Narrative Structure
Most of the film, which spans over two decades, is told in flashbacks.
There are 46 sequences, including opening credits and closing quotations.
- Opening credits
- 1964: backstage of nightclub
- 1941
- 1943
- 1944-7
- 1947
- 1949
- 1950
- 1956
- 1958
- 1964 (Jack prepares to perform)
- Black title with biblical quote and dedication
Oscar Nominations: 8
Picture, produced by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff Director: Martin Scorsese
Actor: Robert De Niro
Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci
Supporting Actress: Cathy Moriarty
Cinematography: Michael Chapman
Film Editing: Thelma Schoonmaker
Sound: Donald O. Mitchell, Bill Nicholson, David J. Kimball, and Les Lazarowitz
Oscar Awards: 2
Actor
Editing
Oscar Context:
In 1980, Robert Redford’s feature debut “Ordinary People,” which swept the most important Oscars, competed with two superlative films (both in black-and-white): David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man,” which received 8 nominations but lost in each one of them, and Scorsese’s masterpiece “Raging Bull,” which also received 8 nods, winning two, for Actor Robert De Niro and for Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing.
The other two nominees were Michael Apted’s biopic “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” starring Sissy Spacek, and Roman Polanski’s literary adaptation “Tess,” which won three technical Oscars out of six nominations.
One of Hollywood’s All-Time Best Films
