Based on the autobiography of boxer Jake La Motta, Raging Bull has been hailed as director Martin Scorsese's masterwork by many critics. Looking at the film both in the context of American cinema in the late seventies and early eighties, and its place in Scorsese's work before and since, The Making Of Raging Bull is a unique analysis of a classic. Exploring the actual shooting and editing of the gritty black-and-white film, the book also looks at past screen treatments of a subject which is violent by its very nature, and the effect the role had on the lead star Robert de Nero's subsequent career.