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Raging
Bull (1980)
In this black and white masterpiece (by cinematographer
Michael Chapman) from director Martin Scorsese, adapted from LaMotta's
1970 autobiography, with Robert DeNiro's incredible physical transformation
throughout the film as he gained 50 lbs:
- in the opening credits sequence, boxer Jake La Motta
(Robert De Niro), with his face hidden in the monk-like hood of
his leopard-skin robe, warmed up alone in the ring in slow-motion
by shadow-boxing into the smoky air, to the melancholy, haunting
soundtrack of the
"Intermezzo" from Cavalleria Rusticana (an opera
by Pietro Mascagni)
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- the next scene was set in New York City, in 1964
twenty-three years later; in stark contrast, La Motta was now
a paunchy, second-rate stand-up comedian at the Barbizon Plaza
Theatre, where a sign advertised his appearance; alone in his dressing
room, he was rehearsing for his nightclub appearance reciting bits
of Shakespearean tragedy, wearing a tuxedo and open shirt; his
fantasy of disrobing in the ring presented the film's recurrent
theme of sexual anxiety, fear, and confusion; he recited: "...I
know I'm no Olivier But if he fought Sugar Ray He would say That
the thing ain't the ring It's the play. So gimme a stage Where
this bull here can rage And though I can fight I'd much rather
recite That's entertainment! That's entertainment"; the remainder
of the film was a flashback - a look back at the middle-aged man's
life to try to understand why he was reciting lines in his dressing
room
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1964: Boxer-Entertainer Jake La Motta: 23 Years
later
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- the film's many brutal and graphic boxing sequences
(often in slow-motion with the spray onto the audience and the
violent sounds of impact) - sweat and blood sprayed out of the
ring, devastating blows were seen in close-up, and flashing - actually
exploding - camera bulbs popped; in the first sequence set in 1941,
Jake was declared the loser (it was a Mafia-fixed fight) against
his black boxer opponent Jimmy Reeves (Floyd Anderson) - it was
his controversial first defeat; Jake was disheartened that he was
being controlled by mobster Tommy Como (Nicholas
Colasanto)
- in the bruised-faced Jake's cramped NYC apartment
after the Reeves fight, in the famous "steak"
scene that demonstrated his hellish neighborhood life,
Jake sat in an undershirt eating while mulling over his latest disastrous
fight with his first wife Irma (Lori Anne Flax); after bullying Irma
about how she cooked his steak, the outraged Jake upended their table
- Jake's brother/manager Joey (Joe Pesci) walked in
on the couple's heated argument, soon, Joey was goaded into engaging
in a sexualized "sparring" match with his contemptuous brother
- at an open-air Bronx swimming pool, Jake experienced
his first view and lustful attraction toward fifteen-year old, blonde
"neighborhood girl" Vickie (20 year old Cathy Moriarty);
he spoke to her through a fence grating, and then after taking her
for a ride in his convertible, they played a game of miniature golf;
he pursued her for a relationship even though he was married, and became
extremely jealous if she showed interest in any other males
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First Views of 15 Year-Old Neighbor Girl Vickie
at Pool and Miniature Golf Game
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- In 1943, Jake fought and was victorious over boxer
Sugar Ray Robinson (Johnny Barnes), giving his opponent his first
loss in the ring - and marking a long rivalry between the two;
Jake encouraged sexual passion with now 17 year-old Vickie after
his fight with Sugar Ray Robinson, when he encouraged her: "Touch
my boo-boos...Give the boo-boo a kiss - make it better," but
then resisted sex with her to keep his boxing strength; LaMotta
and Sugar Ray engaged in a rematch a few weeks later, and Jake
lost due the judges' unanimous decision
- a series of black and white
stills, step-motion and freeze frames of Jake's next six victorious
boxing matches (from 1944 to 1947) were intercut and alternated
