The Bronx Bull

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1

[CROWD CHEERING]

COMMENTATOR:

Jake LaMotta, in his corner,

believes he can whip

anybody in the world,

and he's trying to prove it tonight.

He has set, as you can see,

to make an all-out effort

to retain that heralded crown.

[SOFT MUSIC]

[NEWSREEL MUSIC PLAYS]

NEWS:
The nation's underworld

gets the unwelcome spotlight

of publicity as the Senate's

investigation subcommittee

begins new hearings on crime.

This he describes as the government

of organized gambling,

narcotics peddling,

extortion, racketeering

and controlling of certain trade unions.

He says the income runs into billions.

[ALL CLAMORING]

Will you be disclosing any

criminal names, Mr. LaMotta?

Does organized crime

call the shots in Boston?

What about your brother, Jake?

Is he involved in this?

Will you be disclosing

any organized-crime names?

What about your brother Joey?

Is he involved in this?

Look, fellas, ladies, I don't

really have anything to say.

I'll tell you what.

Things work out in there,

I'll join youse all for a beer.

[ALL CLAMORING]

BONOMI:
Mr. LaMotta, you were

a professional boxer

from 1941 to approximately 1954?

Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

And, uh, how many bouts have you had?

Amateur, professional, about 125.

And at one time you were

the middleweight champion

of the world, is that right?

Yes, sir, I was.

Can you tell us some of

your prominent fights?

Well, I fought Ray Robinson six times.

I won the middleweight championship

from Marcel Cerdan.

Fought Pritzi Zivic four times,

Laurent Dauthuille twice.

Knocked him out in the 15th round.

Retained my title.

Do you want me to go through

all 125 of these?

'Cause I gotta tell you,

Your Honor, you know,

I got punched in the head a lot,

and I'm not sure my memory's

all that good.

Remember Billy Fox. You fought him

at the Park Arena in 1947.

Yes, sir, I fought Billy Fox.

That fight was listed as a knockout.

Billy Fox knocked you out.

For the record, is there

anything you want to state

- about that fight?

- If I'm gonna make a statement,

I'd like to start at the beginning,

if it's all right with the court.

BONOMI:

You can make any statement you like.

[CROWD SHOUTING]

[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]

MAN 1:

You do it!

MAN 2:

Come on, get him, get him!

Let's go, LaMotta.

Stick and move.

[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]

[INDISTINCT SHOUTING CONTINUOUS]

[CROWD CHEERS]

MAN:

Oh, yeah!

Fight like a man!

He's not tough like you!

MAN:

Light's out! Light's out, Jake!

Light's out! Yeah!

[APPLAUSE]

[COINS RATTLING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

Sit down.

Two wines. Red.

This guy's got a bad hearing.

Two wine. The red. Huh?

Um, Giuseppe, Mickey says

I can't serve you no more.

Besides, he's too young.

Tell Mr. Mickey, I wanna talk to him.

Crazy f***ing guinea.

[SPEAKS IN ITALIAN]

Stupid Irish.

[INAUDIBLE]

Pardon, Mickey.

Giuseppe wants a word.

Gimme a minute.

He wants to tell you how

he's gonna pay the f***ing tab.

Hello, Mickey. Mickey,

this is my son, Jake.

Jake, say hello.

Hey, say hello.

If you're here to pay your tab,

then you can stay.

If not...

Okay, I wanna talk to you.

Stay here. Shut up.

MAN 1:

Let's get this over with.

[MEN SHOUTING]

MAN 2:

Let's go! Come on!

Come on! Come on!

Come on!

[CROWD CHEERS]

Get up!

Get up. Get up!

[SHOUTS IN ITALIAN]

Yeah!

[GIUSEPPE SHOUTING IN ITALIAN]

Punch!

That's it!

Fight back like a man!

Come on.

GIUSEPPE:
Oh! Oh!

[GIUSEPPE SHOUTING IN ITALIAN]

- Yeah! Yeah!

