# I don't get Raging Bull
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 31, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597 "2011-03-31T02:54:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597/1 "2011-03-31T02:54:11Z")
it was really boring. why is it so acclaimed?
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Cheech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Cheech)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597/2 "2011-03-31T07:14:30Z")
It’s not that great. Outside of “Goodfellas” and “Shutter Island,” I don’t think much of Scorsese.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597/3 "2011-03-31T07:21:45Z")
It’s famous for having a slow-mo shot of a dude getting his face pounded, the way _Vertigo_ is famous for popularizing the dolly zoom. Both films are really, really boring, though.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597/4 "2011-03-31T07:26:17Z")
It is the real life story of Jake LaMotta. Based on his book. I found the tragedy of his personal life a lot more interesting than his boxing career. The same violence & rage that made him a great boxer nearly destroyed him outside the ring.
It is very stylized. It’s not your typical blood and guts fight pic. There’s no heroes or romance like you see in Rocky.
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### Author:  [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597/5 "2011-03-31T10:40:59Z")
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> it was really boring. why is it so acclaimed?
I don’t find it boring.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597/6 "2011-03-31T11:12:40Z")
Let me just ask the OP something…
You fuck my wife?
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### Author:  [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597/7 "2011-03-31T13:26:34Z")
I agree. Boring and way overrated. Deniro was great as usual, but didn’t have much to work with. BTW, I thought Vertigo was a great movie.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-raging-bull/576597/8 "2011-03-31T14:02:36Z")
It depends on whether you think it’s a boxing movie or a character drama. As a boxing movie, it’s routine; as a character drama, it’s fascinating. LaMotta was a complex character, filled with rage and making bad decisions. Prior to this, films about boxers tended to the **Golden Boy** model – poor boy making good, with a major conflict occurring because he’s asked to throw a fight ( **Movie Movie** and Mad Magazine parodied that trope). Occasionally there was a different twist – **The Harder They Fall** was a focusing on the corruption around the boxer, but the boxer in it was not the main character.
Lamotta was not portrayed as a golden boy – he was angry, impulsive, unable to relate to others, and a nasty man overall. This was far different from any boxing movie previously. Scorsese shows how he became humbled and leaves somewhat ambiguous the question of whether he has been humbled enough to change.
There are also great performances from DeNiro, Cathy Moriarty (her first film role, amazingly) and Joe Pesci. And Scorsese’s staging of the fight scenes set the standard for them for years.