Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

Want more recommendations for your family?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for entertainment inspiration

Parents' Guide to

Raging Bull

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Boxing movie masterpiece still brutal, bloody.

Movie R 1980 129 minutes
Raging Bull Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 13+

Based on 8 parent reviews

age 2+

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
1 person found this helpful.
age 16+

The best American movie ever made.

Essential viewing for anyone who seeks a better understanding of men, America, or how to make a masterpiece in film; or just wants to watch [refer to review title]. Roger Ebert's review examined this film better than I ever could, so I'll stop here.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (8 ):
Kids say (12 ):

Director Martin Scorsese uses gorgeous black-and-white photography to evoke the period. But that barely covers up the mean, modern stuff, from the language and behavior to the ferocious fight sequences. (Scorsese deliberately shot them to be cinematic rather than realistic.) On top of it all, the performances set a new standard for American movies and actors, with De Niro famously gaining 60 pounds over the course of the production. Pesci and Moriarity perfectly match him. Rarely do movies explode with this much power.

One of the world's most respected movie directors, Scorsese made Raging Bull at an interesting period, coming between his gritty New York movies (Taxi Driver) and his slick gangster movies (GoodFellas); it has attributes of both, making it something of an essential Scorsese experience. His camera angles and the Oscar-winning editing are flawless, including the memorable first meeting of Jake and Vicki through a chain-link fence.

Movie Details

Inclusion information powered by

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate