Many people will recognize Robert de Niro’s role in Raging Bull as one of the best performances of his career. It won him an Academy Award in Best Acting and has solidified his talents as an actor. However, many people forget that the Raging Bull story is actually based on the memoir of real-life boxer, Jake LaMotta, who recently passed away at the age of 95 years old. LaMotta has lived a life beyond that of boxing, but we’ll always remember him as the rough and relentless boxer, the true Raging Bull. In honor of his memory, we’ve listed the top 5 moments from the movie to commemorate his life and legacy.
I’m Not An Animal
This is probably one of the film’s most emotionally gut-wrenching. After being thrown into prison, we get the fits that Jake is known for in the ring. We see him collect himself for a little bit as he sits down, and we can literally feel the heat coming from his heavy breaths, while he contains his anger. The period of silence that persists afterwards only give us a glimpse of what must have been going through his mind, but we soon find this out. Jake gets up to face the wall and proceeds to pound it.
First Loss
It’s a maddening scene of chaos almost reminiscent of the chaos that is boxing today. We see Jake give his all in a fight, clearly defeating his opponent in the match. But when he wasn’t announced as the winner, the crowd goes crazy. The other guy could barely get up to receive his win. We see Jake jumping around in celebration in the ring after his trainer tells him not to leave. He won that fight, and everyone knew it.
Hit Me in the Face
Here we see the internal struggle that Jake goes through, thinking that he’s the best out of all the boxers at the time. Yet because of his size, he’ll never be able to fight the likes of heavy weight boxer Joe Lewis. Then he tells his trainer to hit him in the face and actually coaxes him to do it. The scene shows us just how crazy Jake was what his mental state was when it comes to boxing and fighting.
The Steak Scene
The anger and aggression dominates even his home life. In this scene, Jake fights with his wife and almost gets physical over a piece of steak. His wife claims she is tired of Jake’s antics. Yet we see him laugh about it just a couple of minutes later and calls out the infamous line, “Come on honey, let’s be friends.”
Jake beats Sugar Ray
This scene is great for many reasons. First we see just how determined Jake was to win. The fact that Jake only won 1 out of 6 fights with Sugar Ray doesn’t even matter. Here he gives Sugar Ray his first professional loss. It’s a glorious moment for Jake, and while it doesn’t last a while, it’s great nevertheless.
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