1980 Ordinary People vs. Raging Bull

1980 Ordinary People

An okay movie.  Kind of melancholy, focusing on a family, the Jarretts, dealing with the death of the eldest son, and the the attempted suicide of the remaining son.  Beth Jarrett tries to pretend that nothing is wrong, while her family crumbles around her, creating conflict between her and her husband, Calvin, and son, Conrad.  Good acting (especially by Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore, who play the Calvin and Beth), not a bad ending.  Didn't make a big impression on me.  Perhaps a revolutionary movie at the time?  Delving into the dark depths of suburbia?

A lot of critics felt that Raging Bull should have won.

1980 Raging Bull (Bad language ahead -ye be warned)



I finally got around to watching Raging Bull, and wasn't impressed.  It was kind of like watching Goodfellas, but with boxing.  Or a race to see how many F-words could be fit into one movie (ex. Joey LaMotta, Jake's brother: "I can hear you breathing you fuck.  You listening, your mother sucks fucking big fucking elephant dicks, you got that?"  Charming.).  Or watching Rocky III, but rooting for Mr. T.  Robert De Niro and Joe Peschi seem to be competing to see who can be the angriest jerk on screen.  The boxing scenes are ho hum -there are so many good boxing movies out there that are better than this.  It's about Jake LaMotta, a middleweight boxing champion, and is based on his autobiography.  He was involved, even teaching De Niro to box, and it's hard to believe he would actually want to see himself portrayed this way, but if he really is as big a jerk in real life as he appears to be in the movie, I guess he wouldn't care.  Maybe he's proud to be a violent, wife-beating man with major anger issues.  And I do mean anger issues -I mean, you can't even talk to this guy, because he will grasp onto some tiny thing you say like a dog with a bone and not let go until everyone is miserable:


Jake: You're sure you're not interested in him?
Vickie: Yeah.
Jake: In other words, you're not interested in him, but you could be interested in somebody?

What the heck?  He can twist anything around, and he does!  It's exhausting!  And another example:

Jake: I heard some things.  Did Salvy fuck Vickie?
Joey: What?
Jake: Did Salvy fuck Vickie?
Joey: Now Jack, don't start your shit.
Jake: Joey, I asked ya.  Didn't I ask ya to keep an eye on her?
Joey: And I did keep an eye on her.  Yes, I did.
Jake: How come you give him a beatin'?
Joey: I told you that.  I told you what that was all about.  That it had nothin' to do with you.  He, he thinks he's a wise guy now.
Jake: Joey, don't lie to me.
Joey: I'm not lying.

Jake: What do I look like to you, huh?
Joey: Hey, I'm your brother.  You're supposed to believe me.  Don't you trust me?
Jake: No, I don't.
Joey: Oh, you don't?  That's nice.
Jake: I don't trust you when it comes to her.  I don't trust nobody.  Now tell me what happened.
Joey: I told you exactly what happened.  He got out of line, I slapped him around.  Tommy straightened it all out, and it's all over.
Jake: Don't you give me that look, Joey.  I gotta accept your answer, you know.  But I'm tellin' you now, if I hear anything, I swear on mother, I'm gonna kill somebody.  I'm gonna kill somebody, Joey.
Joey: Well, go ahead and kill everybody.  You're the tough guy.  Go kill people.  Kill Vickie.  Kill Salvy.  Kill Tommy Como.  Kill me while you're at it, what do I care?  You're killin' yourself the way you eat.  You're a fat fuck.  Look at ya.
Jake: What d'ya mean?  I don't understand.  What d'ya mean, kill you?  You?
Joey: Me.  Kill me.  Start here.  Kill me first.  Do me a fuckin' favor, 'cause you're drivin' me crazy.
Jake: Excuse me, what d'ya mean by "you," though?
Joey: So?  What does that mean?  It don't mean nothin'.
Jake: You don't even know what you meant by "you."
Joey: Don't mean nothin'.

Jake: Joey, that meant somethin'.  You mentioned Tommy, you mentioned Salvy, you mentioned you.  You included "you" with them.  You could have said anybody but you said "you" and them.
Joey: You really let this girl ruin your life.  Look at ya.  She really did some job on ya.  You know how fuckin' nuts you are?  Look what she did to you.
Jake: You fucked my wife?
Joey: What?
Jake: You fucked my wife?
Joey: How could you ask me a question like that?  How could you ask me?  I'm your brother.  You ask me that?  Where do you get your balls big enough to ask me that?
Jake: Just tell me.
Joey: I'm not answerin' ya.  I'm not gonna answer that.  It's stupid.
Jake: You're very smart, Joey.  You give me all these answers, but you ain't givin' me the right answer.  I'm askin' ya again.  Did you or did you not?
Joey: I'm not gonna answer.  That's a sick question, you're a sick fuck, and I'm not that sick that I'm gonna answer it.  I'm not tellin' ya anything.  I'm going to leave.  If Lenore calls, tell her I went home.  I'm not stayin' in this nuthouse with ya.  You're a sick bastard.  I feel sorry for you, I really do.  You know what you should do?   Try a little more fuckin' and a little less eatin'.  You won't have troubles upstairs in your bedroom and you won't take it out on me and everybody else.  Do you understand, you fuckin' wacko?  You're crackin' up!  Fuckin' screwball, ya.

And it JUST KEEPS GOING.  I include such a long clip to try give an idea of just how tedious and annoying the dialogue is.  And practically every conversation is like this.

I do have to give Robert DeNiro credit for his incredible physical transformation for the movie.  He goes from fit boxing weight to gaining 60 pounds to show LaMotta in retirement.  Terrible for the body, but that sure is dedication to the part.

I am going to stand by The Shining as the best picture of 1980.



My review can be seen here: http://www.kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-shining-1980.html