It was Robert De Niro who convinced the producers and pushed for the project, paving the way for Scorsese’s eventual realisation that making Raging Bull could save both his career and his life. The American auteur was not a sports fan growing up and considered boxing to be “boring”, claiming that a cinematic adaptation of Jake LaMotta’s memoir would not work since it would just end up being a repetition of the countless films about boxing, women and the mob. After all, it was a film that he never wanted to make in the first place. I’ve been here all the time, waiting for Godot,” Scorsese clarified in a 1981 interview when he was asked about the impact of his masterpiece, a legacy which he couldn’t have fathomed at the time. Although 40 years have passed since it was first released, does Raging Bull still have something important to say?
Raging Bull is often cited as Martin Scorsese’s comeback film, the manifestation of his artistic genius after the poor reception of New York, New York in 1977 and nearly dying of a cocaine overdose. The greatest boxing film to have ever been made is, actually, not even about boxing at all.
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