Filmic Pulp

It saddens me, if not worries me, that this is considered Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece. Robert De Niro plays the boxer Jake LaMotta, a middleweight contender who is as stubborn and stoic as they come.

And I suppose that my main gripe with this film is how well they made him a real big son of a bitch. You see him physically and verbally abuse his wives–one who stays with him for over ten years–and that’s just something that I am not cool with. Luckily, it’s this type of personality that, for ten years on, ruined his shot at a championship. I can’t understand why anyone would be such a dick for so long, so stubborn that their life slowly disintegrates. It’s my understanding, according to the IMDB, that Scorsese and De Niro rewrote parts of the script to make him seem like less of an asshole. Now that’s amazing because he’s such a big cunt in the movie that I almost would’ve liked to see that original script to see what had changed.

However, one of the redeeming qualities of this movie are the boxing scenes. They’re some legitimate pieces of filmmaking. The way that the blood flows and the punches come, there are very few parts, if any, that you wonder if the hits were real.

But this redemption is short-lived given how much I hate Joe Pesci. He’s annoying as fuck to me and I don’t think that’s something I’d ever be able to get over. He plays Joey LaMotta, Jack’s brother who stands by his side unwaveringly throughout the years and even bashes a guy’s head into a taxi door just because of Jake’s paranoia that his wife is cheating on him constantly. Joey is the type of manager you’d want around because he’s your younger brother and, because of his growing up with you, your jackass behavior is normal. (Aside: What is it with the shorter actors–Pesci, DeVito, et al–that they have to act like such tough guys? Their presence on screen, along with their oft annoying voices, makes me want to vomit. That’s a bit hyperbolic, admittedly, but I think the point is made.)

And at least the title is apt, so this movie isn’t a complete failure. You can tell that this was a project that they enjoyed making and is some very good cinematography. I’ve just never been one to root for the tough guys because of who I am and all the tough guys I’ve encountered and how enraging they can be with their heads like rocks and their RPMs always in the red. They’re constantly out to prove something even after they’ve proven it. LaMotta types only let their balls and their fists guide their instincts.