S.W.’s Scores
Continuity
+6
Entertainment
+5
Rewatchability
+3
CastRobert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty
StreamingMax, Prime Video (rent)
S.W.’s Verdict
De Niro gained sixty pounds to play a man destroying himself, and Scorsese filmed the destruction in black and white because color would have been too kind. The boxing sequences are brutal and beautiful in a way that makes you uncomfortable about finding them beautiful. Jake LaMotta is not a sympathetic character, and the film never pretends otherwise. You watch a man win fights and lose everything else, and neither outcome feels like an accident.