Raging Bull

+ intro by season curator Dr Clive Chijioke Nwonka

Martin Scorsese’s drama about the life and times of legendary middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta features a startling, Oscar-winning performance by Robert De Niro.

  • Director

    Martin Scorsese

  • With

    Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty

  • USA 1980. 129min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    15

Martin Scorsese’s biopic depicts the life of legendary Bronx boxer Jake LaMotta, whose ascent to the world championship in the 1940s was undermined by violence outside the ring and a fractious personal life. A masterpiece on many levels – sound, editing, cinematography and direction – with an era-defining performance by De Niro, Raging Bull is an extraordinary study in masculinity, violence and the search for redemption, capturing the determination that drove LaMotta to boxing glory inside the ring and the rage that dismantled his life outside it.

A BFI National Archive print. New 35mm print made with funding from the National Lottery and the additional support of donors to our Keep Film on Film campaign. Courtesy of MGM.

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