friday classic film blogging

Raging Bull. (1980.) Directed by Martin Scorsese. Written by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin. Starring Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty.


There might not be a better collaboration between a director and star in the modern era of film than the one between Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull. The P.T. Anderson-Daniel Day Lewis teaming in There Will Be Blood (2007) comes close, but Lewis' brutal, focused performance outstrips the rest of TWBB, which loses its way in the forest of Anderson's own filmic obssessions. Scorsese's (and let's be honest, DeNiro's) Raging Bull is something else entirely - it pulses with a mad energy, a mix of the director's appreciation for the avant garde and pulp fixations, a truly original piece of work.