Raging Bull 1980

Vincent Canby, New York Times: Though Raging Bull has only three principal characters, it is a big film, its territory being the landscape of the soul. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: When has a performer as fully and uniquely sacrificed himself to the moving-picture cause as De Niro? Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: I can't pan it, but this 1980 fantasy biography of fighter Jake LaMotta seems unquestionably Martin Scorsese's weakest work, at least to that point in his career. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The film that many consider the finest of its decade. Read more

Kathleen Carroll, New York Daily News: "Raging Bull" ultimately has a numbing effect on the brain as if one's head had been pummeled by La Motta's so-called "girlish" fists. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: There's no room for romanticism in the ring with inky black blood staining the canvas. During fight sequences, the director also uses a number of point-of-view shots designed to show the world, however briefly, from La Motta's perspective. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It's the best film I've seen about the low self-esteem, sexual inadequacy and fear that lead some men to abuse women. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: De Niro is always absorbing and credible, even when his character isn't. Read more

Jessica Winter, Time Out: This film does more than make you think about masculinity, it makes you see it -- in a way that's relevant to all men, not just Bronx boxers. Read more

Joseph McBride, Variety: Martin Scorsese makes pictures about the kinds of people you wouldn't want to know. Read more

Amy Taubin, Village Voice: The most obvious basis for the film's claim to greatness lies in Scorsese's devastating critique of the very codes of masculinity that shaped him as a filmmaker, and in Robert De Niro's performance, through which that critique is made flesh. Read more