- That's it! Get him!

Sully, what do you want me to do,

put my money on the kid?

Stop choking the kid!

You're killing him!

F***er! He's cheating!

[GASPING]

Come on. Get here.

Come on.

Hey! The kid lost. Pay up.

Nobody win!

MICKEY:

Don't come back here, Giuseppe.

Ever.

Never let no man ever put

his hands on you again.

[SPEAKS IN ITALIAN]

And never let no man beat you.

You hit him first

and you hit him harder.

But you don't go down.

You understand?

You don't go down!

Never! Never, never,

never, never!

[GIUSEPPE GRUNTING]

[SHOUTING IN ITALIAN]

[SMACKING]

[FUSSING]

Baby, calm down.

[SPEAKS IN ITALIAN]

[SPEAKING IN ITALIAN]

[SCREAMING]

[SOBS]

Jake? Come on, let's go.

Here, take this.

Ah, come on, Jake.

How the f*** you gonna make money, huh?

What are you gonna start doing,

start peddling with your old man? Huh?

I'm gonna fight.

I'm gonna be a pro.

[LAUGHS]

You're gonna be pro?

Why not? I'm good at it and I like it.

It's a f***ing sucker's game, Jake.

What, you wanna sit in there

and get your face pounded out

in pro? Are you kidding me?

What the f***'s the matter with you?

I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna fight.

I'm gonna fight.

[SIGHS]

How many men are there

that you can call a champ, huh?

There's bloody thousands of politicians

and there's thousands of big

shots of one kind or another.

There's only one champ.

That's what I'm gonna be,

the champion of the world.

[CHEERING AND SHOUTING]

Jake LaMotta! Yes!

Come here, baby, come here.

[COINS RATTLE]

You done good, Jake.

[CROWD SHOUTING]

MAN:

Come on, Jake!

Come on, Jake, quit playing around!

Get up. Get up.

Come on, get up.

You're not done yet.

Get back into it.

Watch out! Yeah!

[ALL SHOUTING]

Attaboy! Attaboy!

Yeah!

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Somebody get some water!

[SOFT MUSIC]

RICK:

Listen, I got it all set up.

You are gonna knock the f***ing

sh*t outta this guy, all right?

Ricky, I ain't fighting

no punks no more.

Get the f*** outta here.

Jake, it's one more fight.

It's with the Jew kid from Riverdale.

That... That big one?

Yeah, the big one.

[ALL SHOUTING]

Come on, come on, come on.

What?

Come on, Jake, Jew kid looks tough.

JAKE:
What the f*** do you care?

He'll be hitting me.

Yeah, you got a point there,

but just keep your frigging

hands up, all right?

Anything else?

Any other pointers?

Yeah, kiss my ass.

[CHEERING AND SHOUTING]

Sh*t! I'm never seen you fight

like that. That was nuts!

You didn't give the kid

a chance to breathe.

You were like a bull out there!

Hey, youse! Wise guys.

Let me handle this, all right?

A bet's a bet, all right?

Now take a walk

before I give you

a big smack in the mouth.

You killed him.

If I was you two,

I'd get the f*** outta here.

Now! Get the f*** outta here!

Both of youse!

Jake, we gotta go.

Jake! No! Let's go! Jake!

Hey, hey, get the f*** outta here!

RICKY:

Get the f*** outta here. Let's go.

Don't come back!

All of youse!

Nobody off these bunkers, guys. Nobody.

And that goes double for you, LaMotta.

Don't forget it, huh?

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

Let us pray.

Lord, with this meal,

cleanse us of all unrighteousness,

comfort us in troubled times,

and give us the compassion

and the grace

to lead a holy life hereafter.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

ALL:
Amen.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[INMATES SHOUTING]

You gonna fight all these boys

and the guards

till they kill you?

I'll murder all these bums.

And you, too, you don't leave me alone.

You know, I look at you,

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