with candid, color
"home movies" of Jake's domestic life during the same period
shared with his wife Vickie
- a deal was arranged for Jake to fight Tony Janiro
(Kevin Mahon) in 1947, but he had gained weight and was at
168 lbs; his only incentive and interest in fighting Janiro was
because Vickie non-chalantly commented that Janiro was "good-lookin'"
- and Jake wanted to obliterate his face; he became continually
suspicious that Vickie was cheating on him; Jake also
had Joey watch over her when he was out of town
- before the Janiro fight, on a night out at the Copacabana
Club, Jake was introduced to the audience by another comedian as
a "special
guest" - "the
world's leading middle-weight contender, the Bronx bull, the raging
bull"; he also got involved in violent altercations with Tommy Como's
small-time hood lieutenant Salvy (Frank Vincent) who was seen flirting
with Vickie, and he became obsessed over losing her; he also had
to acquiese to Como's demands that he throw his next fight with Billy
Fox (Ed Gregory) if he wanted a chance at the title (it was the
film's fifth fight sequence); Jake obviously took a dive in the Fox
fight and felt professionally disgraced
- then, in 1949, it was arranged for Jake to fight
against the French middleweight champion Marcel Cerdan, but simultaneously,
he was becoming increasingly jealous of Joey and insanely suspicious
of Vickie's infidelity; he believed that Vickie had been sleeping
with Salvy, and even turned on his own brother, convinced that he
had been betrayed
- as the tension mounted between the two brothers, the
two of them were followed in a lengthy and memorable tracking shot
from the locker room on their long walk
through the stadium tunnel to the crowd and up into the ring, for
the Cerdan fight; Jake won the bout and the title with a TKO
- afterwards, in a very volatile scene, an ominous-looking
Jake confronted his manager-brother Joey - to relentlessly question
and browbeat Joey to get him to admit that
he 'violated' his wife ("You
f--ked my wife?"); Joey's refusal to answer the repulsive, perverse
questions intensified Jake's suspicions and made Joey look guilty
("I'm not gonna answer. That's a sick question, you're a sick
f--k, and I'm not that sick that I'm gonna answer it. I'm not tellin'
ya anything...I'm not stayin' in this nuthouse with ya. You're a
sick bastard...")
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Jake to Joey: "You f--ked my
wife!"
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- then, Jake physically assaulted
Vickie in their bedroom - he pulled on her hair, slapped her, and
then asked: "Did
you f--k my brother?"; she locked herself in the bathroom -
and then sarcastically mock-'confessed' to all that he was accusing
her of: "I f--ked all of them! What do you want me to say?...I
f--ked all of them - Tommy, Salvy, your brother! All of them! I sucked
your brother's cock, what do you want me to say?...I sucked his cock
and everybody else on the f--king street, too. What do you want?
You're nothin' but a fat pig, selfish fool!"
- the beserk Jake additionally physically attacked
Joey in his brother's dining room - where he dragged
him from the table and brutalized him; the two wives tried to pull
him off, and then he slugged Vickie (the first time!) and knocked
her out, and then charged out; later, he was in his living room in
front of his television set without a picture; Vickie returned home,
went upstairs, and began packing to leave; he came to her and humbly
begged for forgiveness: "I'm a bum without you and the kids.
Don't go." At her dresser, she embraced him
- at the same time in his boxing career, Jake fought
in a climactic, 5th and final middleweight
championship boxing ring battle against Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951;
Jake was mangled during his bloody title defense fight
against
his life-long nemesis; although
completely and utterly defeated, Jake still cried out and taunted
his victorious black rival in his corner: "Hey, Ray, I never went
down, man! You never got me down, Ray! You hear me, you never got
me down"
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1951 Fight Against Sugar Ray: "You never
got me down, Ray!"
