The Movie
At some point over the past three decades we've all no doubt heard the cinerati gush about the movie Raging Bull, and the role that won its star his second Oscar. This is a case where all the praise is justified, and might not even go far enough. Actors have gained and lost weight for roles before and since, but perhaps none has undergone such a memorable, drastic, credible physical transformation as Robert De Niro's middleweight boxing champ Jake LaMotta. Over the course of two hours we witness him not just aging and falling out of shape but his face and even his posture amassing the marks of his many beatings. He not only learned to box, but he took on the speech and mannerisms of a real, living subject, who heartily approved of the results.
But this was no mere impersonation: De Niro made this LaMotta his own, as this was a passion project for the actor while he was still an up-and-comer. And whereas so much Hollywood fluff shies away from harsh subject matter, the star and his frequent collaborator, director Martin Scorsese, embraced the darkness of this biographical drama with such frankness as to leave many viewers uncomfortable, yet undeniably riveted. LaMotta literally fought his way from the mean streets to the title, in a rougher era when organized crime ruled much of the boxing world, and he alienated just about everyone in his life along his journey. Like a contender who's gone the distance, sometimes when I watch Raging Bull I feel battered by the final scene, but uniquely satisfied.
The Picture
Raging Bull embodies some of the boldest artistic choices of Scorsese's career, not the least of which was the decision to shoot in black-and-white. I'm guessing that this is the same transfer used for the first Blu-ray release of this title almost two years ago, and I find it somewhat lacking. There is distracting edge enhancement and quite a bit of grain, although the fact that we can see it means that Fox/MGM opted for a more natural look instead of going too digitally scrubbed. Blacks--and there are a lot of them--often lack detail, however there is still enough nuance to the 1.85:1 image that we do know that we are indeed watching HD. One major sequence is in color, albeit in far-from-ideal quality, to emulate the style of home movies.
The Sound
There is some pleasing surround activity in this DTS-HD Master Audio remix, particularly for the crowds in the big fight scenes, in the nightclubs and so on. There are also highly stylized audio techniques on display (Scorsese probably would have loved to have discrete 5.1 at his disposal when he made this movie), although I noted a somewhat heavy, moderately distracting hand in the rechanneling of certain effects as this track was pulled into the modern age.
The Extras
This 30th Anniversary Edition boasts four new clip-and-interview-laden featurettes, all in HD and with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. "Marty & Bobby" (13-and-a-half minutes) explores the successful partnership of the director and his erstwhile go-to leading man. "Raging Bull: Reflections on a Classic" (twelve minutes) gathers a host of notable admirers; pros and fans reminisce in "Remembering Jake" (eleven minutes); and "Marty on Film" provides a ten-and-a-half minute career overview of the director.
From here, all of the extras are ported from special edition DVDs and such. There are three separate audio commentary tracks, the first from director Martin Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker; a "Cast and Crew" track from producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Charthoff, Robbie Robertson from The Band who assisted with the music choices, actors Theresa Saldana and John Turturro, sound effects supervising editor Frank Warner, director of photography Michael Chapman and casting director Cis Corman; and the "Storytellers," namely screenwriters Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader, and Jake LaMotta himself along with his nephew Jason Lustig.
We're also given co-star Cathy Moriarty's 1981 Tonight Show appearance; the feature-length "Raging Bull: Fight Night" documentary; "The Bronx Bull" about the real Jake, an outstanding companion to the film; the shot-by-shot "De Niro vs. LaMotta" comparison in the ring; and the vintage newsreel excerpt "LaMotta Defends Title." All of these previously released selections are in standard def.
Disc Two is a DVD of the movie with none of the above-mentioned special features.
Final Thoughts
Raging Bull is a movie that everyone who claims to love movies simply must see, despite its well-earned "R" rating. I'm glad to see Fox/MGM commemorating the 30-year anniversary on Blu-ray, but I do wish that they had invested in a fresh video restoration/remaster, not just those few new featurettes.
Product Details
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