Raging Bull (1980)

Robert De Niro: Jake La Motta

Photos 

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Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Jake La Motta : I remember those cheers / They still ring in my ears / After years, they remain in my thoughts. / Go to one night / I took off my robe, and what'd I do? I forgot to wear shorts. / I recall every fall / Every hook, every jab / The worst way a guy can get rid of his flab. / As you know, my life wasn't drab. / Though I'd much... Though I'd rather hear you cheer / When you delve... Though I'd rather hear you cheer / When I delve into Shakespeare / "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse", I haven't had a winner in six months.

  [he lights a cigar] 

  Jake La Motta : Though I'm no Olivier / I would much rather... And though I'm no Olivier / If he fought Sugar Ray / He would say / That the thing ain't the ring, it's the play. / So give me a... stage / Where this bull here can rage / And though I could fight / I'd much rather recite /... that's entertainment.

• [Sugar Ray Robinson has just battered Jake La Motta half to death, but Jake has stayed on his feet] 

  Jake La Motta : You didn't get me down, Ray.

• [last lines] 

  Jake La Motta : Go get 'em, champ.

  [he begins shadowboxing] 

  Jake La Motta : I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss... I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss.

• Jake La Motta : Did you fuck my wife?

  Joey LaMotta : What?

  Jake La Motta : Did you fuck my wife?

  Joey LaMotta : [pauses]  How could you ask me a question like that? How could you ask me? I'm your brother. You asked me that? Where do you get you're balls big enough to ask me that?

  Jake La Motta : Just tell me.

  Joey LaMotta : I'm not answering you. I'm not gonna answer that. It's stupid.

  Jake La Motta : You're very smart, Joey. You're givin' me all these answers, but you ain't givin' me the right answer. I'm gonna ask you again: did you or did you not?

  Joey LaMotta : I'm not gonna answer. It's a sick question and you're a sick fuck and I'm not that sick that I'm gonna answer it. I'm not telling you anything. I'm gonna leave. If Lenore calls, tell her I went home. I'm not stayin' in this nuthouse with you. You're a sick bastard, I feel sorry for you, I really do. You know what you should do? Try a little more fuckin' and a little less eatin'. And you won't have troubles upstairs in your bedroom and you won't pick it out on me and everybody else. You understand, you fuckin' wacko? You're crackin' up! Fuckin' screw ball, you!

• Vicki LaMotta : I fucked all of 'em. Tommy, Salvy, your brother. All of 'em. I sucked your brother's cock! What do you want me to say?

  Jake La Motta : You sucked his cock?

  Vicki LaMotta : Yeah, I sucked his cock. And everybody else on the fuckin' street too. What do you want? You're nothin' but a fat pig, selfish fool!

  [as Jake slaps Vicki and leaves] 

  Vicki LaMotta : His fuckin' cock's bigger than yours too!

• Joey LaMotta : Hey Jack, I just explained the whole thing to you didn't I. It was between me and Salvy. If it had anything to do with Vicki I would've told you about it.

  Jake La Motta : That's not what I heard Joey.

  Joey LaMotta : What do you mean that's not what you heard?

  Jake La Motta : That's not what I heard.

  Joey LaMotta : What did you hear?

  Jake La Motta : I heard some things.

  Joey LaMotta : You heard about me and Salvy.

  Jake La Motta : I heard things Joey.

  Joey LaMotta : Yeah you heard that I cracked Salvy all around. What did you hear?

  Jake La Motta : I heard things Joey. I heard things.

  Joey LaMotta : What things you heard?

  Jake La Motta : I heard some things.

• Jake La Motta : Don't give me that look, Joey. I gotta accept your answer, you know? But If I hear anything, I swear on our mother I'm gonna kill somebody. I'm gonna kill somebody, Joey.

  Joey LaMotta : [angrily]  Well go ahead and kill if you're a tough guy, go kill people! Kill Vicki, kill Salvy, kill Tommy Como, kill me while you're at it, what do I care? You kill yourself, the way you eat! Ya fat fuck, look at you!

  Jake La Motta : What do you mean - I don't understand, kill you?

  Joey LaMotta : Me! Kill me, start here! Do me a fuckin' favour! Cause you're driving me crazy! You're a killer, you're a big shot, just kill. You're a killer.

