Re: Raging Bull Film Soundtrack Download
Rubie Mccloughan
Raging Bull is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent, and Nicholas Colasanto in his final film role. The film is an adaptation of former middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir Raging Bull: My Story. It follows the career of LaMotta, played by De Niro, his rise and fall in the boxing scene, and his turbulent personal life beset by rage and jealousy.
Scorsese was initially reluctant to develop the project, though he eventually came to relate to LaMotta's story. Paul Schrader re-wrote Mardik Martin's first screenplay, and Scorsese and De Niro together made uncredited contributions thereafter. Pesci was an unknown actor prior to the film, as was Moriarty, whom Pesci suggested for her role. During principal photography, each of the boxing scenes was choreographed for a specific visual style and De Niro gained approximately 60 pounds (27 kg) to portray LaMotta in his later post-boxing years. Scorsese was exacting in the process of editing and mixing the film, expecting it to be his last major feature.
Raging Bull premiered in New York City on November 14, 1980, and was released in theaters on December 19, 1980. The film had a lukewarm box office of $23.4 million against its $18 million budget. The film received mixed reviews upon its release; while De Niro's performance and the editing were widely acclaimed, it garnered criticism due to its violent content. Despite the mixed reviews, the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards at the 53rd Academy Awards (tying with The Elephant Man as the most nominated film of the ceremony), including Best Picture and Best Director, and won two: Best Actor for De Niro (his second Oscar) and Best Editing.
After its release, Raging Bull went on to garner high critical praise, and is now considered one of the greatest films ever made. In 1990, it became the first film to be selected in its first year of eligibility for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant",[4][5] and the American Film Institute ranked it as the fourth-greatest American movie of all time.
In 1941, Jake LaMotta is a young, up-and-coming middleweight boxer who suffers his first loss to Jimmy Reeves after a controversial decision. Jake's brother Joey discusses a potential shot for the middleweight title with one of his Mafia connections, Salvy Batts, but he repeatedly refuses the Mafia's help, wanting to win the championship on his own terms. Some time after, Jake spots a fifteen-year-old girl named Vickie at a swimming pool in his Bronx neighborhood. He eventually pursues a relationship with her, although he is already married and Vickie is underage. In 1943, Jake defeats Sugar Ray Robinson, and has a rematch three weeks later. Despite Jake dominating Robinson during the bout, the judges surprisingly rule in favor of Robinson, who Joey feels won only because he was enlisting into the Army the following week. By 1945, Jake marries Vickie.
Jake is controlling and domineering over Vickie, and constantly worries that she has feelings for other men. His jealousy is evident when he brutally beats his next opponent, Tony Janiro, in front of Tommy Como, the local mob boss, and Vickie. As Joey discusses the victory with journalists at the Copacabana, he is distracted by seeing Vickie approach a table with Salvy and his crew. Joey speaks with Vickie, who implies she is dissatisfied in her marriage with Jake. Under the wrong impression that Vickie is having an affair with Salvy, Joey viciously attacks him in a fight that spills outside of the club. Como later orders them to apologize, and has Joey tell Jake that if he wants a chance at the championship title, which Como controls, he will have to take a dive first. Jake purposely loses his next match against Billy Fox, and is booed out of the building after putting up a lackluster performance. He is suspended shortly thereafter from the board on suspicion of throwing the fight, much to his anguish. He is eventually reinstated, and in 1949, wins the middleweight championship title against Marcel Cerdan.
A year later, Jake becomes increasingly paranoid that Vickie is having an affair. He asks Joey if he has had an affair with her, enraging Joey and causing him to leave. Jake later presses Vickie about whether she has had an affair, leading to her sarcastically confessing that she had sex with Joey, Salvy and Tommy. In a fit of rage, Jake, followed by Vickie, walks to Joey's house and assaults him in front of his wife Lenora and their children before knocking Vickie unconscious. Vickie later returns to their home and threatens to leave, but they reconcile. After defending his championship belt in a grueling fifteen-round bout against Laurent Dauthuille in 1950, he calls his brother after the fight to make amends, but when Joey assumes Salvy is on the other end and starts insulting and cursing at him, Jake silently hangs up. Estranged from his brother, Jake sees his career decline and he eventually loses his title to Sugar Ray Robinson in their final encounter in 1951.
