A film was distributed by United Artists; studio executives were initially reluctant to finance a plan when it despised that a extreme profanity & violence in the screenplay would draw an "X" from either a MPAA ratings board. But, Scorsese & De Niro reworked a script & were entity to proceed. Because of his womb-to-tomb bronchial asthma, accompanied by depression (due to the critical & commercial failure of his large-budget musical New York, New York) & a good cocain addiction that he got merely recently overcome before making the film, Scorsese was convinced that he would never produce an additional motion picture &, so, he put his heart and soul into making Raging Bull a better film he can. A film has, later, been nominated to many better of the Lxxx's film lists.

Robert De Niro won a Oscar for Best Actor, his first (& just, up to now) for the "leading" role. A film has been deemed "culturally significant" per United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

A film likewise won Right Editing at a Oscar's for Thelma Schoonmaker, whose radical style was far different from either fight scenes inside more boxing films, like a Rocky series. Raging Bull was too nominated for Better Supporting Actor, Better Supporting Actress, Right Cinematography, Right Healthy, Better Director, & Right Picture.