One of the best opening sequences to a film ever. Film: Raging Bull (1980) Director: Martin Scorsese Based on the book by Jake LaMotta. Copyright: 1980 MGM All Rights Reserved.
Martin Scorsese on Stanley Kubrick: "Watching a Kubrick film is like gazing up at a mountaintop. You look up and wonder, how could anyone have climbed that high?"
"There is always somebody better and higher than you no matter if your the absolute world's greatest, you can still get that butt out done!!!! Scorsese My all time fav director though!!!! I like Brian DePalma and any body that's great, no matter what color!!!!! De Niro is a great, but Al Pacino is the best non black actor I have ever witnessed!!!!! Denzel is the best actor period..... GOAT!!!!! √Fye O aka Knowledge Peeper√
1970s: Taxi Driver 1980s: Raging Bull 1990s: GoodFellas 2000s: The Departed 2010s: The Wolf of Wall Street 2020s: The Irishmen (Or is that a 2019 feature?)
This scene foreshadows the entire movie if you think about it. LaMotta's perception of the whole world outside the ring doesn't change. He always feels that he has to fight the world on his own with no one in his corner. And anyone who tries to help is pushed away. And Lamotta goes on to punish himself.
+Nameless Paladin It really is one of my absolute favorite intros. Beyond your incredibly insightful comment on the nature of the man depicted and what we can expect of him, its also reflective of the films form. The piece of the music playing is the Intermezzo from the Cavelleria Rusticana, a folk opera from the late 1800s. Intermezzos of any opera are played at the midpoint of the opera (think intermediate), and at the pivot of action, the make or break moments. Appropriately, we begin this story at the midpoint of Jake La Motta's life which for a boxer is perhaps the most dramatic. This will be a story in the operatic tradition of carrying the view to emotional heights through the combination of both the traditional music of opera (those choice cuts on the ost), as well as the truly brilliant editing of the film, to reflect the range of feelings felt by a man who could only best express himself physically to his detriment. This is bolstered by where La Motta is. Notice the composition and framing of the shot? La Motta behind all of those ropes? Doesn't it look almost like a bouncing musical note on a time signature? La Motta himself is the main music of the piece to come. Scorsese found his life, while no Don Giovanni, to be a real folk opera. Incredible stuff, and thank you for your comment.
Jamshaid Ali Look, Ma! I’m cussing on the Internet for attention because I can’t properly express myself originally except to verbally abuse strangers who live on a horse farm I wish I did!
@@corey-bird3489 I thank every night my lucky star that I wasn't born an idiot liek Corey Massick and I'm able to enjoy films regardless of them swearing or not.
Corey Messick No one cares about what you would or wouldn’t call it. It’s consistently and widely opined that Raging Bull is one of the greatest films of all time. You don’t have to like it, but the rest of us do. How about you go find another someone else’s parade to rain on, hmmm? 😉
@@corey-bird3489 You're no Gene Siskel or Roger Ebert. Hell you're not even Richard Roeper. Take your elitist attitude and shove it right up your poop chute. This movie will be praised for how gritty and realistic it has been (it's based on an autobiography, you reprobate) and it will be cherished dearly on this decade alone than you'll ever be loved by your family your entire life. Grab a tub of Vaseline and fornicate yourself. Anally.
I'm 30 years old and watched this movie for the very first time last night. I was anxious to watch it becuase I often find classic films fail to live up to the hype. As soon as this opening sequence hit I knew I was watching a masterpiece. The music, De Niro on his own in the ring, the black and white. Simply genius film making.
Was the opposite for me. I like many of the classics i watch and understand what made them classics in the first place. Raging bull didn´t really do it for me. I liked the performances and was at least partly invested in the story but i hate to say it was just fucking boring.
Ha no shit, same here, 30 year old first time seeing it last night, can't stop thinking about it. What a movie. Best thing I've seen in months. Brilliant and tragic
I read when it was released it wasn’t too much in the hollywood light that time, now it’s become popular over the years now preserved in the National Film Registry
I'm a 74 year old woman and have seen countless movies. Raging Bull remains my all time favorite. I had to be dragged to see it assuming a movie about boxing would be of no interest. I left realizing that I had just seen an acting performance the likes of which I would never see again. Brilliant actor as was Just about everyone else involved in the movie, especially Joe Pesci.
Awesome for sure. Check out the famous opening sequence of Leone's masterpiece "Once Upon A Time In The West" as well. Probably the most epic opening intro ever, and you won't be able to get Ennio's music out of your head for weeks afterwards. That's what the top composers do, turn a good movie into a great movie, and turn a great movie into a work of art...
The whole film was made with such care. This music was adjusted in volume and slightly abbreviated from its actual composition to better fit the mood of the opening credits and scene introducing a dramatic tale of personal battle. triumphs and defeats. I first heard and was stunned by this music when I saw the movie 35 years ago , and now after all those years I get to play this music in one of my orchestras hopefully as a reflection of what COVID has been and how we can emerge from it scarred but not defeated.
I have an unhealthy obsession with this movie. There is seriously not a shot, scene, line, sequence that I would change. I think it's one of the most flawless pieces of art ever created. I put it up there with Beethoven's 5th, Las Meninas, whatever you want. It's just monolithic, from its performances, to the camera work, the writing, production. It completely captures the essence of humanity; Its struggles, temptations, and ultimately its will to succeed.
There's a Letterman interview with DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman as guests where Hoffman talks about seeing this film in the movie theatre. Should definitely watch that.
Such a beautiful entrance. The main point from this movie is "the one that can truly hold you back is only yourself". Probably in the top 4 best films of all time.
