Abstract
This chapter analyzes Scorsese’s portrayal of Jake La Motta in Raging Bull, highlighting the director’s craft in balancing realism and expressive stylization, along with his attention to ethnic themes. The exploration of the boxer’s Italian American cultural background intersects Scorsese’s memories of the Italian American community in New York City and the description of La Motta’s ring experience stimulates a discourse on the ethnic concerns associated with the boxing world and on the public perception of Italian American prizefighters. Moreover, the relevant presence of African American boxers among Jake’s opponents alludes to the racial categorization of prizefighters and the juxtaposition between white and black athletes that occurred as African Americans assumed greater proportions in professional boxing. The exposition of Jake La Motta’s body is also discussed in terms of ritualistic gestures that call to mind Catholic practices, as is the case in many other films directed by Scorsese. Finally, in her conclusion, the author stresses that if the director has been able to find himself in Jake, that if he has been able to ‘see’ thanks to his character, it is because the portrayal of La Motta has offered him a vehicle to represent and explore his own ethnicity.
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Notes
- 1.
Details of the long gestation period of Raging Bull have been discussed. See Thompson, David; Ian Christie (editors). Scorsese on Scorsese. London: Faber and Faber, 1989, pp. 76-77; Hayes, Kevin j. “Introduction: The Heritage and Legacy of Raging Bull,” in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, edited by Kevin J. Hayes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 1-5; Evans, Mike. The Making of Raging Bull. London: Unanimous, 2006, pp. 40-49; Schickel, Richard. “Brutal Attraction: The Making of Raging Bull,” in Vanity Fair, no. 595 (February 22, 2010), pp. 292-303; Grindon, Leger. “Filming the Fights. Subjectivity and Sensation in Raging Bull,” in A Companion to Martin Scorsese, edited by Aaron Baker. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2015, pp. 399-401. For an analysis of Robert DeNiro’s contribution to the Raging Bull project based on archival materials see Tait, R. Colin. “Robert de Niro’s Raging Bull: The History of a Performance and a Performance of History,” in Canadian Journal of Film Studies 20, no. 1, 2011, pp. 22-28.
- 2.
Scorsese has recounted how director Michael Powell helped him notice that “memories of boxing from the 40s are in black-and-white” (Henry, Michael. “Raging Bull,” in Positif, April 1981, in Martin Scorsese: Interviews, edited Peter Brunette. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999, p. 84). He has also stated: “We had an idea of making the film look like a tabloid, like the Daily News, like Weegee photographs.” (Kelly, Mary Pat. Martin Scorsese: A Journey. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2004, p. 125). Although Scorsese has denied the influence of La Motta’s autobiography on his decision to film in black-and-white, the boxer describes his life in these terms: “Now, sometimes, at night, when I think back, I feel like I’m looking at an old black-and-white movie of myself. Why it should be black-and-white I don’t know, but it is” (La Motta, Jake; Joseph Carter; Peter Savage, Raging Bull: My Story. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970, p. 2). Another reason that persuaded Scorsese to film in black-and-white was his dissatisfaction with the instability of color film stocks.
- 3.
See Weinberg, Kirson S.; Henry Around, “The Occupational Culture of the Boxer,” in The American Journal of Sociology 57, no. 5, 1952: pp. 460–69. See also Bondanella, Peter. Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos. New York: Continuum, 2004, 95.
- 4.
For a discussion of “Scorsese’s circumstances as a third-generation Italian American artist” see Casillo, Robert. Gangster Priest: The Italian American Cinema of Martin Scorsese. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006, pp. 56-68.
- 5.
In his autobiography La Motta writes: “I do remember the horse and wagon, and we’d peddle whatever was in season – fish, vegetables, fruit, whatever was the cheapest to buy that day” (La Motta 5-6).
- 6.
Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker, “Audio Commentary by Director Martin Scorsese and Editor Thelma Schoonmaker,” Raging Bull. Two-Disc DVD Special Edition. Santa Monica, CA: MGM Home Entertainment, 2005.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
Carbo was indicted for extortion in 1959. In 1961, he was convicted again of conspiracy and extortion charges and was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. Even though he was in prison, he continued to influence boxing. On Frankie Carbo see Riess, Steven A. “Only the Ring Was Square: Frankie Carbo and the Underworld Control of American Boxing.” International Journal of the History of Sport 5, no. 1, 1988, pp. 29–52; Sammons, Jeffrey T. Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988, pp. 130-83; Sugden, John. Boxing and Society: An International Analysis. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996, pp. 40-43.
- 9.
See Scorsese and Schoonmaker, “Audio Commentary.”
- 10.
In the scene in which Vickie sits at a table at the Copacabana Club with Salvy and three other friends, the group’s conversation remains unheard except for Vickie’s line “I’m not Italian, I don’t care.”
- 11.
“That [picture] always represented Italy to me,” Scorsese says in his commentary to the film. Scorsese and Schoonmaker, “Audio Commentary”.
- 12.
