Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Raging Bull (1980), Jake LaMotta's Swan Song

Anyone who has ever seen Raging Bull is very aware of how important the films score is, filled with classical, almost peaceful, swooping symphonies. Martin Scorsese and DP Michael Chapman understood how important the music was going to be when he filmed it, as he does with most of his films. That's why the opening shot, held through the entire credits sequence, turns a boxing ring:


Into a musical staff:


LaMotta is of course, the Treble Clef here. Which is why he never leaves the left side of the ring. He walks up and down the side, but never further into the center, remaining the beginning of the music the whole time.

Now, considering that the ropes are the lines where the notes are placed, that means that the last note of Jake LaMotta's symphony is of course:



1 comment:

  1. Nice! I never noticed that before. There's also some Christ imagery in Raging Bull as well, which I don't think anyone has ever pointed out...

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