3. Raging Bull
Jake LaMotta had one of the toughest chins in boxing. For those of you who dont know your boxing parlance, that means he could take a punch like no-one else and still remain standing. Its 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 Im choosing their last fight, where Jake realises hes 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. Scorseses 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 doesnt feel gratuitous at all it all fits into LaMottas psyche, his insecurity about being a mans man. The fact this man takes a ridiculously graphic beating and still feels proud he didnt 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.