The MoFo Top 100 of the 80s: Countdown

More impressive than enjoyable, which has made it hard for me to love, which is why I had it at #19.

Damn SC. He's got this right.

I've never seen Raging Bull. I like a lot of Scorcese's other work and I'm sure I'll get to it eventually, but it doesn't really interest me.

A typical Miss Vicky post.

Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) I'm not going to go into so much detail for this bonafide classic, although I feel it deserves it. The thing I really notice about it now is how much of a history all the characters played by De Niro and Pesci really have in their Scorsese films. In some ways, De Niro's paranoid, uncontrollable and pathetic Jake La Motta is far more psycho and complex than Travis Bickle, and I'm not trying to belittle or demean Taxi Driver in this post. It's just that La Motta has many of the things which Travis desires, yet he is still insecure and self-destructive. I find Raging Bull to be Marty's second best film, after GoodFellas. It's a terrific accomplishment, full of power and passion, but it's unrelentingly brutal. Jake La Motta seems to live his entire life in Hell on Earth. His paranoia is truly disturbing. Only near the end of the film does he get busted, even though he and his "slightly-more-mellow" Bro both deserve to go to jail more than a few times.

Aside from a minute or two of home movies shot in color, Raging Bull is photographed in striking black-and-white by future director Michael Chapman. I believe the reason for that is two-fold (sorry, Holds, I've never heard or read any commentary about it). First off, I believe that Scorsese wants to present the film "realistically" even though it's a highly-stylized melodrama and is not realistic at all, whether it be its depiction of boxing in general or La Motta's fights specifically. Second, I think that Scorsese may have been afraid that the film would have been too violent in color and that he wouldn't be allowed to get away with some of the more violent makeup effects during the boxing matches and a few other graphic scenes. Nevertheless, the heart and soul of the movie are the performances and some of the quieter scenes. Although the soundtrack and much of the action is pitched at an operatic level, it's the quieter scenes (often almost as melodramatic as the loud ones, but more menacing) which draw you into the film. Then again, it may not draw everyone in. My wife hates Raging Bull, and I can understand that repulsiveness is often hateful, but somehow Scorsese and De Niro are able to turn a "Monster" such as La Motta into a human being deserving of love and forgiveness. This was Sarah's first viewing of the film. I hope you don't report me for child abuse now.

You said The Terminator would be today, didn't you?

The three possible Miss Vicky answers
1. Haven't seen it. It doesn't interest me.
2. I saw it and hated it
3. I saw it. It has Joaquin Phoenix and was one of the best movies ever.

I said today was either The Terminator or Raging Bull. It depended on which trick film on the banner represented Terminator -- either the Tootsie picture, which would mean Terminator before Raging Bull, or the Paris, Texas/Ferris Bueller/Breakfast Club trio of pictures, which represents The Terminator.

The trick film was the trio, so tomorrow will be Terminator.

Then The Shining, because it's after the tricky trio, then Blade Runner, then Back to the Future, and if Blue Velvet is a trick picture, then Empire Strikes Back, and finally #1 is the Indiana Jones picture -- Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It is possible, though, that Blue Velvet represents nothing and you purposely left off the #1 movie, which is Empire Strikes Back.

But so far I have said Die Hard would be 8 and either Terminator or Raging Bull is 7 and I was right.

Yeah, there's no body mutilation in it

Did sexy really cracked the top ten?

If Die Hard shows up today, I think I may know the order of the last eight movies.

THE FINAL EIGHT

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Back to the Future
4. Blade Runner
5. The Shining
6. Raging Bull
7. The Terminator
8. Die Hard

This is why:



My theory is that he's giving it away in the banner.

I know this banner has been crafted somehow to give away the order, or I wouldn't have known Die Hard was coming today, because before I was pegging Die Hard to be in the Top 5, and I thought Empire Strikes Back would be #1, but it won't be.

We know Full Metal Jacket and Blue Velvet have already shown up. Full Metal Jacket, however, doesn't have a picture on the banner to represent it. Blue Velvet does, but it's placed second, between Indiana Jones and Back to the Future.

My theory is that Indiana Jones, the first image, represents the #1 movie, which is Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The second image, which is Blue Velvet, is covering up the identity of the 2nd movie, which is The Empire Strikes Back.

Then we see Back to the Future, which is going to be #3, because it's the third image in the banner.

Then we have Blade Runner at #4.

Then we have The Shining at #5.

Then there are three spaces of characters from movies that have already appeared on the list. I think it's just filler.

Then we have Raging Bull, which I predict is #6.

Then we have Dorothy Michaels. Dorothy Michaels might be covering up the identity of #7, which I think is The Terminator. It's possible Raging Bull and The Terminator are actually flipped (Raging Bull is 7, Terminator is 6). I'm not entirely sure, but I'm predicting they're not.

And finally, the last image -- Die Hard. It's #8.

Man, I'm a genius for coming up with this. And obviously Sexy is a mega-genius for figuring it out.