In Mary Pat Kelly’s Martin Scorsese: A Journey, Martin Scorsese’s father says that he was invited to direct the scene of Joey La Motta’s wedding because his son was sick the day when they were supposed to film it. Remembering his own wedding, Scorsese’s father helped restage the set by asking to have the candelabras removed and sliced bread replaced with rolls (Kelly 137-38).
- 13.
The rivalry between La Motta and Sugar Ray Robison, which extended through six bouts from October 1942 to February 1951, marked La Motta’s boxing career. Scorsese’s Raging Bull portrays three of those fights: the two Detroit bouts which took place on February 5 and February 26, 1943, at Olympia Stadium, and the final bout held on February 14, 1951, at Chicago Stadium.
- 14.
For an overview of the critical interpretations of Raging Bull see Casillo 236-42.
- 15.
As Evans informs, “Scorsese relates how, when he was just a kid, an uncle gave him a ten-inch-long player of ‘intermezzi’ – operatic intermezzos – the sort of thing much loved by the older generation of Italian immigrants” (Evans 88).
- 16.
See also Grindon 2015, 396.
- 17.
The shot of Jake kissing his gloves and then touching the mat after winning the fight against Laurent Dauthuille is based on a photograph from the newspaper and those of Vickie reacting during the final fight against Sugar Ray Robinson are modeled on pictures from Life magazine. See Kelly 133-35.
- 18.
Scorsese remembers that “all the fight scenes are done in drawings” and director of photography Michael Chapman confirms that “each shot was drawn out in great detail.” Ibid., 132.
- 19.
On the predominance of boxing scenes shot from within the ring as a distinctive trait of Raging Bull compared to other boxing films see Grindon 2005, 37.
- 20.
For a detailed analysis of the scenes portraying Jake’s bouts see Grindon 2015, 405-18.
- 21.
See Carnicelli Hemmeter 72; Tomasulo 183; Casillo, 234; Evans 116.
- 22.
In his analysis of the “visual absurdity” of Raging Bull, Todd Berliner discusses how this sequence of “thirty-five discordant shots” breaks “fundamental rules of continuity editing” (Berliner 47-48).
- 23.
Much has been written on Robert DeNiro’s physical transformation from an extremely fit boxer to an out-of-shape retired fighter. For an anecdotal recount of the actor’s weight gain see Thompson and Christie, eds. Scorsese on Scorsese, 84, and Evans 82-84. For an investigation of the process that led the actor to his Oscar-winning performance see Tait 20-40.
- 24.
See Grindon 2005, 26-27 and Grindon, 2015, 397.
- 25.
Thompson, Christie, 77.
- 26.
For an overview of these interpretations see Casillo 262.
- 27.
Scorsese states: “You feel him finally coming to some sort of peace with himself in front of that mirror.” (Quoted in Thompson and Christie 77). In another interview, Scorsese refers to Jake’s performance at the Carnevale Lounge and notes that “he has found a kind of peace with himself. He’s no longer the same man” (Henry 97). See also Casillo 261-62.
- 28.
See Bud Schulberg, On the Waterfront: A Screenplay. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980, p. 144. Schulberg knew boxing well. He had comanaged a fighter and had also written a novel about boxing, The Harder They Fall (1947), which is a disguised adaptation of Italian American contender Primo Carnera’s story.
- 29.
Boxing also offered a casting resource for Kazan’s film as retired boxers, including Italian American former contenders Tony Galento (born Domenico Antonio Galento, 1910-79) and Tami Mauriello (born Stefano Mauriello, 1923-99), were recruited to play Friendly’s goons.
- 30.
See Early 1987, 389; Bondanella 117-18; Casillo 517, n. 115.
- 31.
Henry 90. In a 1998 interview Scorsese confirms: “I found myself through him [Jake].” Gavin Smith, “The art of vision,” Film Comment (January-February 1998), in Martin Scorsese: Interviews, 253.
- 32.
See Casillo, Gangster Priest, 264-65. For a recount of Scorsese’s personal crisis in the late 1970s see ibid. 225-26 and related sources.
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Oates, Joyce Carol. On Boxing. Garden City, NY: Dolphin/Doubleday, 1987.
Riess, Steven A. “Only the Ring Was Square: Frankie Carbo and the Underworld Control of American Boxing.” International Journal of the History of Sport 5, no. 1 (1988): 29–52.
Sammons, Jeffrey T. Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988.
Schickel, Richard. “Brutal Attraction: The Making of Raging Bull,” Vanity Fair, n. 595 (February 22, 2010): 292-303.
Schulberg, Bud. On the Waterfront: A Screenplay. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980.
Scorsese, Martin. “The Leading Man.” Rolling Stone, no. 922 (May 15, 2003): 89.
Scorsese, Martin and Thelma Schoonmaker. “Audio Commentary by Director Martin Scorsese and Editor Thelma Schoonmaker.” Raging Bull. Two-Disc DVD Special edition. Santa Monica, CA: MGM Home Entertainment, 2005.
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Films Cited
On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
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Lottini, I. (2023). The Italian American Prizefighter: Ethnicity in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull. In: Fioretti, D., Orsitto, F. (eds) Italian Americans in Film. Italian and Italian American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06465-4_6
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