Fans of Martin Scorsese classic have just days left to watch it on BBC iPlayer

Film fans have only a few days left to catch one of the all-time classics for free before it disappears from BBC iPlayer later this week. The 'must watch' Oscar-winning drama, directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese and featuring an all-star cast with the likes of Robert De Niro, will leave the platform on Thursday (October 30).

Released in 1980, Raging Bull tells the story of real-life boxer Jake LaMotta, whose fierce, violent temper and often self-destructive nature lead to his downfall both inside and outside the ring. In real life, LaMotta developed a reputation as a bully for his hard-fighting style, which would often see him take as many hits as he dished out. In the film, LaMotta is brilliantly portrayed by Robert De Niro, with the actor putting on 60lbs of weight and muscle to accurately portray the boxing great.

Speaking on the Off Menu podcast earlier this year, he revealed: "When I was getting the weight, I had to eat in the morning three full meals, which was hard to do, and then digest the food, to eat lunch and then dinner," he said. "It's kind of fun for the first 10, 12, 15 pounds, and [then] it's drudgery."

The film was one of the director's earliest works and cemented him as one of the greats. Raging Bull came on the back of Mean Streets and another masterpiece, Taxi Driver, solidifying the De Niro-Scorsese relationship.

The film has some striking visuals too, being filmed almost entirely in black and white with just one scene in colour. The result was a film that pushed cinema forward in the 1980s and still holds up 45 years later. At the box office, the film had a relatively lukewarm reception, making back its money, but it was not necessarily a big commercial hit. However, with the critics, that was another story.

At the time of its release, Raging Bull earned eight Oscar nominations and won two, including Best Actor for De Niro, his second in seven years, coming off the back of another win for The Godfather Part II. More than four decades on, the film is still as well-received, with a "Certified Fresh" rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and an even higher audience rating.

John Marriot, from the Radio Times, wrote: "Scorsese effortlessly fuses top-drawer acting, pumping narrative drive and blitzkrieg camera technique to deliver a giddy, claustrophobic classic."

Giving similarly high praise, Bruce McCabe from the Boston Globe added: "This is a masterpiece. It proves that a film can have violent undertones and overtones, but still illuminate and comment upon violence in a moving, poetic and profound way."

But as iPlayer begins a shift in its back catalogue, Raging Bull is leaving the platform, meaning cinephiles have just two days to watch the classic before it disappears on Thursday morning.