Critic Reviews
Raging Bull (1980) Rank 5 Reviews
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Long Che Chan
Raging Bull is about violence. It is a graphic film that uses time and space in and out of the boxing ring to full effect. The celebrated 1940s and '50s boxer, Jake LaMotta (Robert DeNiro), is portrayed here as sleazy, jealous, and brutal; he's an ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Long Che Chan
filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)
Considered by many to be the best film of the 1980s, "Raging Bull" falls short of that extremely high standard. Perhaps you can only go so far with a character study of a brutish man, his selfish wife, and his loudmouth brother. However, it is still a ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)
BBC Films
Time and again film critics are cornered at bus stops and in pubs by jabbering movie nuts who demand to know what the best ever film is. Which is it? Why is it? Is it a desert island must? Those of us who don't resort to violence generally admit that at ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at BBC Films
Teen Movie Critic (Roger Davidson)
Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese teamed up in probably the best of their collaborations, in the brutal biopic of boxer Jake LaMotta (De Niro, who won a well-deserved Oscar for this). He was a monstrous fighter inside and outside the ring. His ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Teen Movie Critic (Roger Davidson)
DVD Talk (Preston Jones)
Raging Bull is just one of those movies any self-respecting cinephile needs to view at least once, whether they come away singing Scorsese's praises or not. It's a moving, masterful dissection of a man uncomfortable in his own skin that must lash out at ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVD Talk (Preston Jones)
Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull was voted the best movie of the 1980's by critics everywhere, and it holds up well 10 years later. It's Scorsese's most stylized movie up to that point in his career, with the black and white photography emphasizing ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
TV Guide Entertainment Network, Movie Guide
RAGING BULL is an uncompromisingly brutal and emotionally devastating movie based on the life of middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta. The film chronicles the life of the fighter from 1941 until the mid-1960s and is chiefly concerned with the ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at TV Guide Entertainment Network, Movie Guide
MovieEye.com (David Litton)
"Raging Bull" finds the pairing of director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro back in fine form as they tackle the life of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta (De Niro), whose self-destructive life seems predestined for a Scorsese film. As a ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at MovieEye.com (David Litton)
Boston Globe
The film that many consider the finest of its decade, ''Raging Bull," has aged well, and not just because it was filmed in black and white. A tremendously assured film about a despicable man, it was admired in 1980 but hardly loved; today, it's very ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Boston Globe
Reel.com
Based on the real-life story of boxing brothers Jake and Joey La Motta, Raging Bull was nominated for eight Oscars and won two (Best Actor and Best Editing). It ranks #24 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best films of the 20th century. ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Reel.com
filmcritic.com (Jay Antani)
Twenty-five years since its release, Martin Scorsese's masterpiece Raging Bull has been crowned with so many critical laurels that another word in praise of it might seem hopelessly redundant. To claim that it puts to shame virtually any American film ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at filmcritic.com (Jay Antani)
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull" is a movie about brute force, anger, and grief. It is also, like several of Scorsese's other movies, about a man's inability to understand a woman except in ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
MovieFreak.com (Jon Bjorling)
Sports movies are always a mixed blessing. While the majority of sports films are nothing more than sentimental fluff, there are quite a few that hold true to reality. Raging Bull is such a film. Shot in black and white and in an almost documentary ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at MovieFreak.com (Jon Bjorling)
DVD MovieGuide
When I screened the DVD of 1980's Raging Bull, I hadn't seen it in a while. Though I always thought it was good, I never quite agreed with the tremendous critical hype that currently accompanies it. Critics now proclaim it as the best flick of the ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVD MovieGuide
Apollo Guide (Dan Jardine)
Raging Bull tells the story of a great boxer and marginally despicable human being: Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro). ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Apollo Guide (Dan Jardine)
The Onion A.V. Club
In the narrative line of '70s-era "New Hollywood," Martin Scorsese's New York, New York usually registers as a cautionary bump, like Steven Spielberg's 1941 or Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate. Those films are supposed to represent the hubris of the ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at The Onion A.V. Club
DVD Authority.com (Christopher Bligh)
When the decade of the eighties finished, many critics named films that were their favorites. One of the films that was on most of their lists (many at the top of it) was a film that lost Best Picture to Robert Redford's Ordinary People and told the ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVD Authority.com (Christopher Bligh)
DVD Clinic ("Indiana Sev")
A bio-pic on the life of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta that focuses on how his self-destructive behavior prevented him from reaching many of his personal and professional goals. De Niro gained a bunch of lbs. for this role and earned an Oscar for his ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVD Clinic ("Indiana Sev")
Movie Reviews UK
A bleak but compelling portrait of one-time middleweight champion Jake LaMotta, Raging Bull is both stunningly acted and emotionally unsettling. In 1941, out of the Bronx slums, rises a new example of boxing prowess, the unrelenting and ape-like Jake ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Movie Reviews UK
DVDBeaver
In one of the most famous fights in boxing history, "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre", their sixth fight, Sugar Ray Robinson beat Jake la Motta to a bloody pulp, landing 56 unanswered punches in the 13th round, before the referee stopped the fight ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVDBeaver
Classic Film Guide
Perhaps director Martin Scorsese's best film and another great boxing movie, this one is a biography of Jake La Motta, a middle weight boxing champion with a violent and (overall a) pretty messed up life, convincingly played by Robert De Niro, who won ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Classic Film Guide
DVD Town (James Plath)
There's been quite a fuss over Jamie Foxx's amazing portrayal of soul singer Ray Charles, and deservedly so. But in 1980, Robert De Niro all but set the bar for biopic performances when he made "Raging Bull," which is rated among the top 25 films of ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVD Town (James Plath)
The Greatest Films (Tim Dirks)
Raging Bull (1980) is an unrelenting, searing biopic and dramatic tragedy - based on the real-life story of an unlovable, stubborn middle-weight boxing champion as he struggles to be champion. His life passes through successive stages of punishment, ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at The Greatest Films (Tim Dirks)
DVDork.com (Ryan Keefer)
It's pretty amazing that it's been 20 years since this film has been made, but equally amazing is the fact that almost nobody saw it when it first came out, roundly considered a box office bomb, but it still was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 2, and ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVDork.com (Ryan Keefer)
LeisureSuit.net
Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980): Raging Bull There's a little Raging Bull in all of us. Some part of us that's just a bundle of id and testosterone, that doesn't think, but wants, and wants to pummel the hell out of anyone who would stand in the ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at LeisureSuit.net
Village Voice (Amy Taubin)
An anti-blockbuster about a guy who busts blocks legally for a living, Raging Bull makes pain the measure of manhood. Not only pain inflicted, but pain endured. As unsparing of its audience as its protagonist is of his opponents, his family, and himself, ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Village Voice (Amy Taubin)
Not Coming to a Theater Near You (Leo Goldsmith)
All of Martin Scorsese's work has been a curious mix of the public and the personal: his (usually male) characters always play out their deep-seated neuroses and frustrated desires in the public arenas of the family, the neighborhood, New York, the ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Not Coming to a Theater Near You (Leo Goldsmith)
Time Out
With breathtaking accuracy, Raging Bull ventures still further into the territory Scorsese has mapped in all his films - men and male values; in this case through the story of 1949 middleweight champion Jake La Motta. De Niro's performance as the cocky ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Time Out
DVD Town (Tim David Raynor)
First of all, let me say that I've never been a huge fan of boxing. Needless to say, my father would rather enjoy Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull," and when I recently asked him about the middleweight champ, Jake LaMotta, he chimed right in with a few ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVD Town (Tim David Raynor)
DVD Savant (Glenn Erickson)
A few months back Warners came out with a boxed set of Martin Scorsese films and now MGM follows up with its own four-film, five-disc offering. Although overall the titles are not as varied or interesting, this collection can boast what is probably ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVD Savant (Glenn Erickson)
The Flick Filosopher (MaryAnn Johanson)
The other great movie about boxing, Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull is as dismal as Rocky is triumphant, as hopeless as Rocky is hopeful. The true story of championship prizefighter Jake La Motta, this is unmannered, unpretentious filmmaking that tells ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at The Flick Filosopher (MaryAnn Johanson)
Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
He is as tough as nails in 1941, a real comer on the boxing scene. But no one wants to fight him. Jake La Motta. The Bronx Bull. His brother Joey serves as his manager, bearing his insults, moods, and rages. The Mob wants a piece of the action but La ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
digitallyOBSESSED.com (Jon Danziger)
Of all the great films, Raging Bull may be the most difficult to watch. There are all kinds of superlatives you can rightly pile on: the greatest sports movie ever made, the greatest film biography, the greatest work by our greatest living director, ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at digitallyOBSESSED.com (Jon Danziger)
