Martin Scorsese's character study of boxer Jake LaMotta, co-written with Paul Schrader, is an uncompromising, brutally emotional portrait of a man who cannot control his lust for violence, both in the ring and in his private life. LaMotta's rise to the top and free-fall to the bottom are carefully traced over the course of the film. At the beginning of the film, he is a struggling boxer, managed by his brother Joey (Joe Pesci). Soon, he begins to gain a reputation for mercilessly beating his opponents in the ring. Jake also meets and seduces a beautiful teenager named Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), eventually divorcing his first wife to marry her. As his career continues to rise, he starts to become increasingly jealous of Vickie--after he wins the championship, he is virtually consumed with the suspicion that she is having a series of love affairs. Jake's jealousy, violence, and lack of discipline eventually lead to his loss of the title, after which he gains an enormous amount of weight and pathetically attempts to become a nightclub entertainer. Robert DeNiro captures all aspects of LaMotta's character, from his inability to communicate to his natural violence and his humiliating downfall; production stopped for several months so the actor could gain over 50 pounds for the final scenes of the aging, overweight LaMotta. Scorsese's direction particularly stands out in the intense, visceral fight scenes, which--thanks to the whiplash editing of Thelma Schoonmaker--make the audience feel as if they are in the ring. With its thuggish violence and its painful emotions, Raging Bull isn't an easy film to watch, yet it is an undeniably great one, ranking as one of the finest--as well as one of the most unsettling--dramatic films ever made.