Raging Bull currently beats The Departed 64–36

De Niro's self-destruction outfights the Boston crime machine.

36% 64%

Based on 25 head-to-head votes across 1 bracket

The Verdict Director's Cut

De Niro in the jail cell — punching the wall, head-butting the concrete, 'I'm not an animal' — is the scene that makes Raging Bull more than a boxing film. Scorsese builds two hours of escalating self-destruction toward a man turning the body that won fights into a weapon against itself. The Departed has the more complex plot. Raging Bull has the more devastating trajectory. The lead says a single devastating trajectory outperforms a complex architecture. De Niro's descent carries the film past Scorsese's own later brilliance.

The Numbers

	The Departed	Raging Bull
Head-to-Head	36%	64%
Overall Win Rate	57%	49%
Championships	41	11
Avg Decision	1.4s	2.3s
Budget	$90M	$18M
Return	3.2x	1.3x

The Twist

The Departed wins 57% of its matchups across BingeBracket, compared to 49% for Raging Bull. The overall record favours The Departed — but not in this head-to-head.

Where This Matchup Sits

BingeBracket tracks 96 Drama films — The Departed is in the top quarter, Raging Bull is in the upper half.

Among Martin Scorsese's 4 films on BingeBracket, The Departed sits at #2 and Raging Bull at #4.

Looking at shared opponents, Taxi Driver draws a line between them: The Departed dominates that matchup, but Raging Bull comes out on the wrong side.

The Departed has 41 tournament wins to Raging Bull's 11, but that championship pedigree isn't translating to the head-to-head. Something about this specific pairing overrides the broader record.

Adjusted for what they cost, The Departed (2006) returned 3.2x its budget while Raging Bull (1980) managed 1.3x. Despite the ROI gap, Raging Bull wins the head-to-head on BingeBracket.