor award for De Niro andNational Society of Film Critics gave best cinematography to Chapman. The Berlin Film Festival chose Raging Bull to open the festival in 1981.[29]

[edit]Legacy

By the end of the 1980s, Raging Bull had cemented its reputation as a modern classic. It was voted the best film of the 1980s in numerous critics' polls and is regularly pointed to as both Scorsese's best film and one of the finest American movies ever made.[39] Several prominent critics, among them Roger Ebert, declared the film to be an instant classic and the consummation of Scorsese's earlier promise. Ebert proclaimed it the best film of the 1980s,[33] and one of the ten greatest films of all time.[40] The film has been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1990.[41] The film currently holds a 98% "Certified Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[42] The similarly themedMetacritic rates the movie 92/100 ("universal acclaim").[43]
Raging Bull was listed by Time magazine as one of the All-TIME 100 Movies.[44] Variety magazine ranked the film number 39 on their list of the 50 greatest movies.[45] Raging Bull was fifth on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.[46] The film tied withThe Bicycle Thief and Vertigo at number 6 on Sight and Sound's 2002 poll of the greatest movies ever.[47] In 2002, Film 4 held a poll of the 100 Greatest Movies, on which Raging Bull was voted in at number 20.[48] Halliwell's Film Guide, a British film guide, placed Raging Bullseventh in a poll naming their selection for the "Top 1,000 Movies".[49] In 2008, Empire magazine held a poll of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, taking votes from 10,000 readers, 150 film makers and 50 film critics: Raging Bull was placed at number 11.[50] It was also placed on a similar list of 1000 movies by The New York Times.[51] In 2010, Total Film selected the film as one of The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.[52] FilmSite.org, a subsidiary of American Movie Classics, placed Raging Bull on their list of the 100 greatest movies.[53] Additionally, Films101.com ranked the film as the 16th best movie of all time (a list of the 9,335 most notable).[54]

[edit]American Film Institute recognition

[edit]Soundtrack

Martin Scorsese decided to assemble a soundtrack made of music that was popular at the time using his personal collection of 78s. The songs were carefully chosen so they would be the ones that you would hear on the radio, at the pool or in bars and clubs reflecting the mood of that particular era.[59][60] Some lyrics from songs would be slipped into some dialogue. The Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana by Italian composer Pietro Mascagni would serve as the main theme to Raging Bull after a successful try-out by Scorsese and the editor, Thelma Schoonmaker over the film's opening titles.[60] Two other Mascagni pieces were used in the film: the Barcarolle from Silvano, and the Intermezzo from Guglielmo Ratcliff.[61] A two-CD soundtrack was released in 2005, long after the film was released, because of earlier difficulties receiving permissions for many of the songs, which Scorsese selected from his childhood memories growing up in New York.

[edit]Sequel




In 2006, Variety reported that Sunset Pictures was developing a sequel entitled Raging Bull II: Continuing the Story of Jake LaMotta. It is still in the early stages of production and chronicles Jake's early life, as told in the sequel novel of the same name.[62] According to the Internet Movie Database, the film is to be directed by Martin Guigui and is rumored to star William Forsythe as Jake LaMotta.

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