Robert De Niro gave body and soul to this powerful portrayal of boxer Jake La Motta, the "Bronx Bull," whose tortured inner life finds expression only through ritualized aggression both in and out of the ring. Dialogue--particularly between Jake and his manager-brother (Joe Pesci)--is a brilliant amalgam of Bronx bull and raw poetry, while director Martin Scorsese updates the gritty black-and-white cinematography of the classic boxing films into a rhythmic vision of disturbing revelations.