Raging Bull (1980)

Scorsese:

The sound on Raging Bull was particularly difficult because each punch, each camera click and each flashbulb was different. The sound effects were done by Frank Warner, who had worked on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Taxi Driver. He used rifle shots and became very possessive and even burnt them afterwards so nobody else could use them. The fight scenes were done in Dolby Stereo, but the dialogue was recorded normally, and that caused us something of a problem. We anticipated about eight weeks of mixing and I think it took sixteen weeks. It was murder, mainly because each time we had a fight scene, it had to have a different aura. 

The 5.1 track on the blu-ray and DVDs isn't a real remix; it's a hastily reprocessed version of the original Dolby Stereo mix, and it stinks. High frequencies have been removed, everything has a garbled and echoey quality to it, and the track's general limpness betrays the meticulous work Frank Warner did for the film. (Skip to 2:00 in the first clip below to observe the gist of it.) The 2.0 track on the R1 MGM blu-ray is not the theatrical mix but a fold of the 5.1. 

8/1/2022: comparing releases with the theatrical mix -

1990 Criterion LaserDisc [CC1230L]: Excellent sound. Presumably without any additional mastering work.

1993 MGM LaserDisc [ML102222]: Basically the same as the Criterion LaserDisc.

2002 R2 MGM DVD: Like the Criterion LaserDisc.

2022 Criterion UHD Blu-ray: Fortunately, this is the original stereo mix. Unfortunately, it's more muffled than the LaserDisc and DVD, mostly due its EQ. The left channel, especially, is noticeably darker, which gives the impression that the soundstage has shifted to the right. Much of the film sounds nearly indistinguishable (see 1:06.500 in the second clip - the home movies montage sounds miles better than it did in the 5.1), but some segments sound significantly worse than the LaserDisc (see 0:50, 2:58, 3:42).

12/7/2023: Added the MGM LaserDisc