Boxer Jake LaMotta’s brutal life becomes in Robert DeNiro;s towering performance, a study of blind fate driving a man to the edge of self-destruction. TIME thought it “bloated and repetitious.” But this brilliantly shot film finally does allow LaMotta a sliver of redemption and leaves us harrowed by its unblinking portrayal of a life lived essentially without conscience or useful consciousness.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI92__SPwu8]