---
title: "Raging Bull"
year: 1980
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/raging-bull"
fi1m_id: "raging-bull"
imdb_id: "tt0081398"
tmdb_id: 1578
wikidata_id: "Q220780"
fi1m_score: 91
critics_score: 83
critics_reviews: 14
published: "2026-09-12"
updated: "2026-10-06T10:36:20.498963+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Raging Bull (1980)

Directed by Martin Scorsese · 2h 09m · MPA R · Drama, History, Sport

## Identity

Raging Bull

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/raging-bull
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** raging-bull
- **IMDb ID:** tt0081398
- **TMDB ID:** 1578
- **Wikidata ID:** Q220780
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081398/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1578, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q220780

**Fi1m score: 91** · Critics 83 from 14 reviews

*In a sentence:* The boxing is the part of Jake LaMotta’s life with rules

> Martin Scorsese’s boxing drama is punishing, exact and worth the discomfort, with Robert De Niro making Jake LaMotta frighteningly difficult to dismiss. The repetition outside the ring can weary us, but the violence never becomes an easy pleasure.

## Synopsis

Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro) is a Bronx middleweight boxer whose aggression does not stop when he leaves the ring. Martin Scorsese’s drama follows his fighting and the personal relationships complicated by his jealousy, with Cathy Moriarty as Vickie LaMotta and Joe Pesci as Joey LaMotta. Jake approaches other people with the same readiness for conflict that he brings to an opponent. Affection is difficult for him to accept without suspicion, particularly where women are concerned. Frank Vincent plays Salvy Batts, and Nicholas Colasanto plays Tommy Como.

## Review

Martin Scorsese’s *Raging Bull* is worth the discomfort it causes. Boxing gives Jake LaMotta somewhere to put his aggression, and the film makes that aggression difficult to mistake for courage. The harder question is why we should spend 129 minutes with a man whose jealousy makes other people’s lives so difficult. Robert De Niro’s performance supplies a persuasive answer, although there are stretches when the repeated hostility tests our patience.

De Niro makes Jake’s limited emotional range frighteningly absorbing. He gives suspicion the concentration another man might devote to listening, so we can sense the effort Jake puts into misunderstanding people. We were horrified by his exchanges with women, where an ordinary remark seems liable to become evidence against the person saying it. The fear beneath the bullying remains visible, but De Niro never makes it an excuse. We can recognise the feeling and still want someone to get away from him.

Cathy Moriarty’s Vickie and Joe Pesci’s Joey give us other people worth watching. Moriarty makes Vickie’s watchfulness interesting in its own right; we want to know what she thinks before Jake decides for her. Pesci brings a quickness to the dialogue that makes a conversation involving Jake feel briefly less dangerous. Both actors can hold our attention while De Niro is there, which matters. They help Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader’s screenplay sustain encounters in which Jake gives other people so little chance to be heard.

Michael Chapman’s black-and-white photography moves between drab everyday surroundings and boxing that feels feverish and unreal. Blood on the ropes makes it difficult to enjoy the choreography simply as a display of skill, however precisely Scorsese organises the fighting. Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing gives the blows a rhythm without making them comfortable to watch; the bouts have shape, and the violence still feels ugly. The images are compelling enough to keep us looking when we would rather stop.

Gene Rudolf’s production design makes Jake’s surroundings feel cramped; there is little relief when we leave the ring. Pietro Mascagni’s music is tender enough to make the brutality harder to bear, and its use avoids the simple instruction to get excited about a fight. There is sadness in the music that Jake has trouble putting into words. It is one reason the film can hold our attention without making him more agreeable.

The film does become repetitive away from the fights. In the writing, jealousy and hostility recur so insistently that some exchanges confirm what we already know rather than show us anything further. The more doubtful reviews have a point about the uneven energy: the boxing can make the surrounding dialogue seem slow. We would shorten a few conversations, though the actors keep enough tension in them for us to stay interested even when Jake’s next suspicion is too easy to anticipate.

An inspirational boxing drama would have little use for this version of Jake. Scorsese is interested in how the qualities that make a fighter formidable become a daily burden for the people around him. That gives the film enough to occupy us beyond its ring sequences, however difficult the company. See it when you can give De Niro your attention, and do not expect to feel refreshed afterwards.

*Fi1m score 91, published 12 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Almost every critic recommends Raging Bull, and most do so without much qualification. The praise gathers around two things: Robert De Niro’s performance as Jake La Motta, which the reviews describe as transformative and furious, and the boxing scenes, which several call among the best ever put on film. The black-and-white photography draws repeated notice, as does Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing, which the Los Angeles Times singles out. A number of critics also admire the script for refusing to explain La Motta with tidy psychology.

