10 Most Brutal Fight Scenes In Movie History

3. Raging Bull

raging bull de niro Jake LaMotta had one of the toughest chins in boxing. For those of you who don€™t know your boxing parlance, that means he could take a punch like no-one else and still remain standing. It€™s a curious gift to have, and the way Jake used it made for some shocking viewing in Raging Bull. LaMotta had this ongoing rivalry with one of the greatest boxers €“ if not the greatest €“ of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson, and the film Raging Bull goes to great pains to show you the brutal nature of those fights. Every one of their fights shown on the film could potentially make this list, but I€™m choosing their last fight, where Jake realises he€™s been outgunned and tries to prove his manliness by just taking as much punishment as humanly possible from the future hall-of-famer. And my god, is it brutal. Scorsese€™s direction makes for boxing fights like no other in movies, full of blood and sweat, ramped up with sound effects to all the punches and the actors selling those punches extremely well. If the goal was to create one of the most visceral fight sequences in cinema history, Marty certainly did his job. The best part is that unlike some of the other entries on this list, the violence doesn€™t feel gratuitous at all €“ it all fits into LaMotta€™s psyche, his insecurity about being a man€™s man. The fact this man takes a ridiculously graphic beating and still feels proud he didn€™t go down tells you all you need to know about him as a person, and the brutality of the fight scene really rams that point home.
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Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.