irritating dialog
Added 2/9/2010
Martin Scorsese is unquestionably a great director, and this is a fine film. I used to think it was a great film, but since the last time I watched, I've seen "GoodFellas". And the latter casts a bad light on the former. Hang on as I try to explain.
"GoodFellas" has an iconic scene, largely improvised, in which Joe Pesci's paranoid-psychotic character takes objection to another mobster's innocent comment that he finds Pesci "funny". Pesci pesters him about this -- "What do you mean, I'm funny?" -- amping up the tension until it's suddenly released, for no obvious reason. We don't know why Pesci is acting the way he does. But we are very much aware that we're watching stupid, illiterate, insane people argue for no good reason. And it works.
In crafting a biography of Jake LaMotta (who, as I write this, is still alive at the age of 89), Scorsese tried to get away from the clichés of Hollywood bopics, and succeeded. There are no portentous scenes, no "we have to sum up everthing that happened up to now" dialog. The film seems almost documentary, as if we're watching the events unfold in real time.
Unfortunately, in order to get this casual, unpretentious effect, Scorsese had the actors ad-lib some of the dialog -- and it just doesn't work, particularly in scenes where one character confronts another. It's hard enough for a screenwriter to pen high-quality dialog -- it's almost impossible for any actor to come up with merely /appropriate/ dialog on the spur of the moment.
"Did you f*** my wife?" "What do you mean by that?" "I mean, did you f*** my wife?" "I ain't gonna answer that." "You're my brother, I expect you to." "That's a crazy question, I ain't gonna answer." And so on, and so on, until you want to throttle both the characters and the actors playing them. As bad as it sounds "on paper", it's many times worse in the film.
And it doesn't happen just once, but in scene after scene, until it becomes an irritation. It seemed novel in 1980, but in 2010 it's a cliché. Scorsese should have used the ad-libs as a starting point and written "believable" dialog that came closer to the way the characters would likely have spoken in real life. (He could have gotten LaMotta's view, as he was an advisor.) As it is, we're not seeing the charactrers, but the actor ad-libbing.
This is the only reason I dislike "Raging Bull". It is otherwise a magnificent movie, with beautiful B&W cinematography that anyone who says "I don't like B&W films" has to see. If you're not bothered by (in my view) the poor improvised dialog, you will doubtless find it a masterpiece.
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Black (and White) is beautiful
Added 2/1/2010
Raging Bull is probably the greatest movie about a boxer ever made. Jake Lemotta was NOT one of the nicest or smartest middleweight champions of all time, but Robert De Niro made the character understandable but not sympathetic. The picture is now more stunning that ever for home viewing in blu-ray. I give it my highest recommendation.
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VERY POWERFULL
Added 1/23/2010
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN. DENIRO AND PESCI ARE FANTASTIC. A+
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Raging Bull blu-ray dvd
Added 1/21/2010
Wonderful quality & Very Fast Shipping ~ 5 star seller ~ would buy from again ~ THANKS!!!
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What a Blu-Ray Should Be
Added 1/12/2010
Now, THIS is what a blu-ray disc should be! Great movie. Excellent transfer. Jammed with special features, including three excellent audio commentaries and about two hours worth of documentaries about making the film.
First rate product.
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A classic and a few gems
Added 3/23/2007
For a Scorsese fan, this is an excellent box set. The two-disk special edition of Raging Bull is fantastic and it has a beautiful transfer as well. New York,New York is one of Scorsese's most underrated films, Scorsese speaks about the film on the special features and it is very insightful and informative. The Last Waltz is a very nice dvd, not as strong of a documentary as I would like but the Joni Mitchell performance alone makes it a worthwhile dvd plus it has some excellent special features as well. Boxcar Bertha is a great dvd to have for any film enthusiast, in Boxcar Bertha you can see the makings of a great director and how Scorsese took a rather generic script and breathed a bit of life into it.
Overall this is a very nice box set for a Scorsese fan or Film Enthusiast
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Very good film collection.
Added 5/17/2006
Being a huge Scorsese fan I was excited when I ordered this boxset from Amazon and I definetely thought that it was worth it cause I haven't seen his first rare film Boxcar Bertha and New York, New York. I didn't care if any of the films had a ton of special features just as long as I got the films themselves and this collection boxset was a great deal. Boxcar Bertha was definetely the weakest film in the collection but this being Martin's debut film it didn't matter cause he is one of the greatest and highly respected directors of all time.
Boxcar Bertha is the story of a life of crime of a young girl (Barbara Hershey) who after watching her father die in an horrific crash gains revenge on his boss. On the run she joins up with gangsters and train robbers in a remoreseless campaign of crime 2/5 stars.
New York, New York is known to be one of Scorsese lost films and the reason was because it was a failure. The film is a musical taking place after WWII where Robert Deniro plays a lounge performer saxiphonist named Jimmy Doyle who's sucesful career is fustrating his relationship with a talented singer played by Liza Minnelli and yet they seem to try and make things better, the film was average if you can handle a 3 hour musical then you might like it more 3/5 stars.
The last waltz is a very good concert documentary that was filmed during the farewell concert of 'The band' on Thanksgiving day in 1976 and also features performaces from some of the most influential bands of that time like Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Joni Mitchel etc. a phenomenal concert film that unless you like the music then your going to love it but if not then forget it 5/5 stars.
Raging Bull is one of Scorsese's masterpiece, shot beautifuly in black and white the story is based on the true life of heavyweight boxer Jake La Motta and how he rised to fame but then quickly fell and became an almost unrecognisable person and his failing marriage which failed because of his constant paranoia and jealosy for his wife. This film is excellent and comes with a ton of extras on the 20th anniversary eddition 2 disc set, Deniro won his second oscar in this film which was well deserved I highly recomend this great drama/sports film 5/5 stars.
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Worth it, but be careful where your tastes lie.
Added 9/6/2005
This collection might as well be called "Scorsese's Collection of Twos." It has two PG movies, two R movies. It has two music-based movies, two non-music based movies. It has two good movies, two not-so-good movies. It has two special editions and a two-disc collector's edition. Two movies are biopics.
Despite the seemingly arbitrariness of the details above, they're actually very important when it comes to defining and refining your tastes. If you're not much of a musical fan, why buy something that's fifty-percent what you don't like? If you're wanting some extreme Scorsese-dom, why get fifty percent PG movies? All told it's a matter of what you want to get out of this set.
When it comes to price, it's largely worth it merely for the edition of Raging Bull it includes and The Last Waltz, which I found to be a largely underappreciated movie. Boxcar Bertha is actually quite terrible and should only be viewed by people who are looking for Bonnie and Clyde-like stories. New York, New York is really good but very difficult to watch.
Considering price-versus-outcome analysis, it'd probably be better to get the Raging Bull collector's edition by itself and maybe one of the other films if you're interested. The cost would roughly come out the same and it wouldn't take as much space. However, if you have the space, why not get two other films basically as a bonus and have a rather nice case to hold them all in?
What I'm saying is that if you're a Raging Bull fan, get that. If you're a Scorsese fan, get this. Whatever the case, it's definitely important to know quite what you're getting, so if any of the films in this collection are something of a blind-buy to you, read separate reviews for them specifically to figure out how much you're really paying for what you want.
--PolarisDiB
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