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- in 1956 after his professional boxing career ended
(and his life was facing a sharp decline), an older and fatter
Jake lived in Miami with Vickie and his children - poolside, he
was now 50 pounds overweight, and told a reporter that he had retired: "It's
over for me. Boxing's over for me. I'm through. I'm tired of worryin'
about weight all the time"
- Jake bought his own seedy Florida nightclub
on Collins Avenue that he dubbed "Jake La Motta's"; there,
he performed nightly as a stand-up comedian
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entertaining the audience with rambling, unfunny one-liners and numerous
obscenities - also he offered his crowds self-deprecating, pitiable,
and partially hostile humor peppered with sexist rude jokes; he also
unfaithfully kissed two under-aged young females at the bar to 'prove'
that they were twenty-one so that they could order alcohol: "I know
what a twenty-one-year old kisses like."
Nightclub Jokes
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At Dawn: Jake's Divorce from Vickie
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Jake's Return to His House To Retrieve His Championship
Belt
(with Jewels)
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- meanwhile, at dawn while sitting outside the club
in a Cadillac with the window only slightly cracked open, Vickie
announced her divorce to Jake: "Look,
Jake, I got a lawyer, we're gettin' a divorce. I'm gettin' custody
of the kids...I already made up my mind. I'm leavin'. That's it.
The kids are gonna be with me. And if you show your face around,
I'm gonna call the cops on you, all right?"; now separated from
his wife, he was awakened in
the next scene by deputies from the DA's office, and arrested
on a morals charge for soliciting male clients with prostitutes
in his nightclub
- out on bail after his arrest, Jake returned to his
home to "pick
up one thing" -
his championship belt (with embedded jewels) from the mantle (propped
up in front of the picture of the two brothers 'playing' at boxing),
to pawn it for bail (or bribe) money after being arrested on a morals
charge for soliciting a client for a young underaged 14 year-old
female in his nightclub (one of the females he had kissed); Jake
also lost his club's license
- in 1957, Jake was wrestled like a bull as he was being
put into a jail cell in a stockade in Dade County; he slammed
his head, fists, and then his arms into the cinder-block cell wall
("Why? Why? Why?...Why'd you do it? Why? You're so stupid")
- his shadow-boxing with his own self brought pain and suffering
and a new self-awareness
- in 1958, Jake took
a job introducing strippers in a seedy NY bar; after a chance encounter
with his brother Joey, he made a failed attempt on the street to
reconcile with him: ("C'mon,
be friends. C'mon. You're my brother. Be friends....Kiss me. Give
me a kiss...Just kiss me. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon") - but Joey
ignored him
- Jake's pitiful end was as an overweight and bloated
night-club emcee at the Barbizon Plaza Theatre (a return to the film's
beginning in 1964) - including his recitation in front of his backstage
dressing room mirror, while wearing a tuxedo and shirt (unbuttoned
at the top) and brandishing a cigar; he recited Brando's famous On
the Waterfront "I coulda been a contender" speech in
the taxi-cab scene; when alerted that he had five minutes, Jake sent
himself off with shadow-boxing into the entertainment arena: "Go
get 'em, champ"; off-screen, he mumbled to himself: "I'm
the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss...(I'm
the) boss, boss, boss, boss, boss, boss"
- the film's final title:
"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
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"Steak" and Sparring Scene with Brother Joey
(Joe Pesci)
Picture of the Two Brothers Between Jake and Vickie
Love-Making with 17 Year-Old Vickie
'Home' Movies (1944-1947)
At the Copacabana Club - Jake Was Introduced as "Raging
Bull"
Tracking Shot: Tunnel Walk to the Ring with Joey
- From Two Angles - For His Fight Against the French Middleweight
Champion Marcel Cerdan
Jake's Increasing Jealousy and Abuse Toward Vickie
Vickie's Mock-Confession: "I f--ked all of
'em. What do you want me to say?"
Jake's Brutalization of Joey
Asking for Forgiveness From Vickie
50 Pounds Overweight - Miami in 1956
Kissing Underaged Female in Club
Jake Arrested on Morals Charges in 1957
Wrestled and Imprisoned in Dade County Stockade
"Why? Why? Why?"
Jake's Failed Reconciliation with His Brother in
NY
Return to the Opening Scene: Jake's Recitation of: "I coulda
been a contender"
Jake Shadow-boxing: "Go get 'em champ!"
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