* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Creator/MartinScorsese initially didn't have a lot of hope with this biographical film since his [[Film/NewYorkNewYork previous film]] was a BoxOfficeBomb and he later got a drug addiction. But considering the film's star won an Oscar for Best Actor, and the film turned out to be very significant, it's safe to say Scorsese had better luck than he ever could have thought.
* AwardSnub: One of the more notorious ones. It won two UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s for Actor and Editing, but not for Director, Screenplay, or Picture.[[note]]Some people theorize that ''Film/RagingBull'' didn't win Best Picture because Creator/UnitedArtists couldn't afford to finance an Oscar campaign following the financial debacle that was ''Film/HeavensGate''.[[/note]]
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Creator/CathyMoriarty made her official acting debut as Jake's second wife Vikki. Not only does she have her share of fans for this reason, but also because she comes across as being a very sympathetic victim among Jake's abuse.
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
** While Jake is calling Joey long after Jake beat him to a pulp, Joey, thinking it's Salv, unknowingly hurls insults towards Jake. That shouldn't be funny but it is when Joey tells him that his mother sucks big elephant dicks, essentially insulting ''his own mother''.
** Jake is forced to throw a fight to get a championship shot, except his opponent is sent reeling from just one punch, forcing him to just stand there and let himself get beat up while it's perfectly obvious to everyone what's going on.
** After he retires and moves to Miami, Jake tells a reporter that he's just opened a nightclub, and keeps badgering the reporter to guess the name of the club, leading us to think it's something colorful and maybe boxing-related. Nope. It's just called Jake [=LaMotta=]'s (which is [[ItsAllAboutMe perfectly in character]] for Jake).
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: A meta example: As noted under CreatorBreakdown, Creator/MartinScorsese was struggling with a cocaine addiction at the time and planning on retiring as a director. Creator/RobertDeNiro specifically brought the project to Scorsese in hopes that its themes of self-destruction would help Scorsese overcome his problems. Needless to say, they succeeded.
* HilariousInHindsight: In his jail cell, Jake says "I'm not an animal!" to himself. The film became DuellingMovies with ''Film/TheElephantMan'', which had that as its most famous line.
* HypeBacklash: It's fairly common for viewers to approach this film with its reputation as a masterpiece in mind and come away confused or disappointed. Many find it difficult to watch due how unlikable Jake is, the fact that it's [[DeliberatelyMonochrome in black-and-white]]. Others come in expecting a boxing movie in the vein of ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' and are taken that the fight scenes only last for the first 2/3rds of the film with the finale being somewhat anti-climactic. This in a way is more or less why the film was so divisive on initial release and its generally acknowledged that the film, for some viewers, takes repeated viewings to get into.
* JerkassWoobie:
** Joey can act like a crude, violent KavorkaMan at times, but he's also something of a MoralityChain for Jake, trying intermittently to keeps the latter grounded.
** Jake does many horrible things throughout the film, but turns into a washed-up hack, averting sports movie sentimentalism by showing that VictoryIsBoring. The fact that he comes out a changed man and finally owns up to being a colossal asshole (in fact, the real La Motta was a consultant on the film and was perfectly fine with such a negative portrayal) doesn't hurt either. The scene where he starts punching the walls of his cell in self-punishment sheds a lot of light on his character.
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Creator/JohnTurturro makes his film debut as the man at table at Webster Hall.
** [=McKenzie=] Westmore of the famous Westmore makeup artist family and who played Sheridan Crane on ''Series/{{Passions}}'', plays an UncreditedRole as the [=LaMotta=]'s young daughter.
* VindicatedByHistory: When it came out, it received pretty mixed reviews and only won for acting and editing at the Oscars. Now, its reputation has improved, and many critics consider it one of the best films of the 1980s, if not all time.
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