History Film / RagingBull

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Jake [=LaMotta=]. When he watched the film with one of his ex-wives he asked her: "was I really that bad?" She replied "you were worse!" The movie actually omits [=LaMotta=]'s worse excesses. In his autobiography, he admits to raping a woman and for years he believed he was a killer after striking a man with a lead pipe whilst mugging him. He only discovered years later that his victim survived.

While critical reception was mixed at the time of its release, [[AwardSnub and it was passed up for Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars in favor of]] ''Literature/OrdinaryPeople'' ''Raging Bull'' has since become a critical favorite, and is viewed as one of the best movies of all time. It won De Niro his second Oscar, this time for Best Actor, following his Best Supporting Actor win for TheGodfatherPartII.

A sequel was long in DevelopmentHell (with [=LaMotta's=] involvement), but eventually under the threat of a lawsuit from MGM, the title was changed from ''Raging Bull II'' to ''The Bronx Bull'' in order to disassociate itself from the original. Set for tentative release sometime in 2013, the film stars William Forsythe as the older Jake [=LaMotta=], Morjean Aria as a young [=LaMotta=], and has a supporting cast including the likes of Joe Mantegna, Tom Sizemore, Penelope Ann Miller, Natasha Henstridge, Alicia Witt, Ray Wise, and James Russo.

While critical reception was mixed at the time of its release, [[AwardSnub and it was passed up for Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars in favor of]] ''Literature/OrdinaryPeople'', ''Raging Bull'' has since become a critical favorite, and is viewed as one of the best movies of all time.

* AmericanDream: It's [[{{Applicability}} possible to read the film]] as a critical examination or even [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of this. Jake achieves the American Dream, he becomes a success, becomes rich, has a beautiful wife and kids and retires to a suburban home and gets OutOfTheGhetto and yet, he still hasn't changed one bit.

* AmericanDream: It's [[{{Applicability}} possible to read the film]] as a critical examination or even [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of this.

* {{Jerkass}}: Good luck trying to find a moment in the movie where Jake himself isn't a jerk. [=LaMotta=] ''himself'' has said he never realized what a terrible person he was until he saw the movie.

** There's also the fact that Robert DeNiro was 36 or 37 at the time of filming, and in the early scenes played a 19-year-old Jake LaMotta.

* HairTriggerTemper: Jake [=LaMotta=]

* ByronicHero: Jake

* {{Jerkass}}: Good luck trying to find a moment in the movie where Jake himself isn't a jerk.

* {{Jerkass}}: Jake [=LaMotta=].

* ClusterFBomb

* EarnYourHappyEnding

** Scorsese has stated that he decided to film it this way at least in part because fellow director Creator/MichaelPowell, while viewing the initial (color) footage of De Niro as [=LaMotta=] with him, pointed out that the gloves De Niro was wearing were the wrong color for the period.

** Scorsese has stated that he decided to film it this way at least in part because fellow director MichaelPowell, while viewing the initial (color) footage of De Niro as [=LaMotta=] with him, pointed out that the gloves De Niro was wearing were the wrong color for the period.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The movie is in black and white, except for a sequence of home movies shot in color.

While critical reception was mixed at the time of its release, [[AwardSnub and it was passed up for Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars in favor of]] ''{{Ordinary People}}'', ''Raging Bull'' has since become a critical favorite, and is viewed as one of the best movies of all time.

* {{Composite Character}}: Joey [=LaMotta=] is a combination of the real Joey [=LaMotta=] and Jake's friend, Pete Petrella.

-->--'''Jake LaMotta'''

The film begins in 1964, as we see an overweight, aging [=LaMotta=], now a comedian, practicing his routine. The scene changes. It is now 1941, as [=LaMotta=] boxes and throws his fights at the behest of {{the mafia}}. His brother and manager, Joey [=LaMotta=], does his best to support Jake and get him a chance at success. Jake seduces Vicky, [[{{Lolicon}} a 15-year-old girl]] he met at a Bronx public pool. While he catches a break and wins a string of victories, he becomes increasingly paranoid that Vicky is cheating on him, and becomes more and more abusive. Eventually, he accuses his brother of sleeping with his wife and attacks them. The rest of the film details the aftermath in the following years after [=LaMotta=] has retired, as he spirals downward ever further.