Coulda Been A Contender: De Niro's 'Raging Bull' Quote Of Brando In 'Waterfront'

By | February 13, 2021

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Left: Rod Steiger and Marlon Brando in 'On The Waterfront.' Right: Robert De Niro in 'Raging Bull.' Source: IMDB

"I could've been a contender" was a powerful line when Marlon Brando said it to Rod Steiger in 1954's On The Waterfront; when Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro) says it in Raging Bull it takes on a new level of meaning. But what does the line mean -- "coulda been a contender," contender for what? And how is it that one of the great movie lines from the '50s could be recycled in 1980? Here's the story of "I coulda been a contender."

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In both films, the line is about regret, mourning a career that might have been, though it's not said in exactly the same way. Brando's delivery of the line is sincere; his character Terry Malloy is actually complaining to his brother that he could have been something more successful. When Robert De Niro brings the line back to life decades later as Jake La Motta in Raging Bull, he isn't saying it sincerely; he's actually intentionally quoting On The Waterfront as part of a nightclub act. The line is so well known, given the plot similarities -- both characters are former boxers -- that director Martin Scorsese can use the dialogue from On The Waterfront in Raging Bull, completely intact, and layer Terry Malloy's story directly overtop Jake La Motta's.