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The Buffalo Film Seminars 4/19/2000
Angelika 8 Theater
RAGING BULL (1980)
Director Martin Scorsese
Producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler
Music Robbie Robertson and Pietro Mascagni
Cinematographer Michael Chapman
Film Editor Thelma Schoonmaker
Sound Be st David J. Kimball, Les Lazarowitz, Donald O. Mitchell and Bill Nicholson.
Script Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin (the shooting script was by Scorsese and De
Niro), loosely based on the book by Jake LaMotta, Joseph Carter& Peter Savage
Robert De Niro Jake La Motta
Cathy Moriarty Vickie La Motta
Joe Pesci Joey La Motta
Frank Vincent Salvy
Nicholas C olasanto Tommy Como
Theresa Saldana Lenore
Mario Gallo Mario
Frank Adon is Patsy
Joseph Bono Guido
Frank Topham Toppy
Charles Scorsese Charlie - Man with Como
Don Dunphy Himself/Radio Annou ncer
Bill Hanrahan Eddie Eagan
Rita Ben nett Emma - Miss 48's
Johnny B arnes Sugar Ray Robinson
Louis R aftis Marcel Cerdan
Johnny Turner Laurent Dauthuille
Martin Scorsese Barbizon Stagehand
De Niro and Schoonmaker won Academy Awards for this picture and nominations went to Scorsese, Chapman, Chartoff and
Winkler, Pesci, Moriarty, and the four sound editors. The Awards for best director and best picture that year went to Ordinary
People directed b y Robert R edford. Raging B ull is on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Greatest American Films and has
frequently been listed as the best film of the 1 980s; Ordinary People hasn’t made either list.
MARTIN SCORSESE was g oing to be a prie st bu t beca me a fi lmm aker inste ad. H e’s a 1 964 gradu ate of the N YU fi lm pr ogram . In
1997 he re ceived the A merican Film Institu te Life Achieveme nt Award. Sc orsese has d irected comm ercials for his friend G iorgio
Armani, Michael Jackson’s “Bad” music video, and has written, produced, acted in, and/or directed some 70 fiction and
documen tary films, some of wh ich are: Bringing Out the Dead 1999, Casino 1995, The Age of Innocence 1993, Cape Fear 1991,
GoodFellas 1990, The Last Temptation of Christ 1988, The Color of Money 1986, The King of Comedy 1983, The Last W altz 1978,
Taxi Driver 1976, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore 1974, Mean Str eets 1973 and Boxcar Bertha 1972. His other Academ y Award
nominations were for The Age of Innocence (screenp lay), GoodFellas (director, screenplay), and Last Temptation of Christ
(director). More than anyone else, he has been responsible for the recent movement to preserve important American films.
ROBERT DE NIRO (17 August 1943, New York, New York) has acted in seven other
Scorsese films Mean Str eets 1973, Taxi Driver 1976, New York New York 1977, The
King of Comedy 1983, GoodFellas 1990, Cape Fear 1991, and Casino 1995. Some of
his other films are: Analyze Th is 1999, Ronin 1998, Jackie Brown 1997, Wag the Dog
1997, Franken stein 1994, A Bronx T ale 1993 (w hich he a lso direct ed), The
Untouchables 1987, The Mission 1986, Brazil 1985, Once Upon a Time in America
1984, True Confessions 1981, The Deer Hunter 1978, 1900 1976, and The Godfather:
Part II 1974. He has five films scheduled for release this year. He other Academ y Award
nominations were for Cape Fear, Awakenings,Raging Bull, The Deer Hunter, Taxi
Driver, The Godfather: Pa rt II won, supporting. Hasty Pudding named him Man of the
Year in 1979.
CATHY MORIARTY (29 November 1960, The Bronx) appeared in 33 films after debuting as Jake’s wife in Raging B ull, most of
them easily forgettable. So me of them are: But I'm a Cheerleader 1999, Gloria 1999, Prince of Central Park 1999, P.U.N.K.S. 1998,
Cop Land 1997, Women Without Imp lants 1997, Another Stakeout 1993, The Mambo Kings 1992, Soapdish 1991, and Neighbors
1981.
Some of Scorsese’s storyboard drawings for one of the fight scenes
JOE PESCI (9 February 1943, Newark, New Jersey) had only two bit parts before his role as Jake’s long-suffering brother propelled
him into the big time. Since then he has appeared in 29 other films, among them Lethal Weapon 4 1998, 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag
1997, Casino 1995, A Bronx T ale 1993, Lethal Weapon 3 1992, My Cousin Vinny 1992, JFK 1991, Home Alone 1990, GoodFellas
1990, Lethal Weapon 2 1989, Once Upon a Time in America 1984, and I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can 1982.
MICHAEL CHAPMAN (21 November 19 35, New York) w as D.P. for Six Days Se ven Nights 1998, Space Jam 1996, Primal Fear
1996, The Fugitive 1993, Rising Sun 1993, Doc Hollywood 1991, Ghostbusters II 1989, Scrooged 1988, The Lost Boys 1987, Dead
Men Do n't Wear Pla id 1982, Persona l Best 1982, The Wanderers 1979, Fingers 1978, Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978, Taxi
Driver 1976, The Front 1976, The White Dawn 1974, The Last D etail 1973, a nd seve ral other film s.
JAKE LA MOTTA was born July 10, 1921. He fought 106 professional bouts. He won 83 (30 by Kos), lost 19, and drew 4. He fought
Sugar Ray Robinson six times. The first five were :1942 (Robinson, decision), twice in 1943 (La Motta won the first, Robinson the
second, both by decision), and 1945 (Robinson, decision). La Motta became middleweight chamption with a 10th-round TKO over
Marcel Cerdan in 1949. He defended his title twice in 1950—first against Tiberio Mitri and then in the famous fight against Laurent
Dauthuille in which he was trailing on the scorecards but came back with an astonishing 15th-round knockout. The sixth and last
fight with Robin son was in Chicago on February 14, 19 51. For opp onents and stats for all of LaMotta’s fights visit
www2 .xtdl.com/~b rasslet/LaMotta_ Jake_rec.htm .
“I was facinated by the self-destructive side of Jake La Motta’s character, his very basic emotions. What could be m ore
basic than m aking a living by hitting an other person on the head until one of you falls or s tops? Bo b [DeNiro] an d I then decided to
take Paul Sch rader’s script, with P aul’s blessing, to an island–wh ich is hard for me , because as far as I’m co ncerned there e’s only
one island, M anhattan. Bu t Bob got me through it, he’d w ake me up in the morning an d mae me co ffee, and we spen t two-and-a-h alf
weeks there rewriting everything. We combined characters and in fact rewrote the entire picture, including the dialogue. When we
got back we s howed it to P aul, who did n’t care for it all that much but, as he wro te in his telegram to u s when w e began sho oting,
‘Jake d id it his wa y, I did it my way, you do it your w ay.’
“I put everything I knew and felt into that film and I thought it would be the end of my career. It was what I call a kamikaze
way of making movies: pour everything
in, then forget all about it and go find
another way of life.” Martin
Scorsese
“In RAGING BULL all the fight scenes
were done in drawings. It’s very much
like staging a dance to music. Instead of
a verse with maybe twelve bars of
music, it’s four bars of punches. Because
it’s all choreography.” Martin Scorsese
For more on Raging Bull, visit //movies.tierranet.com/ragingbull/index.htm. The best book on Martin Scorsese is Scorsese on
Scorsese, ed. David Thompson and Ian Christie, Faber and Faber, 1996. The American Film Institute set up an interesting Scorsese
web site wh en it gave him the 1997 Life Ach ievement A ward: //www.afionline.org/scorsese/. For a good deal of information on De
Niro and Sc orsese visit //homeo.att.net/~vellinor/
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THE BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS ARE PRESENTED BY THE CITY OF BUFFALO, THE ANGELIKA THEATERS
& THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO.