• Jake La Motta : [talking about Janiro]  Yeah, he's a nice kid, pretty kid, don't know whether to fuck him or fight him.

• Joey LaMotta : You want me to hit you?

  Jake La Motta : I want you to hit me with everything you got. I want you to fuckin' lay me out. Go ahead.

  Joey LaMotta : You sure?

  Jake La Motta : Yeah. Go ahead.

  [Joey hits Jake] 

  Jake La Motta : Harder!

  [Joey hits Jake again] 

  Jake La Motta : You throw a punch like you're takin' it up the ass. Come on.

  [Joey hits Jake again] 

  Jake La Motta : Harder.

  [again] 

  Jake La Motta : Harder. Harder.

  Joey LaMotta : That's hard! What the fuck? What do you want?

• Jake La Motta : Did Salvy fuck Vickie?

  Joey LaMotta : What?

  Jake La Motta : Did Salvy fuck Vickie?

  Joey LaMotta : Jack. Jack, don't start your shit. I mean it, don't start.

• Joey LaMotta : She ain't the kind of girl you just fuck and forget about, this girl.

  Jake La Motta : Joey, how many times I gotta tell ya? Why're you always cursin' when I'm talkin' to you? Don't do it around me. Do it around your friends.

  Joey LaMotta : She's a, the kind of girl you bang and forget about - she's not like that. You gotta spend time with her, get involved, you know...

  Jake La Motta : D'you bang her?

  Joey LaMotta : No.

  Jake La Motta : Tell me the truth.

  Joey LaMotta : I just told you the truth. I tell you the truth the first time. You don't have to ask me again. I never do that. I always tell you the truth. If I did it, you would know. I took her out a couple of times.

  Jake La Motta : You went out with her and you didn't try to fuck her?

  Joey LaMotta : I try to fuck anything.

• Joey LaMotta : They only gave him that fuckin' decision because he's goin' in the Army next week. That's the only reason.

  Jake La Motta : I knocked him down. I don't know what else I gotta do. I don't know what I gotta do...

  Joey LaMotta : You won and they robbed ya! They're miserable because their mothers take it up the fuckin' ass! That's why.

  Jake La Motta : I've done a lot of bad things, Joey. Maybe it's comin' back to me. Who knows? I'm a jinx maybe. Who the hell knows?

• Jake La Motta : She says he's pretty.

  Joey LaMotta : Yeah, well, you make him ugly.

• Jake La Motta : Who's an animal? Your mother's an animal, ya son of a bitch.

• Jake La Motta : I got these small hands. I got a little girl's hands.

• Jake La Motta : Is it done?

  Irma : No, it's not done.

  Jake La Motta : Don't overcook it. You overcook it, it's no good. It defeats its own purpose.

  [Irma gives Jake a stern but nasty look] 

  Jake La Motta : What are you doin'? I just said don't overcook it. You're overcookin' it, bring it over.

  Irma : You want your steak?

  Jake La Motta : Bring it over. Bring it over! It's like a piece of charcoal! Bring it over here!

  Irma : You want your steak?

  Jake La Motta : YEAH, RIGHT NOW!

  [Irma stabs the steak, exits the stove and slams the steak on his plate. She hastily pours carrots on the plate] 

  Irma : Okay. There's your stupid steak. Can't wait for it to be done?

  Jake La Motta : No, I can't wait.

  Irma : Good! Okay? Happy? Happy?

  Jake La Motta : That's all I want. That's all I want!

  Irma : That's... there! No, more! There!

  [Jake routinely flips the table, spilling the contents all over the floor] 

  Jake La Motta : Bodder me abott a steak? Huh?

  Irma : That's GREAT!

  Jake La Motta : YOU BODDA ME ABOTT A STEAK?

  Irma : YEAH!

• Jake La Motta : [talks about Janiro]  I'm gonna open his hole like this. Please excuse my French. I'm gonna make him suffer. I'm gonna make his mother wish she never had him - make him into dog meat... He's a nice, a nice kid. He's a pretty kid, too. I mean I don't know, I gotta problem if I should fuck him or fight him.

  Tommy Como : [laughs]  You're crazy. Fuck him or fight him.

  Salvy Batts : If you're really in love with that fucker, just watch out.

