Raging Bull

An excellent movie about a bad person. That it was made in black and white only adds to the depression. Give Scorsese a lot of credit. It must have been tempting to portray La Motta as a victim of his environment, a good man wronged by the bad people with whom he associated. It was not to be. De Niro gives a splendid performance. From the beginning, he is ruthless, untrusting, paranoid, insecure, and violent. In his later years, he is all of that and boorish to boot. In fact, the post retirement part of this movie is what makes it a great film. Stripped of his boxing skills, he is in middle life what he always was before: a low class brute, an embarrassment to those who tried to give him a modicum of respect and dignity. He sinks to the lowest level that a public figure can fall: not forgotten, not pitied, but laughed at and ridiculed. If you like your coffee strong and black, your whiskey straight up, and believe that there are famous people with no redeeming social qualities, then this movie is for you. In retrospect, one cannot help but draw an analogy to Goodfellas. There are many scenes in this movie that are strikingly familiar to ones in Goodfellas. Many of the second tier actors are the same. But this movie is better. There is no panache or make believe bravado. So watch it and then watch it again. And then take your hat off to Scorcese. This is one of a kind.