View source for Raging Bull Delivers Outside Ring As Classic Sports Film

Jake LaMotta was a straight-ahead brawler, so determined to wreak havoc every time he entered the boxing ring that he handed the great Sugar Ray Robinson his first loss.<br><br>He was pretty much the same outside the ring, which is why Hollywood made a movie about his life.<br><br>"I was a no-good bastard," LaMotta said when "Raging Bull" came out 40 years ago. "It´s not the way I am now, but the way I was then."<br><br>LaMotta fought 106 times, winning a middleweight title and meeting Robinson six times - five of them losses. He once threw a fight on mob orders so he could get a title shot, and tasted the canvas only once in 869 rounds.<br><br>But it wasn´t boxing that drew a young director named Martin Scorsese to make a movie about the former middleweight champion. The ring framed the narrative, but it was LaMotta´s violence outside the ring - outlined in his autobiography of the same name - that drove the film.<br><br>The boxing scenes brim with an intensity and graphic violence never really captured before on the big screen. LaMotta fought crouched down and moving forward and at times it cost him, including the Feb. 14, 1951 beating at the hands of Robinson that was so brutal it became known as the second St. Valentine's Day massacre.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2005, file photo, Robert De Niro, left, and boxer Jake LaMotta stand for [https://www.academia.edu/people/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=photographers photographers] before watching a 25th anniversary screening of the movie "Raging Bull," in New York. "Raging Bull," about the life of Jake Lamotta, was No. 7 in The Associated Press' Top 25 favorite sports movies poll. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)<br><br><br>Still, it was the other beatings - including one of his first wife because she overcooked his steak - that drive the dark narrative of a boxer so full of rage that it consumed every part of his life.<br><br>The movie was rated No. 7 on a list of the best sports movies by a panel of Associated Press sports writers.<br><br>Robert De Niro won an Oscar playing LaMotta, and Joe Pesci made a breakout performance as his brother. But there wasn´t much to feel good about for moviegoers walking out of theaters after seeing the film in 1980.<br><br>"There is only one brief moment in the film - when LaMotta breaks down and cries after he has thrown a fight in order to get a chance at the championship - that the character is even the least bit sympathetic," the Hollywood Reporter said in its initial review. "Otherwise, he is totally unlikable."<br><br>De Niro boxed hundreds of rounds preparing to play LaMotta in the ring, and he largely succeeded in portraying the fighter like the 160-pounder with fists of fury that he was in the 1940s. De Niro then went on an eating binge in Italy to gain 50 pounds to play the [http://www.speakingtree.in/search/bloated%20LaMotta bloated LaMotta] after his ring career was over, when he worked, among other jobs, introducing strippers in a nightclub. LaMotta would go to prison for six months in 1957 for convincing a minor to become a prostitute.<br><br>Scorsese filmed the movie in black and white, with occasional color depicting LaMotta in what were supposed to be home movies of the time. The boxing scenes were especially jarring, used both to set the scene and  [http://LocalLotlizard.com Lot Lizard] to let the audience know where LaMotta was at that point in his career.<br><br>But boxing is used mostly to set up the meat of the movie, including LaMotta´s relationship with Vicki, his second wife whom he met when she was 15 and quickly became obsessed with. LaMotta´s jealousy and drinking fueled his many rages, and he was convinced during their 11-year marriage that his wife was always cheating on him.<br><br>"Those who think it´s a boxing picture would be out of their minds," Scorsese said upon LaMotta´s death. "It´s brutal, sure, but it´s a brutality that could take place not only in the boxing ring but in the bedroom or in an office. Jake is an elemental man."<br><br>The film was not a huge box office success, barely generating enough to cover expenses in its initial run. But the publicity generated by eight Academy Award nominations helped fuel a renaissance and there are those in the movie business who believe it is not only one of Scorsese´s finest films but perhaps De Niro´s acting masterpiece.<br><br>It was also the big film debut for Pesci, who would later have major mobster roles in "Goodfellas" and "Casino," both movies directed by Scorsese and featuring De Niro.<br><br>LaMotta, who died in 2017 at the age of 95, finished 83-19-4 in a ring career that stretched from 1941 to 1954. A member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, he briefly held the middleweight title before losing it in 1951 on Valentine´s Day to his nemesis, Robinson.<br><br>His career was notable, if not spectacular. But it was not until he penned his autobiography and an actor and filmmaker took notice that more than just hard-core boxing fans knew who he was.<br><br>He became the Raging Bull.<br><br>___<br><br>The Associated Press is presenting a one-of-its-kind Top 25 of sports movies, a suggestion of what to put on the screen while stuck at home. This is, of course, what we do at the AP: We rank things. So, 70 writers and editors around the world voted on the best in the history of sports cinema.<br><br>___<br><br>More on the AP Top 25 poll of sports movies: website<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>FILE - In this March 31, 1981, file photo, Robert De Niro accepts the Oscar for his performance in "Raging Bull," at the 53rd annual Academy Awards show in Los Angeles. The movie "Raging Bull," about the life of Jake Lamotta, was No. 7 in The Associated Press' Top 25 favorite sports movies poll. (AP Photo/File)<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>FILE - In this June 18, 1949, file photo, a crowd gathers in front of Jake Lamotta's home in the Bronx borough of New York, welcoming him home from Detroit where he won the middleweight boxing world championship against Marcel Cerdan. The movie "Raging Bull," about the life of Jake Lamotta, was No. 7 in The Associated Press' Top 25 favorite sports movies poll. (AP Photo/File)<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>FILE - In this June 18, 1949, file photo, newly crowned World Middleweight Boxing Champion Jake LaMotta, shows off his championship belt as he arrives with his wife, Vicky, at New York's Grand Central Terminal from Detroit where he defeated French World Champion Marcel Cerdan. The movie "Raging Bull," about the life of Jake Lamotta, was No. 7 in The Associated Press' Top 25 favorite sports movies poll. (AP Photo/File)<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>FILE - In this June 16, 1949, file photo, Jake LaMotta, right, fights Marcel Cerdan at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. LaMotta knocked out Cerdan in the 10th round to become the new world middleweight champion. The movie "Raging Bull," about the life of Jake Lamotta, was No. 7 in The Associated Press' Top 25 favorite sports movies poll. (AP Photo/File)<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>FILE - In this Feb. 14, 1951, file photo, Jake LaMotta, left, and Sugar Ray Robinson exchange lefts to the face in the first round of their middleweight championship bout at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Ill. Jake LaMotta was a straight up brawler, so determined to wreak havoc every time he entered the boxing ring that he handed the great Sugar Ray Robinson his first loss. He was pretty much the same outside the ring, which is why Hollywood made a movie about his life. "Raging Bull" was No. 7 in The Associated Press' Top 25 favorite sports movies poll. (AP Photo/File)<br><br><br><br><br>Advertisement