By 1956, an aged and overweight Jake has retired and moved with his family to Miami. After he stays out all night at the nightclub which he owns, Vickie tells him she wants a divorce as well as full custody of their children. She also threatens to call the police if he comes anywhere near them. He is later arrested for introducing under-age girls to men in his club. He unsuccessfully attempts to bribe his way out of his criminal case using the jewels from his championship belt. In 1957, he goes to jail, sorrowfully questioning his misfortune and crying in despair. Upon returning to New York City in 1958, he encounters Joey, who reluctantly accepts his embrace.
In 1964, Jake performs stand-up comedy at various clubs. Backstage before a show LaMotta prepares himself for his performance by shadowboxing, quoting scenes from On the Waterfront and chanting "I'm the boss" before taking the stage.
Under the guidance of Chartoff and Winkler, Mardik Martin was asked to start writing the screenplay.[18] According to De Niro, under no circumstances would United Artists accept Martin's script.[19] The story was based on the vision of journalist Pete Hamill of a 1930s and 1940s style, when boxing was known as "the great dark prince of sports". De Niro was unimpressed when he finished reading the first draft, however.[20] Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader was swiftly brought in to rewrite the script around August 1978.[20] Some of the changes that Schrader made to the script included a rewrite of the scene with the undercooked steak and inclusion of LaMotta seen masturbating in a Florida cell. The character of LaMotta's brother, Joey, was finally added, previously absent from Martin's script.[19][20] United Artists saw a massive improvement on the quality of the script. However, its chief executives, Steven Bach and David Field, met with Scorsese, De Niro, and producer Irwin Winkler in November 1978 to say they were worried that the content would be X-rated material and have no chance of finding an audience.[15]
According to Scorsese, the script was left to him and De Niro, and they spent two and a half weeks on the island of Saint Martin extensively re-building the content of the film.[11] The most significant change would be the entire scene when LaMotta fixes his television and then accuses his wife of having an affair. Other changes included the removal of Jake and Joey's father; the reduction of organized crime's role in the story and a major re-write of LaMotta's fight with Tony Janiro.[21][22] They were also responsible for the end sequence where LaMotta is all alone in his dressing room quoting the "I could have been a contender" scene from On the Waterfront.[22] An extract of Richard III had been considered but Michael Powell thought it would be a bad decision within the context of an American film.[11] According to Steven Bach, the first two screenwriters (Martin and Schrader) would receive credit, but since there was no payment to the writer's guild on the script, De Niro and Scorsese's work would remain uncredited.[22]
While in the midst of practicing a Bronx accent and preparing for his role, De Niro met both LaMotta and his ex-wife, Vikki, on separate occasions. Vikki, who lived in Florida, told stories about her life with her former husband and also showed old home movies (that later inspired a similar sequence to be done for the film).[16][27] Jake LaMotta, on the other hand, served as his trainer, accompanied by Al Silvani as coach at the Gramercy club in New York, getting him into shape. The actor found that boxing came naturally to him; he entered as a middleweight boxer, winning two of his three fights in a Brooklyn ring dubbed "young LaMotta" by the commentator. According to Jake LaMotta, De Niro was one of the top 20 best middleweight boxers of all time.[16][25]
According to the production mixer, Michael Evje, the film began shooting at the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium on April 16, 1979. Grips hung huge curtains of black duvetyne on all four sides of the ring area to contain the artificial smoke used extensively for visual effect. On May 7, the production moved to the Culver City Studio, Stage 3, and filmed there until the middle of June. Scorsese made it clear during filming that he did not appreciate the traditional way in films of showing fights from the spectators' view.[17] He insisted that one camera operated by the Director of Photography, Michael Chapman, would be placed inside the ring as he would play the role of an opponent keeping out of the way of other fighters so that viewers could see the emotions of the fighters, including those of Jake.[25] The precise moves of the boxers were to be done as dance routines from the information of a book about dance instructors in the mode of Arthur Murray. A punching bag in the middle of the ring was used by De Niro between takes before he aggressively came straight on to do the next scene.[25][28] The initial five-week schedule for the shooting of the boxing scenes took longer than expected, putting Scorsese under pressure.[25]
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