*This is a mesmerizing scene. One of the best opening scene in the history of world cinematography. The intermezzo of Cavalleria Rusticana crowns the scene. DeNiro feinting in the ring and Scorcese directing.*
One of the greatest movies of all time One of the greatest opening's of all time One of the greatest directors of all time One of the greatest performences of all time
That music makes you remember and reflect: childhood, your family, loss, grief, good days, bad days, the passage of time, impending mortality... I love the line in this film where the announcer or commentator says: 'and I think you know the two boys'.
I'm so glad Scorsese is still making films. I wasn't alive in 1980, but I would have loved to see this opening sequence on the big screen. Man what a sight that must have been.
deniro has raging bull, goodfellas, taxi driver, godfather 2, deer hunter, heat, mean streets... my god, what a career. when he passes he'll live on forever.
I get goosebumps every time I hear Mascagni’s Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, and immediately think of this movie. Scorsese will most likely be remembered for Goodfellas, but Raging Bull is his masterpiece.
If you haven't already had the chance to watch it in theaters, I hope you watch The Irishman the day it comes out my friend. So poignant and haunting. Cinema indeed
This movie is my all time favorite and I'm very old. I spent months trying to find out the name of the music played here and finally found that it is Cavalleria Rusticana (Intermezzo). Beautiful.
+Asa Fisher It is one of the most influential films if you look up film-makers AND critics top lists, it is one of the most frequent to be mentioned. Only "Citizen Kane" got more mentions I think.
He had been a piece of shit the entire film but in the end of it we mostly feel pity maybe cause we see a little bit of ourselves in Jake he was filled with uncontrollable anger and jealousy he was human like all of us but he couldn’t control it the reason if cause he suffers from the Madonna whore complex he thought that since Vicky would sleep with him that she would sleep with anybody else
i watched this movie many years ago, i may not remember every detail in this movie, but i always remember this opening, the moment i saw this opening, i know this movie was going to be a masterpiece
Every time I hear those opening notes coming in quietly of Intermezzo the hair stands up on the back of my neck. Probably the greatest film ever made. Scorsese is a genius.
I had the privilege a few months ago to see this film where editor Thelma Schoonmaker introduced the film and held a brief Q&A about editing this film. The whole auditorium cheered when her name came up on the credits. It was amazing.
I saw recently Raging Bull in a Rome's cinema, I was glad there were many young people in the room, despite it being a movie released in 1980, this to say that the masterpieces don't have epoch, they remain intact in the time.
Scorsese thought it was his final Hollywood film so much, with United Artists falling into pieces before they ended up being part of MGM, that he was exacting in the process of editing and mixing the film! This is one of the four ultimate examples of fighting tooth-and-nail to get the film completed no matter what, anyhow. 1) The Godfather, dir: Coppola, 2) Star Wars, dir. Lucas, 3) Apocalypse Now, dir: Coppola, 4) Raging Bull, dir: Scorsese.
But an artist doesn't realize that a film that the filmmaker fought tooth and nail to complete properly is a masterpiece until after the reviews and box office and critics enter the game only afterwards. And 7): "Brazil," dir. Terry Gilliam. (he's, this time, going to make a film he attempted to make since 2000, "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote." But this time, Terry will do it right and finish the fucking story!) And, uh, finally... 8): "Schindler's List," director Steven Spielberg's brilliant Rossellini-like but heartbreaking Holocaust epic, which he did properly with a labor of love, as he finished "Jurassic Park." "Schindler's List," definitely EARNED the Academy Awards, especially for Best Director and Best Picture
I think Godfather 2 is excellent. I've seen the first one far more times and get more nostalgic about it, thinking of watching it with my father, but the parallel narratives of 2 go so well together. Really a great cinematic achievement.
One of best movie openings I have ever seen and heard. I used to intimate Jake training while listening this. A very beautitful piece of music. Another reason why the movie was such a success.
This movie was one of the reasons why I became interested in boxing. And through this movie I've come to know the story of this man, 'The Raging Bull' whose days now have come to an end. May he rest in peace.
The absolute isolation of this scene informs the character unlike many a lesser piece will. To prepare alone, in solitude, waiting an affirmation (or truth). Whatever that will be, will test him. Hope and will, and all the things awaiting him, as well as all the pains that are made manifest by his wants. Hopefully he gets what he needs and not what he wants. .
Este arranque de película es genial. A mi modo de ver es el mejor homenaje que se puede hacer a la música. Se ve perfectamente las cinco cuerdas del ring a modo de pentagrama y a la izquierda la clave de sol que es la clave de la película, el propio boxeador. Los títulos perfectamente pueden pasar por notas.
Classic movie. The best boxing movie ever without a doubt and the soundtrack is so classy makes me cry listening to it. A masterpiece omg deniro is an artist
idk, but i just thought of it. This begining scene is peaceful, all while in the ring. Then later its all violent outside the ring. Maybe im just making english teacher connections, but just a thought.
No, that makes sense. The way I look at it is that the ring is the only place he and his personality fitted. It's where he belonged. Like an animal in the wild. Take him out of his habitat and all hell breaks lose.
When this movie premiered back in 1980, Jake La Motta''s ex-wife Vickie (they were apparently on speaking terms by that point) attended the screening. After the movie was over, Jake asked Vickie, "Was I really that bad?" She replied. "No. You were worse."
What i absolutely can't comprehend is that someone made such a movie in 1980! 2 years before my birth. When i watched this movie recently it was just screaming that it's sooooo ahead of it's time the way it was made, it's incredible really. 😮 Taxi driver is absolute masterpiece too, i love it even more than this masterpiece but it's very obvious that Taxi driver belongs to the decade of 1970s. Raging Bull could be some biopic from the 2006 or something... Incredible.
