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Entertain Jake La + a11/o r\f LUII\0 %JK By David Baker FHm Critic Jake La Motta won the title of Middleweight Champion of the World from Marcel Cerdan in 1949. He successfully defended the crown in 1950 against Tiberio Mitri, the European champion, but lost it to Sugar Ray Robinson a year later. In the mid-1970's, director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert DeNiro approached La Motta, wanting to turn his 1970 autobiography, "Raging Bull," into a film. After playing a few engagements in December the finished picture opened nationwide last Friday. In connection with the film's Carolina openings, United Artists, the film's distributor, invited several local journalists 10 unanone 10 iaiK wun La MOtia. wnat follows is an excerpt of our interview. Gamecock: How accurate is Robert De Niro's portrayal of you? La Motta: It's very accurate. If it wasn't accurate, would I want somebody to portray me like that? If anything, it was toned down a little bit. Gamecock: What were your duties as technical advisor on "Raging Bull"? La Motta: I had autonomy -- is that the word? -- over the fight scenes. They shot more than two hours of fight footage and they surprised me by editing it down to about 15 minutes. I was very surprised when t ii 1 i A i saw me unisiieu pruuuci. Gamecock: How many times have you seen the pictui. ? La Motta: Twice. Gamecock: Will you see it again? \mg Imk v..... ^ | J\^ MA '^j Visual arts By Joy Just a few steps up from Assembly Stree traffic seem endless, one may discover an oa the South Carolina State Art Collection. The display is located in the Solomon Bla Anyone now has an opportunity to enjoy art visit a museum. This public exhibit gives p< artists from this state. THE GOVERNMENT OFFICE is an excel! floor, glass walls allow natural light to illumi broad horizon spreads across the canvas, giv busv downtown world. Streaks of clay colors serene, spatial feeling. "Primordial Coalescence," by Robert Joll universe. In the center is a newborn bab> conglomeration of pink and gray shapes. The! some relaxed inspection, human forms are f< middle become large, amorphous and more outward. The jumbled shapes appear to be Motta o his film. ^ ?Bb 8S I ffl ?\^4. -1SS''i'r Robert DeNiro plays Jake La t La Motta: No. I feel too much when I see it. It really upsets me. I really and truly don't like the man I was. I realize now that I had to have been sick. Gamecock: How did you make such a drastic change in your personality? La Motta: I had to. Could you go through nre iiKe matr When you have to do something, you do it, and it took a long time &< >.. Ssbs f 5:wvv.-.. ; >^P58rKWIIHS?HWHHHB^ . on display ce Rogers A t Critic t, where the pressures of work and the rush of sis of pleasure in a display of mixed media from itt building on the first, fourth and fifth floors, during the day when they would not necessarily ;ople a chance to appreciate work produced by lent environment for an art show. On the ground nate the art. In Jeanet Dreskin's "Vastitude," a ing a quiet, calm feeling of remoteness from the i and cool evening shadows of mountains give a y depicts the slow, continuous movement of the ' with its umbilical cord curling away into a se shapes seem unrecognizable at first, but after xmd among them. A cluster of soft colors in the vibrant toward the perimeter, as if expanding in harmony and give a soothing, yet powerful Visual, page 14 f 'Ragin< life, wife Vlotta in 'Raging Bull' for me to really fit into society. I was an animal. To become champ, I made myself believe that I had to be tough, mean, vicious and cruel. I don't know if all champions go through that process, but I know today they use the word 'psych.' In my day, I didn't understand about this word 'psych.' All I understood was I had to talk myself into L Ct J'J jEljilJIiiiliiiilllBjjjHlH ~ vr; The red coati Nothing makes a Carolina Coliseum more enjoyable than the behavior of its security guards. Usually hired by a different corporation, these products of the KGB do everything they can to demonstrate how much they dislike rock music and college students. It's pertinent to know a few facts about tnese rea coats, as tney are so affectionately known. There are about 30 of them, and in order to join their elite group, one must have killed at least six human beings with his bare hands. In addition, they go through an intense training session in the blizzard climate of northern Russia, eating live wolves and dismembering polar bears. When that's done, they spend hours snarling and gouging each other's eyes out. WHEN ONE IS ABLE to fell trees by W Artist's I . , , ?1 ?"??tt | } Bull' > cfvirn OL1IIC being a vicious, mean, animalistic, killingtype of guy. And it worked. It worked. I became a champ. Gamecock: If you hadn't been a fighter, what do you think you'd have been? La Motta: A thief. If I'd put the amount of energy I put into boxing into stealing, I think I might have been a pretty good thief. I probably might have been a killer or a murderer, 'cause there were moments in the ring when I felt like killing. It's all out of me now, though. I hope. Gamecock: How much time did you spend working with De Niro in preparation for "Raging Bull"? La Motta: I worked one solid year with him. We boxed over 1,000 rounds together and he boxed over 1,000 rounds with other professionals. It's amazing the way the guy gets in character. He actually became me. When he interviewed my ex-wife, Vickie, I thought he was gonna go too far and really want to know how it felt to have intimate relationships with her. I'm only joking about that, but it did cross my mind. Gamecock: What facets of your boxing career are you most proud of? La Motta: When I first defeated Sugar Ray Robinson, that was the highlight of my life. And then when 1 won the Middleweight Championship from Marcel Cerdan and when I defended my title successfully against Tiberio Mitri. Those three fights will always stand out. Those were my three greatest fights of all-time. Gamecock: And in your 13-year career, you were never knocked off your feet? La Motta: No. Except by wives. i of injustice kicking them over and crushing concrete in his hands, he then goes through an elaborate ceremony of walking through a bed of hot coals. This isn't enough. These security guard hopefuls then have to attend concerts in the U.S.S.R. where they are graded on their style of attacking those in the audience. Points are awarded on quickness of the kill, fluidity of arm-breaking and the distance how long a concert-goer can be thrown. ?n/4 nnl.. ...ill tUn i iicu cxiiu %jiLiy uicii win uic u aumuiiai icu coat be burned onto the skin of the nowproud security guard. It's painful but this gives an individual the opportunity to be more of a slobbering simpleton than before. The red coats are forced onto a wooden raft and pushed across the Atlantic Ocean to South Carolina. After three or four years at sea, they step off the raft and head inland to Columbia where they begin their duty at see FUe, page 14 i ? _ r _ * renuering or a recent i concert