(Martin Scorsese, US 1982, 129 min.)

It’s hard to imagine a more visceral, physical performance than Robert De Niro’s as Jake La Motta. Scorsese’s rendering of the self-destructive boxer and his trials with his brother (Joe Pesci), wife (Cathy Moriarty), and career is a transcendental moment in cinema that’s often cited as the best American movie of the 1980s.