Movie
The year 1980 was an interesting one for movies. Although we (as a society) did not realize it, this was the milestone year that ushered out the groovy halcyon days of the disco ‘70s and—like a harbinger—replaced them with the go-go ‘80s (and AIDS, Reganomics and Richard Simmons…go figure).
More importantly, this was the year that we got to see THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER, CADDYSHACK, THE ELEPHANT MAN, MIDNIGHT MADNESS, POPEYE, FLASH GORDON, ORDINARY PEOPLE, 9 TO 5, THE STUNT MAN, FAME and… RAGING BULL.
To mix campy and plain awful films in with the classics is the point that I am going to make: it was an awesome year for flicks! Needless to say, ORDINARY PEOPLE won the Best Picture Oscar that year, but we all know that it should’ve gone to…
(wait for iiiiiiitttttt)
…yes, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK!!!!
(or as it is now known: STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK)
Awright, awright, awright…keep ya friggin’ shirt on. Obviously, this review is about the other film that really deserved that auric-toned statuette. But I couldn’t help myself…
RAGING BULL tells the epic story of a New York boxer named Giacobe “Jake” La Motta, who in 14 years of professional boxing fought over 110 matches and was knocked to the canvas but once! No wonder they called him “The Bronx Bull.”
As talented a fighter as Jake was, it was his personality that needed the workout. According to the film (and by rights, his own words—since the movie was based on his book [with writers Joseph Carter and Peter Savage]), Jake was not such a nice guy. You might even say a prick. But hey, nobody’s perfect…
It was this character’s imperfections and foibles that director Martin Scorsese had wanted to capture (and most definitely accomplished) in the film version. Along with his brilliant screenwriters, Mardik Martin (MEAN STREETS, NEW YORK NEW YORK) and Paul Schrader (TAXI DRIVER, THE YAKUZA), Scorsese paints a painful yet riveting picture about a man who crashes and burns—all the more fascinating because he probably deserves it.
Before delving more deeply into the technical aspects of RAGING BULL, I must of course address the talent in front of the camera. Cast as La Motta is Robert De Niro—who went on to
win a much-deserved Best Actor Oscar that following year. He is nothing short of brilliant in this role. Mean, reptilian and volatile, De Niro pulled a Method Actor trick by training hard to tone up his body for the sequences as the young pugilist and then packing on 60 pounds to play the older, heavier
