Editing Raging Bull (section)

=== Post-production ===
The editing of ''Raging Bull'' began when production was temporarily put on hold and was completed in 1980.<ref name="Thompson and Christie pp83-84" /><ref name="Biskind p399" /> Scorsese worked with the editor [[Thelma Schoonmaker]] to achieve a final cut of the film. Their main decision was to abandon Schrader's idea of LaMotta's nightclub act interweaving with the flashback of his youth, and instead followed the lines of a single flashback, in which only scenes of LaMotta practicing his stand-up would remain [[bookend scene|bookending]] the film.<ref name="Baxter p90">Evans, Mike ''The Making of Raging Bull'', p. 90.</ref>

A sound mix arranged by [[Frank Warner (sound editor)|Frank Warner]] was a delicate process that took six months.<ref name="Biskind p399" /> According to Scorsese, the sound on ''Raging Bull'' was difficult because each punch, camera shot and flash bulb would be different. Also, there was the issue of trying to balance the quality between scenes featuring dialogue and those involving boxing (which were done in [[Dolby Stereo]]).<ref name="Thompson and Christie pp83-84" /> ''Raging Bull'' went through a test screening in front of a small audience including the chief executives of United Artists, [[Steven Bach]] and [[Andy Albeck]]. The screening was shown at the [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|M-G-M]] screening room in New York in July 1980. Albeck praised Scorsese by calling him a "true artist".<ref name="Biskind p399" />

According to the producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, matters were made worse when United Artists decided not to distribute the film but no other studios were interested when they attempted to sell the rights.<ref name="Biskind p399" /> Scorsese made no secret that ''Raging Bull'' would be his "[[Cinema in the United States|Hollywood]] swan song" and he took unusual care of its rights during post-production.<ref name="Friedman p115" /> Scorsese threatened to remove his credit from the film if he was not allowed to sort a reel that obscured the name of a whisky brand ([[Cutty Sark (whisky)|Cutty Sark]]) that was heard in a scene. The work was completed four days shy of the premiere.<ref name="Baxter p204">Baxter, John ''De Niro A biography'', p. 204.</ref>

In 2012, ''Raging Bull'' was voted by the [[Motion Picture Editors Guild]] as the best-edited film in history.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 75 Best Edited Films Of All Time |publisher=Motion Picture Editors Guild |work=IndieWire |date=February 2015 |url=https://indiewire.com/2015/02/the-75-best-edited-films-of-all-time-267420/ |access-date=March 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314155912/http://www.indiewire.com/2015/02/the-75-best-edited-films-of-all-time-267420/ |archive-date=March 14, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>