Screenplay Structure Analysis

Raging Bull

Written by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin · Biographical Drama · 106 pages · 86 scenes · 3-act natural structure · circular organization · Analysis confidence: High

The rise and fall of middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta, whose paranoid jealousy and violent rage destroy his relationships and career, leaving him alone to confront the man he's become.

Tone
Brutal, unflinching, psychologically intense, melancholic

Tension curve

Dramatic intensity across Raging Bull from first page to last, sampled at 40 points on a 0–10 scale. Values: 6.1, 6.3, 6.5, 5.9, 5.2, 4.6, 4.7, 4.9, 5, 5.3, 5.4, 5.3, 5.3, 5.6, 6.1, 6.7, 7.3, 7.9, 8.3, 7.9, 6.6, 5.9, 4.6, 4.9, 4.9, 6.3, 7.1, 7.7, 7.4, 6.9, 6.5, 5.5, 5.2, 5.1, 6.6, 7.6, 8.2, 6.8, 5.2, 3.9.

Structure at a glance

Inciting incident
Page 18, 17% of the script: At a neighborhood dance, Jake watches Vickie from across the room; when Salvy arrives and ushers Vickie and others into his Cadillac, Jake observes them leave.
Act 1 break
Page 32, 30% of the script: Jake has achieved domestic stability with Vickie and is positioned for his championship run, marking the end of his ascent and beginning of his peak years.
Midpoint
Page 60, 57% of the script: At Briggs Stadium on fight night, the announcer introduces celebrities and fighters while Jake prepares in the dressing room, drinking steak blood and getting ready for his title bout.
Act 2 break
Page 86, 81% of the script: Jake retires from boxing and moves to Miami, transitioning from fighter to nightclub owner and beginning his final descent into personal ruin.
Climax
Page 102, 96% of the script: Jake waits in the parking lot and approaches Joey with an outstretched hand, but Joey looks at him with contempt, throws down his groceries, and drives away, leaving Jake standing alone.
Peak tension
8.3 out of 10, reached about 46% of the way through; the script averages 6.1.
Average scene length
1.5 pages

Structural personality

This script employs a circular structure, opening and closing in the same 1964 dressing room with an older, broken Jake rehearsing his nightclub act. The bulk of the narrative unfolds as a long flashback spanning 1941-1958, chronicling Jake's boxing career and personal disintegration in roughly chronological order. However, the structure is punctuated by periodic returns to the 1956 nightclub (scenes 54, 65, 72, 83, 87), creating a nested frame that reminds us we're watching a man trying to perform his own life story. The three-act structure follows a classic rise-peak-fall trajectory, but the circular framing device suggests Jake is trapped in an endless loop of self-examination and performance, never quite escaping his past. The script's architecture mirrors its theme: a man shadowboxing with his own demons, returning again and again to the same small room.

Pacing

The pacing is deliberately uneven, mirroring Jake's psychological state. Act One (scenes 1-32) moves briskly through Jake's early career with short, punchy scenes averaging 1-2 pages, building momentum toward his marriage to Vickie. Act Two (scenes 33-69) slows considerably with longer, dialogue-heavy domestic scenes that stretch 4-6 pages, creating claustrophobic tension as Jake's paranoia consumes him—the Copacabana sequence (scene 33) and the brutal interrogation of Vickie (scene 57) are extended set pieces. Act Three (scenes 70-86) accelerates again with rapid cuts between time periods and locations as Jake's life collapses. Fight scenes are rendered as brief, visceral montages rather than extended sequences, suggesting boxing is merely the arena where Jake's internal violence manifests.

Themes

Similar shapes

Screenplays whose tension curve most closely matches Raging Bull.

Scene summaries and structural markers are generated by AI analysis of the screenplay text and may contain minor inaccuracies. ScriptGraph analyzes structure and does not reproduce screenplay text.

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