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Raging Bull

Hollywood and English-Language Studio Cinema

Raging Bull is a 1980 American biographical sports drama directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro as middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta, tracing his rise in the ring alongside his self-destructive jealousy and violence toward his family. Shot largely in black and white, the film is noted for De Niro's physical transformation for the role, including significant weight gain to portray LaMotta in his later years, for which De Niro won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Raging Bull is widely regarded as one of the greatest American films and sports biopics ever made.

Facts
Classification
Original Language
English 1
Award
Academy Award for Best Actor 1
Award
Academy Award for Best Film Editing 1
Award
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films 1
Release Year
1980 1
CountrySourced to the subject's own account
United States 2
FAQs

Did Robert De Niro really gain weight for Raging Bull?

He gained more than fifty-five pounds to play La Motta as a nightclub performer.

Yes. De Niro gained more than fifty-five pounds to match the middle-aged, bloated body of Jake La Motta in the scenes where La Motta appears as a nightclub performer, which frame the central story. He also spent a year training with the real boxer and performed the carefully choreographed fight scenes himself.

How does Raging Bull differ from the Rocky films?

It is a darker, less resolved portrait of a real boxer, where Rocky follows a fictional hero.

Raging Bull was released midway through the Rocky series, which follows a fictional and likable boxing hero. Raging Bull tells the story of the real middleweight Jake La Motta and, in the words of one reference account, offers a more complicated, less resolved and far darker look at men who live in the ring.
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Source Raging Bull (Wikipedia)

In Medium

Film, Media Forms
Source Raging Bull (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases

Original Language

Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Sources
1. Wikidata: Raging Bull
Wikidata Q220780, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
2. Raging Bull (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • lead sentence
    Raging Bull is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin, which adapts Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir Raging Bull: My Story.
  • infobox, Country field
    United States
  • Raging Bull, Description, original language
    Raging Bull is a 1980 American biographical sports drama directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro as middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta, tracing his rise in the ring alongside his self-destructive jealousy and violence toward his family.
View the Source
Raging Bull (Wikidata)
  • Wikidata P166: Academy Award for Best Actor
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Academy Award for Best Actor.
  • Wikidata P166: Academy Award for Best Film Editing
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Academy Award for Best Film Editing.
  • Wikidata P166: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
    Wikidata P166 (award received): National Board of Review: Top Ten Films.
View the Source
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