Raging Bull / YMMV

And You Thought It Would Fail: Martin Scorsese initially didn't have a lot of hope with this biographical film since his previous film was a Box Office Bomb 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.
Award Snub: One of the more notorious ones. It won two Academy Awards for Actor and Editing, but not for Director, Screenplay, or Picture.^note
Ensemble Dark Horse: Cathy Moriarty 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.
Funny Moments:
- 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 perfectly in character for Jake).
Heartwarming in Hindsight: A meta example: As noted under Creator Breakdown, Martin Scorsese was struggling with a cocaine addiction at the time and planning on retiring as a director. Robert De Niro 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.
Hilarious in Hindsight: In his jail cell, Jake says "I'm not an animal!" to himself. The film became Duelling Movies with The Elephant Man, which had that as its most famous line.
Hype Backlash: 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 in black-and-white. Others come in expecting a boxing movie in the vein of 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.
Jerkass Woobie:
- Joey can act like a crude, violent Kavorka Man at times, but he's also something of a Morality Chain 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 Victory Is Boring. 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.
Retroactive Recognition:
- John Turturro 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 Passions, plays an Uncredited Role as the LaMotta's young daughter.
Vindicated by History: 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.

YMMV / Raging Bull

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