| Knockout! Review - "The Woman Behind the Raging Bull" By Rob MacNeil |
The Woman Behind the Raging BullMost sports fans and/or movie buffs have seen the Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese classic Raging Bull based on the life of former boxing champion Jake LaMotta. What you may not know, however, is the story of the fascinating life of LaMotta’s first wife Vikki. In an explosive autobiography published posthumously, Knockout! The Sexy, Violent, Extraordinary Life of Vikki LaMotta her story is revealed. Vikki LaMotta was the teenage bride of Jake LaMotta, and lived a horrific life of abuse when she was married to him for eleven years. But the story does not end here, Vikki was also the girlfriend of infamous Capone-trained mob boss Sam Giancana, whom she met through Frank Sinatra, was instrumental in getting the accuracy of Raging Bull to the screen (as well as getting DeNiro an Oscar), and enjoyed even more fame in 1981 when, at the age of 51, became the oldest woman to pose for Playboy. Vikki wrote this book in the late 1980s, and once it was written decided it revealed too many personal details of her family and loved ones and so she decided that the book would not be published until after her death. When she passed away in 2005, her son Harrison brought the book to life. And what a book this is. She grew up poor in New York, was badly abused by her father, and then got pregnant at 16 by boxing star Jake LaMotta and quickly married. During the marriage, Jake’s possessiveness was obvious, and the abuse at the hands of a champion boxer was brutal. She finally got the courage to leave him and head out on her own, but LaMotta’s influence with the police didn’t allow her to escape until he was put in jail for his part in a prostitution ring. Years later, when Jake is out of jail, Robert DeNiro decides to bring his life story to the screen after reading the boxer’s biography during the making of Godfather 2. By the end of the film, DeNiro literally was Jake LaMotta. So much so that at times Vikki couldn’t tell the two apart and thought that DeNiro (always in character) would beat her at any moment. The film was a huge success, and this then brought Playboy calling and after discussing it with her kids and friends, decided to show the world that older women could be sex objects as well, and it was a huge success, bought by more women than any other issue. This brief look at Knockout! can’t do the book justice, so take my word that this remarkable life is well worth the read. And, since I haven’t seen it, need to head out and rent Raging Bull to see what all the fuss was about!
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