As accomplished as it was, Coppola's “The Godfather, Part III” didn't break new grounds thematically or artistically. Neither did “Casino” in 1995, a crime picture that reunites director Martin Scorsese with Robert De Niro, his favorite, quintessential actor, and co-screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi.

In Raging Bull, Scorsese equates sexuality with brute force and erratic violence; it's a vicious circle. Freud has called it the "Madonna-whore complex." Prizefighter Jake LaMotta suffers such low self-esteem and insecure masculinity that he cannot respect a woman who would sleep with him, and is convinced that given the choice she would rather sleep with another man.