The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 27, 1981, Page Page 13, Image 13
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