Based on the life of middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta, Martin Scorsese’s searingly gorgeous black-and-white study is an uncomprising, brutal, and emotionally wrenching investigation of violence in the domestic and public arenas. De Niro’s Oscar-winning portrayal of LaMotta brings near-documentary precision to the jealousy-induced rage he dispenses both in the ring and at home. Cathy Moriarty’s masterful embodiment of the wife’s transition from golden-haired teen to world-weary housewife received its own Oscar nomination.