Raging Bull
De Niro as boxer Jake LaMotta in Scorsese's black-and-white biopic.
Raging Bull is a 1980 biographical sports drama directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin, adapted from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir Raging Bull: My Story. Robert De Niro plays LaMotta, a middleweight boxing champion whose personal life is wrecked by rage and jealousy.
Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent and Nicholas Colasanto, in his last film role, co-star.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Martin Scorsese
- Producer
- Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff
- Screenplay
- Paul Schrader, Mardik Martin
- Based on
- Raging Bull: My Story
- Jake LaMotta
- Joseph Carter
- Peter Savage
- Starring
- Robert De Niro
- Cinematography
- Michael Chapman
- Editing
- Thelma Schoonmaker
- Studio
- Chartoff-Winkler Productions, Inc.
Facts from the source article.
Background
Scorsese was reluctant at first but came to identify with LaMotta's story. Schrader rewrote Martin's first draft, and Scorsese and De Niro made further uncredited changes. De Niro put on about 60 pounds to play LaMotta in later life, and Scorsese, expecting this to be his last major feature, was exacting in the edit and sound mix. United Artists released it on 19 December 1980 after a New York premiere; it took $23.4 million on an $18 million budget and drew mixed reviews, though De Niro's performance and the editing were widely praised.
More in Films
Elsewhere in Martin Scorsese
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced