Delayed Reaction: Raging Bull

The Pitch: Dirty Rocky.

Raging Bull is a classic. That's one of those inarguable statements like "The Beatles are great" or "I Love Lucy is one of the best TV shows ever" that only the most contrarian person would dispute. I'm not hear to fight the opinion that Raging Bull is great. I'm not sure why it has the level of universal acclaim it has though. I get it for Casablanca or The Shawshank Redemption. Those are damn-near reverse-engineered to offend no one. Raging Bull is aggressive, dark, and at times, just plain ugly. You'd think that movie would have a lot of detractors.

This is actually my second time seeing Raging Bull. I saw it close to a decade ago and didn't get what the big deal was. I liked it, but it wasn't all that memorable. So, I gave it another try. And, I liked it. De Niro is tremendous. The movie looks great. Strong editing and sound. Well-written. Impressively directed. I'm still missing the key element that pushes it to being among the greatest films ever made. It's not that I'm rejecting the notion. I guess I'm just looking for someone to convince me.

Like a lot of the certified classics I get to for this blog, I don't have a lot to say about Raging Bull. Everything has been said before. There isn't a "new take" I'm going to have on the film. I will make the uncontroversial claim that I prefer De Niro's work with Scorsese over DiCaprio's, although both have pretty impressive lists.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend