Raging Bull (1980) Review

"She was saying he was good-looking."

"So you make him ugly, what's the difference?"

Everything that's an asset to protagonist Jake Lamotta in his quest to become a champion boxer- his rigidity, his anger, his toughness, his jealousy, his violence- turns against him. A would-be man's man who constantly comes off as childish, menacing his wife and brother like a schoolyard bully.

Dangerously insecure, once the occasional violent release his boxing career offers him- and the money and goodwill it brings in- is over, his life quickly falls apart as he turns on himself and those closest to him.

A thumping, deeply unlikeable performance by DeNiro muscles its way through the runtime. The real Jake Lamotta who the movie is based on, reportedly, understandably, was not pleased with his portrayal on first blush, before later reflecting more on the performance and recognizing, "Eh, maybe I was that bad of a bad guy back then." More people could probably use that sort of cinematic therapy.