The reservations are few and mostly old. The Hollywood Reporter finds the film slack outside the ring, with an improvised dullness the stylised fights make more obvious, and Variety worries that so repellent a protagonist limits its appeal. The Times, more recently, feels the anger and excess stop it short of five stars. The spread is narrow, and the coolest notices come from the film’s first release; the re-release reviews are warmer almost without exception.

## Straight answers

**Is Raging Bull worth watching?**

*Raging Bull* is worth watching for anyone prepared to spend 129 minutes with a man whose jealousy makes other people's lives miserable, and we scored it 91. Robert De Niro makes Jake LaMotta frighteningly absorbing, and Michael Chapman's black-and-white boxing sequences are hard to look away from. The hostility outside the ring does repeat itself, and nobody should expect to feel refreshed afterwards.

**How long is Raging Bull, and what is it rated?**

*Raging Bull* runs 2h 09m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and history film.

**Where can I watch Raging Bull in the US?**

*Raging Bull* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Tubi in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. It leaves Tubi on 1 October. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Raging Bull, and is it suitable for children?**

*Raging Bull* is a 15 in the UK and R in the US, and it is not for children. The ring violence is bloody and deliberately ugly, and the scenes of Jake bullying and intimidating the women around him horrified us more than any punch. Teenagers old enough for the certificate may manage it; the squeamish should know the brutality is the point, not a spectacle.

**How does Raging Bull compare to The Wrestler?**

*Raging Bull* is the harder and finer film, while [*The Wrestler*](https://film.one/film/the-wrestler) is the warmer one. Both follow a battered performer struggling with ordinary life beyond the crowd, but Scorsese gives us a man we are never asked to like, where Aronofsky and Mickey Rourke offer tenderness and humour. Choose *The Wrestler* if you want sympathy for the fighter; choose *Raging Bull* if you can bear to do without it.

**What should I watch after Raging Bull?**

After *Raging Bull*, try [*A Woman Under the Influence*](https://film.one/film/a-woman-under-the-influence) (1974, Fi1m 86): For performances that make domestic arguments almost too uncomfortable to watch. Then [*The Wrestler*](https://film.one/film/the-wrestler) (2008, Fi1m 85): A battered performer tries to manage ordinary life beyond the cheering crowd.