DVD Net (Amy Flower)
Raging Bull is a boxing film right? BZZT! Wrong. Whilst the film revolves around the life of Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro), whose trade happens to be boxing, the actual "sport" takes a backseat to what is in actual fact an incredible warts and all - ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVD Net (Amy Flower)
homevideo.about.com (Ivana Redwine)
Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull" (1980) is arguably the greatest American biopic ever made. Based on the life of boxer Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro), I see the movie as a subtle character study of an unlikable man who relates to the world by giving ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at homevideo.about.com (Ivana Redwine)
CineScene.com (Sasha Stone)
"I recall every fall, every hook, every jab...they say my life wasn't drab. But give me a stage, where this bull here can rage..." Martin Scorsese, like all brilliant filmmakers, puts everything he has into a film - this one almost killed him. The ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at CineScene.com (Sasha Stone)
DVDnett.no
Filmen Raging Bull ER Martin Scorsese og Robert De Niro. I denne historien om den emosjonelt ustabile boksene finner du alle de særtrekkene ved de to parhestene (egentlig burde vi utvide til en trio og ta med Joe Pesci) som vi finner igjen i nesten alle ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVDnett.no
A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
Director Martin Scorsese's glorious filmed adaptation (written for the screen by Paul Schraeder) of Jake La Motta's novel stars Robert DeNiro in the title role of LaMotta, a tough-as-nails boxing champ who's as destructive in his life outside the ring ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
Edinburgh U Film Society (Keith H. Brown)
Though he loses five of his six bouts with Sugar Ray Robinson (often acknowledged as the world's greatest-ever boxer), La Motta's chief adversary over the years is not Robinson, but his own self-destructive nature. La Motta's relationships with ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Edinburgh U Film Society (Keith H. Brown)
Sports Illustrated (Frank Deford)
The violence in Raging Bull is ghastly and overdone. A nose crunches, broken for us to hear close up; copious amounts of blood gush out of orifices and gashes, drenching the ringside swells. To what purpose? There are, it seems to me, three possible ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Sports Illustrated (Frank Deford)
DVD MovieGuide
When I screened the DVD of 1980's Raging Bull. I hadn't seen it in a while, and though I always thought it was good, I never quite agreed with the tremendous critical hype that accompanies it. Best movie of the 1980s? I don't think ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at DVD MovieGuide
Reel Film Reviews (David Nusair)
While there's no denying that it's very well acted and flawlessly filmed, Raging Bull is nevertheless a sporadically engaging but mostly overrated look at the life and career of boxer Jake LaMotta (played by Robert DeNiro, in an Oscar-winning ...read the complete Raging Bull movie review at Reel Film Reviews (David Nusair)
User Reviews
by Jose Lopez "Jose ... on November 22, 2009
Great movie, Very Violent, well not very. But Pretty brutal, Yet you don't want to look away.Robert De Niro Is a genius,Joe Pesci is great,Black and white adds to the overall effect of a such movie. Raging Bull is a must to see for any De Niro Fan. Great ...
by A. Gyurisin "good... on July 15, 2009
"Raging Bull" is aggravating to watch. As an enormous fan of Scorsese's pre-2000 work, the catalogue of innovative, dark, gripping, and overall classic works that he did seem to be given the most praise, yet the least rewards. Knowing that DeNiro won ...
by D. Potter on April 08, 2009
Watching a black and white movie in blu ray is unbelievable. This is crisp, sharp and De Niro is as good as it gets. ...
by R. Becker "rob" on February 26, 2009
This is a blu-ray for film lovers. The film grain has been reproduced beautifully. There is some minor ringing on a few high contrast edges, but other than that nit-pick, this looks just like watching it at the movie theater, but with a pristine print. ...
by Lynn Ellingwood "... on February 16, 2009
I haven't seen this movie since it opened. I think it was dark, confusing and overwhelming. I tended to avoid it over the years because of what I perceived as its length and how good the movie really was. Seeing it now is a revelation. I am able to ...
by Yoshi "PSn ID Ben... on February 13, 2009
Raging Bull is an instant classic and is imo the best of the tandem of Scorsese and DeNiro's work. Now it's a must own blu ray. The picture quality is the best to be released for this film to this date and the sound quality is ...
by Geary A., Jones on January 25, 2009
Only one other film on fighting has the raw power of this masterpiece ( MILLION DOLLAR BABY ). De Niro is simply stunning in his portrayal of Jake LaMotta, and is pretty nearly matched by Joe Pesci, and Cathy Moriarty ( as, respectively, his brother, and ...
by JoeyD on July 16, 2008
This definitely isn't your average feel-good, stereotypical, underdog boxing movie. After all, Sly Stallone was the sole owner to the keys to that kingdom four years prior w/ his beloved "Rocky". In fact, this film really isn't about boxing at all ...
by G. Merritt on May 04, 2008
Martin Scorsese's Raging ...
by Andrew Ellington on May 02, 2008
Considered by many to be the greatest film of the 80's, and ranking number four on AFI's top 100 greatest American films, `Raging Bull' has become a landmark in American cinema. Martin Scorsese will always be remembered for this film, and rightfully so, ...
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