  Jake La Motta : By who?

  Salvy Batts : Janiro.

  Jake La Motta : You mean, you want me to get him to fuck you?

  Salvy Batts : Me?

  Jake La Motta : Yeah.

  Salvy Batts : No, I don't want him to fuck me.

  Jake La Motta : I could do that easily.

  Salvy Batts : How ya gonna do that?

  Jake La Motta : Because I'll get youse both in a ring, I'll give youse both a fuckin' beatin', ya both can fuck each other.

  Salvy Batts : I get all full of blood.

  Jake La Motta : You're used to that.

• Jake La Motta : Look at that. Look how they make me look. Like a bum, like a mammalucco.

  Joey LaMotta : A what?

  Jake La Motta : Like the mammalucco of the year.

• Jake La Motta : I heard things.

• Jake La Motta : Friends. They're in a huddle. Big business meeting. By the pool, they sit around and talk. Big deals. They make sure she can hear. Big Man. Get the fuck outta here. Big shot. Get 'em all in a back room, smack 'em around, no more big shot, without his gun. They're tough guys. They're all tough guys.

• [to Joey] 

  Jake La Motta : Shut up. You just shut up. I'll fucking take care of you later.

• Jake La Motta : [kiss]  Take off my pants.

  [kiss] 

  Jake La Motta : You got to take off my pants. Now, take off the rest.

  Vicki LaMotta : You made me promise not to get you excited.

  Jake La Motta : I can't do it.

  [kiss] 

  Jake La Motta : Take off your panties.

  Vicki LaMotta : [Vickie kissing down Jake's torso]  I like the gym smell. I like the smell of the gym.

  [kissing downward] 

  Jake La Motta : No, no, no. I got to fight Robinson. I can't fool around.

  [gets up off the bed, goes to the bathroom, pours ice cold water on his groin] 

• Jake La Motta : Why? Why'd you do it? Why? You're so stupid. You're so stupid. So fuckin' stupid. So stupid. They call me an animal. I'm not an animal! I'm not an animal. Why do they treat me like this? I'm not bad. I'm not that bad! I'm not that bad. I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy.

• Vicki LaMotta : Are you sure we should be doin' this?

  Jake La Motta : Come here.

  Vicki LaMotta : You said never to touch you before a fight.

  Jake La Motta : Come here, before I give you a beatin'.

• Jake La Motta : Come here. Now, touch my boo-boos. Good. Boo-boo. That's it.

  Vicki LaMotta : Boo-ba?

  Jake La Motta : Boo-boo. Give the boo-boo a kiss. Make it better. Mmm.

• Jake La Motta : You know what's botherin' me? My hands.

  Joey LaMotta : Your hands?

  Jake La Motta : I got these small hands. I got little girl hands.

  Joey LaMotta : I got 'em too. What's the difference?

  Jake La Motta : You know what that means? No matter how big I get, no matter how I fight, no matter what I do, I ain't never gonna fight Joe Louis.

  Joey LaMotta : Yeah, that's right. He's a heavyweight. You're a middleweight. We know that.

  Jake La Motta : I ain't never gonna get a chance to fight the best there is. You know somethin'? I'm better than them. I ain't never gonna get a chance.

• Jake La Motta : I'm gonna win. There's no way I'm goin' down. I don't go down for nobody.

• Jake La Motta : "When I come home at night, my wife's at the door with a tall drink in her hand. And she gives me a nice hot bath. Then, she gives me a nice rubdown. Then, she makes passionate love to me. Then, she makes me dinner. What more could you ask for? You ought to try that." The other friend says, "Hey, That sounds great! What time does your wife get home?"

• Jake La Motta : [crying]  What'd I do? What'd I do? What'd I do?

• Jake La Motta : Hey, Joey, you don't understand. You don't understand. I had to fight a bum. He's a bum! I fought the guy, tapped him like that, all the sudden he's like this all over the place. What have I got to do?

• Jake La Motta : They got some balls. Some balls. I take the dive. What more do they want? Huh? They want me to go down too? I ain't goin' down. Not for nobody.

• Jake La Motta : What am I gonna do? If that's what they're gonna do, they're gonna do. What can I do? Well, fuck 'em. Let 'em do what they're gonna do.

• Jake La Motta : Larry!