### Reviews we read (14)

- **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (★★★★★): The review highlights the film’s resistance to personal arcs and redemption in its portrait of elemental brutality. The restored print allows the blood to still drip from the ropes in this savage Bronx middleweight story. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/bfc387f2-e3fa-425c-a464-41d294ad81b4)
- **Empire**, Ian Nathan (95/100, inferred): The review declares Raging Bull everything it is cracked up to be, a peerless imprint of what cinema can aspire to in art, truth and exhaustion. It singles out the contrasting docu-drab and dreamily inventive black-and-white cinematography, along with De Niro's performance, for particular praise. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/raging-bull-review/)
- **Slant Magazine** (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Scorsese’s complex, bruising vision of violence, masculinity, and self-destruction in the film, highlighting its avoidance of reductive psychology and its visceral, subjective boxing sequences and performances. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/raging-bull-4k-uhd-review-martin-scorsese/)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): The critic finds Scorsese’s 1980 biopic a brutally nihilist tale that remains full of despairing beauty and unforgettable performances. The sheer brio and kinetic energy of the nightmarish boxing scenes are singled out as utterly unique. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/12/raging-bull-review-still-packs-a-punch-like-no-boxing-movie-before-or-since)
- **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (90/100, inferred): Canby calls the film Scorsese's most ambitious and finest work to date, with Robert De Niro delivering a titanic, career-best performance as the inarticulate, furious Jake La Motta. The movie is praised for its lyrical effect amid nonstop physical violence and its intelligent screenplay that refuses easy sociological or psychiatric explanations. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1980/11/14/archives/robert-de-niro-in-raging-bull.html)
- **Total Film** (90/100, inferred): The review calls Raging Bull a potent tragedy of a brutal pugilist at war with himself and a truly extraordinary modern classic. It singles out Scorsese's tautly choreographed ring sequences and the performances of De Niro, Pesci and Moriarty. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/raging-bull-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Sheila Benson (85/100, inferred): Benson describes the re-release as one of cinema’s most breathtaking films, with its black-and-white perfection, inky shadows, deliberate graininess, and poetic images that fix the Bronx setting in memory. She notes how a decade has shifted audience reactions to the brutish La Motta and praises the brilliant editing by Thelma Schoonmaker. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-05-ca-40-story.html)
- **The New Yorker**, Pauline Kael (80/100, inferred): Kael views the film as a biography of the prizefight genre and an exploration of movies, violence, and gritty visual rhythm rather than a straightforward rise-and-fall biopic. She highlights Scorsese and De Niro pushing deeper into inarticulate, elemental characters while noting the exact details of 1940s Bronx neighborhoods alongside the lack of specific psychological insights into La Motta. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1980/12/08/religious-pulp-or-the-incredible-hulk)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (70/100, inferred): The critic sees the film as an intense exploration of a man's brute force, anger, grief, and inability to view women beyond a madonna-whore complex, with De Niro and Scorsese fearlessly depicting the protagonist's limited emotional range. He praises the raw portrayal of jealousy, violence, and guilt channeled through boxing and personal relationships. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/raging-bull-1980)
- **Sight and Sound**, Richard Combs (70/100, inferred): The critic examines Raging Bull alongside Cassavetes' Gloria, highlighting Scorsese's expressive, metaphysical approach to gangster and boxing stories rooted in ethnic New York life, Catholic guilt and transcendence. It contrasts this with Cassavetes' more therapeutic, performer-driven realism, noting the film's rigorous realism mixed with total subjectivity and its focus on La Motta's masochistic absorption of punishment. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/hell-bronx-richard-combs-reviews-gloria-raging-bull)
- **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★☆): The film is an impassioned work asking huge questions about self-hatred, guilt, the punishment of the human body and the will to survive. It singles out Robert De Niro’s performance as Jake LaMotta for praise while noting the excess and anger make it too much for five stars. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/raging-bull-1980-review-angry-boxing-movie-tackles-big-questions-with-passion-kvm97grsp)
- **Variety**, Joseph McBride (70/100, inferred): The review finds the protagonist one of the most repugnant in recent cinema but highlights the boxing sequences as possibly the best ever filmed and the film's capture of a boxer's intensity. It notes the visceral power of the fights alongside the offputting character that may limit broader appeal. [Read](https://variety.com/1980/film/reviews/raging-bull-1200424804/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Ron Pennington (65/100, inferred): The critic calls it the most unromanticized movie biography ever produced by Hollywood, praising De Niro's brilliant and transformative performance along with the intense, brutal fight sequences. However, the review faults the film for lacking dramatic structure, having a dull improvisational quality outside the fights, and overly stylized techniques that highlight the rest of the film's lack of energy. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/raging-bull-review-1980-movie-850679/)
- **Den of Geek**, Stuart Anderson (5/5): The review calls Raging Bull a remarkable character study of Jake La Motta’s rise and fall, commending De Niro’s transformative performance, the realistic boxing scenes, and strong supporting turns while noting its enduring critical acclaim. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/raging-bull-30th-anniversary-special-edition-blu-ray-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Martin Scorsese
- **Director:** Martin Scorsese
- **Screenplay:** Paul Schrader, Mardik Martin
- **Cinematography:** Michael Chapman
- **Editor:** Thelma Schoonmaker
- **Music:** Pietro Mascagni
- **Production design:** Gene Rudolf
- **Costume design:** Richard Bruno, Marilyn Putnam
- **Producer:** Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler
- **Cast:** Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta; Cathy Moriarty as Vickie LaMotta; Joe Pesci as Joey LaMotta; Frank Vincent as Salvy Batts; Nicholas Colasanto as Tommy Como; Theresa Saldana as Lenore; Mario Gallo as Mario; Frank Adonis as Patsy
- **Runtime:** 2h 09m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 14 November 1980
- **Genres:** Drama, History, Sport
- **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 1980); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 1980)
- **Budget:** $18 million
- **Box office:** $23 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2UKuKxCJqc

## Where to watch in the US

- Amazon Prime Video: streaming
- Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-12.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, HU, IE, IN, IT, JP, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PL, PT, RO, SE, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 1981: Best Cinematography (nominated); Best Director (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Sound (nominated); Best Supporting Actor (nominated); Best Supporting Actress (nominated); Best Actor (won); Best Film Editing (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Set-Up* (1949): A boxer’s working life becomes a tense study of pride and exploitation.
- *This Sporting Life* (1963): Another formidable sportsman discovers that force is a poor substitute for tenderness.
- *A Woman Under the Influence* (1974), Fi1m 86: For performances that make domestic arguments almost too uncomfortable to watch. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-woman-under-the-influence.md)
- *Tokyo Fist* (1995): Boxing, jealousy and bodily punishment, pushed into far more feverish territory.
- *The Wrestler* (2008), Fi1m 85: A battered performer tries to manage ordinary life beyond the cheering crowd. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-wrestler.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/raging-bull