Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull

“Martin Scorsese has a constant reel of film spinning in his head, continuously creating structurally improvised works of art”. (Bould, Mark) His film Raging Bull is an important example of his techniques and style as a director. Scorsese has also made a few important relationships throughout his career. His collaboration with actor Robert De Niro and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, created the cinematic masterpiece, Raging Bull. The film brought the team a great deal of success. Martin Scorsese’s style as a film maker involves structure as well as improvisation. Full of contradictions, his films reflect his early years growing up in the Lower East Side. Scorsese sees the glamorization/moralization of violence in film and when fused together,
revulsion and fascination informing one another equally. “I was raised with gangsters and priests, that’s it, nothing in between. I wanted to be a cleric. I guess the passion I had for religion wound up mixed with film. And now as an artist, in a way, I’m both gangster and priest.”
And just as crucially, he finds a similar connection between the subjective experiences of those committing violent acts and the sociological factors that deem those acts acceptable (and often assumed). To watch a Scorsese brawl or gunfight is to find a director working through all these multifarious ideas and attempting to get them all on screen—often in the same scene, sometimes in the same frame. (Connolly, M. 2010, November 2). Martin Scorsese’s directorial process includes many different film techniques and Raging Bull used just about every cinematic trick in the book. One main technique used in Raging Bull, was shooting the film in black and white. Scorsese wanted the movie to stand out amongst the other fighting films released around the same time. Martin Scorsese and his cinematographer, Michael Chapman, made the decision to shoot the movie in “high contrast” black and white. (Hoffman, J.) This technique helped get the “period look” for the film, to be described as, wanting it to look like an old tabloid. (Steinberg, J.) In an interview with Thelma Schoonmaker, breaking down the films’ editing, she says, “the film spent about $91,000 just on flashbulbs, because Scorsese wanted to drive home the aggressive public eye that Jake LaMotta lived in”. (Morrow, J.) “In the fight scenes there are freeze-frames, long steadicam shots and moments where the fighter's POV causes the frame rate to speed up or slow down. Images of LaMotta's foes, like Sugar Ray Robinson, were shot from far away using a long lens to get a wavy, surreal effect.” (Hoffman, J. 2015, November 5).
Scorsese’s lack of boxing knowledge enabled him to focus in on minuscule details that fight enthusiasts may have over looked.
For example, “Rather than focus in on the winner of the climatic fight, the camera pans slowly to blood dripping off the ropes.” (Fraley,
J.) Raging Bull was essentially Robert De Niro's passion project, and it took him years to convince his friend, director Martin Scorsese, to make the film.
De Niro, read Jake LaMotta's autobiography; and though the book is hardly a masterpiece, De Niro saw a strong character within the story. Part of Scorsese’s hesitation to make the film was, he never cared for sports, and especially not boxing. He claimed that what little he'd seen on television wasn't very visual. After the great director's problems with drug addiction led to a collapse, he realized, from his hospital bed, that he and De Niro were going to make this their next project. (Raging Bull would be their fourth collaboration out of the eventual nine feature films.) Many claim (including Scorsese) that De Niro saved Scorsese's life by getting him back into work. (Hoffman, J.). Scorsese’s relationship with Robert De Niro turned into a very close, life long friendship. Scorsese and De Niro are described as “brothers”, knowing each other since they were young. (Schickel, R.) The Scorsese-De Niro team has made a total of 8 films and when De Niro was asked to do Raging Bull, he couldn’t think of another director other than his best friend, “Marty” to do the project. In some ways, you could say, De Niro picked Scorsese for this film; and with Scorsese’s fascination with violence, De Niro knew he was the one. Robert De Niro in many ways, save Scorsese’s life with this
film. “I couldn’t understand Bob’s obsession with it,” Scorsese recalled later, “until, finally, I went through that rough period of my own. I came out the other side and woke up one day alive…still breathing.”
Scorsese believed that Raging Bull would be his last film. He decided to give everything he had into the production. (Roebuck, J.) Martin Scorsese has created a very strong bond with female film editor, Thelma Schoonmaker. He simply won’t use any one else to edit his films. The first Film they worked on together was Raging Bull. It can often be hard to tell how much editing is Scorsese’s vs. how much is Schoonmakers. “Schoonmaker met Scorsese at NYU when he needed help after his negative was badly damaged on What’s A Nice Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This? From there, a 40- year-plus bond was born. “It was a matter of absolute luck, and I think that he recognized quickly that I was someone that would work with him for the best of his film. That there wouldn’t be ego clashes.” Schoonmaker said today. (Tartaglione,N.) Thelma Schoonmaker, has been his editor on nearly every film he's made. She has made it clear that Scorsese makes the final decisions, but the fact remains that she does “the nuts and bolts” of cutting the film. She supervises the editing team, and has learned to channel in Scorsese's perceptiveness through her own eyes. “Any discussion of his cutting style has to include her input.” (Morrow, J.) Raging Bull brought Scorsese, De Niro, and Schoonmaker a lot of success. The film won Oscars for De Niro and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and also was nominated for best picture, director, sound, and supporting actor (Joe Pesci). (Ebert, R. 1998, May 10). In the words of Steven Spielberg, Raging Bull is “Marty’s masterpiece.” As for the legacy and success in Hollywood, “The very fact that an Italian opera accompanies the entire film should tell first-time viewers something.” The film isn't the typical Hollywood action film, much less like Rocky, the tempo is slower and feels very “European”. “For the very same reason that 1976 fans embraced Rocky, they rejected Raging Bull upon its release.” The theme of violent self-destruction wasn't very appealing to the masses, so compared to the gross of Rocky, Raging Bull fell short of the same success. It wasn't till years later that the movie gained the recognition it originally deserved. (Fraley, J. 2013, December 10.) Martin Scorsese has a distinctive style as a filmmaker. And has a great team of allies to help him create. The film Raging Bull is a prime example of his remarkably thorough work. And with his strong relationship with actor Robert De Niro, and Thelma Schoonmker, together, they created one of the teams most successful films.