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What: “Raging Bull”

The impact of this Martin Scorsese-directed film is much like a Jake La Motta punch--devastating.

Released in 1980, the film is based on the autobiography of La Motta, the world middleweight champion from 1949 to 1951.

La Motta’s life in the ring is only part of the story.

As critic Roger Ebert wrote, it’s a movie not about boxing but “about a man with paralyzing jealousy and sexual insecurity, for whom being punished in the ring serves as confession, penance and absolution.”

Robert De Niro won the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal of La Motta, who was a consultant for the movie.

The driving force of the movie is La Motta’s relationship with his wife, Vickie, whom he met when she was 15, and his brother Joey. (Cathy Moriarty and Joe Pesci earned best supporting actress and supporting actor nominations for their performances).

Continually suspicious of Vickie, La Motta is quick to jump on her every movement and word. When she innocently describes an upcoming opponent as “good looking” and “popular,” La Motta carries his anger into the ring. He not only beats the opponent, Tony Janiro, he makes sure his face is battered, then glares at Vickie.

In the movie’s most powerful scene, La Motta accuses Vickie of sleeping with his brother, then attacks Joey at his house. When Vickie tries to stop La Motta, he levels her with a right to the face.

It is difficult to watch, yet essential to understanding the rage in the fighter whose nickname was the Bronx Bull. De Niro’s performance is remarkable. To portray La Motta in his later years, De Niro gained 60 pounds.

The boxing scenes are equally riveting. Scorsese hid sponges in the boxers’ gloves and placed tubes in their hair to squirt blood and sweat. To avoid excessive gore, he filmed the movie in black and white, making the shots even more powerful.

Three polls voted the movie the greatest of the 1980s and the American Film Institute rated it No. 24 on its list last year of the top 100 movies of all time.

In 1980, however, it lost out for best picture to “Ordinary People,” leaving “Raging Bull” to settle for being an extraordinary movie.