Saturday, December 15, 2007

Raging Bull by Martin Scorsese


In Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980) Robert De Niro plays Jake LaMatta in what is one of the 10 best performances of all time. In the picture De Niro does an impression of Marlon Brando's famous speech in On the Waterfront (1954). Raging Bull follows the story of Jake LaMatta, Middle Weight Champion back in the 1950's who has become famous for never being knocked down, this is Martin Scorsese's masterpiece and it is a film that must be appriciated even if its not loved. What Scorsese does inside the ring is remarkable as he shifts the size of the ring, the sounds, the fog, the lighting depending on what LaMatta is seeing or feeling, and only once in the picture do we see a fight from outside of the ring. Scorsese's Bull is the greatest film of the 80's, its the greatest feat from one of the true masters of cinema, its the greatest sports film ever made and Robert De Niro's finest moment as an actor.